{"id":1170,"date":"2023-04-07T19:30:17","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T23:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=1170"},"modified":"2023-04-07T21:14:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T01:14:58","slug":"golden-axe-issue-44","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2023\/04\/07\/golden-axe-issue-44\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Axe \u2014 Issue 44"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

A gold\u00aden era of gaming<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I know I\u2019ve cov\u00adered a lot of Sega games, but I\u2019m a big fan. I par\u00adtial\u00adly owned a NES<\/span>, a Mas\u00adter Sys\u00adtem and a Gen\u00ade\u00adsis, and while I did not have a lot of games for those sys\u00adtems, I enjoyed the games that I had for them, espe\u00adcial\u00adly the Gen\u00ade\u00adsis. One of those games has an arcade back\u00adground shared with Gaunt\u00adlet with ele\u00adments of the Dun\u00adgeons and Drag\u00adons table\u00adtop games. If you old\u00ader read\u00aders know what I\u2019m talk\u00ading about, respect. For you younger read\u00aders, lis\u00adten and learn of the tale of Gold\u00aden Axe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Inspired also by the Conan the Bar\u00adbar\u00adian movie series of the 1980s, Gold\u00aden Axe gives you a choice of three war\u00adriors: Ax Bat\u00adtler, who wields a broadsword; Gilius Thun\u00adder\u00adhead, a dwarf war\u00adrior with a bat\u00adtle ax; and, an Ama\u00adzon\u00adian war\u00adrior, Tyris Flare, whose weapon of choice is a longsword. These war\u00adriors were brought togeth\u00ader by twist of fate thanks to an evil enti\u00adty known as Death Adder, who has cap\u00adtured the king\u00addom of Yuria along with its king and his daugh\u00adter. The three heroes have also lost loved ones at Death Adder\u2019s hands and set off on their quest to destroy Death Adder and restore hope and peace to Yuria. <\/span><\/p>\n

Game\u00adplay is sim\u00adple with each char\u00adac\u00adter have the basic attack, jump and spe\u00adcial attacks you find in reg\u00adu\u00adlar side-scroller games. The one major advan\u00adtage that Ax, Gilius, and Tyris have is their unique abil\u00adi\u00adty to cast mag\u00adic spells that does seri\u00adous dam\u00adage to all ene\u00admies on screen. How\u00adev\u00ader, this spe\u00adcial attack comes with two caveats: mag\u00adic ener\u00adgy has a high cost and pro\u00adtect\u00ading your nec\u00ades\u00adsary mag\u00adic potions from thiev\u00ading elves is a chore. Now, this is the part where you ask, \u201cwhat\u2019s the pay\u00adoff with the char\u00adac\u00adter\u2019s mag\u00adic attacks?\u201d Good ques\u00adtion! Tyris wields fire mag\u00adic, Ax\u2019s spe\u00adcial\u00adty is earth spells and my favorite char\u00adac\u00adter, Gilius, lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly brings the thun\u00adder with light\u00ading spells. It\u2019s easy to under\u00adstand the mechan\u00adics and use every\u00adthing in the heat of battle. <\/span><\/p>\n

If there was one neg\u00ada\u00adtive thing that I found about Gold\u00aden Axe, it\u2019s that it\u2019s too short on game\u00adplay. The first stage is set on a giant sea tur\u00adtle that moves across the sea in the sec\u00adond stage. You move to a sleep\u00ading giant eagle in the third stage and are trans\u00adport\u00aded to the fourth and final stage by said eagle. That\u2019s entire\u00adly too short of an adven\u00adture. Eas\u00adi\u00adly there could have been a few more stages to flesh out the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

The music has a strong com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of hero\u00adic and fairy\u00adtale beats that are not too shab\u00adby but is a per\u00adfect fit for the game. The replay val\u00adue is pret\u00adty good for a 16-bit game that has a short lev\u00adel of game\u00adplay. Over\u00adall, this is a valiant effort by Sega to be cre\u00adative with a game that has poten\u00adtial sad\u00adly but lacks creativity.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it can be fun to play, the game need\u00aded some pol\u00adish and a lit\u00adtle bit more finesse to real\u00adly shine. You\u2019ll pull some hair at the length and some ele\u00adments, but over\u00adall, it\u2019s a decent hack \u2018n slash. Just exer\u00adcise calm and steadi\u00adness in this promis\u00ading yet cru\u00adel venture.<\/span><\/p>\n