Golden Axe

Game: Golden Axe
Developer: Sega
Platform: Sega Megadrive/Genesis
Release Year: 1989
Stephen's Rating: 6/10

Golden Axe is a side scrolling action and battling game.

Basic Plot

Death Adder has captured the king and his daughter. Your job is to fight your way through his henchman and rescue the king.

Gameplay

The player controlled one of three character classes; the dwarf, the barbarian, and the amazon. Each had a different balance of combat and magical abilities. You moved through the game defeating enemies and battling bosses.

Choosing a character class.

Mana built up over time as you defeated enemies and could be spent releasing a magical attack. The kind of attack used depended on the character class you controlled as well as how much magical energy you had saved up.

Throughout the game the player could find mounts to ride. Mounts provided the player with special attack abilities while riding them such as a tail attack or emitting balls of fire from their mouth.

Positives

The combat system was intuitive and simple. It didn't take long to pick up the game and get into the flow of it.

Mounts and magical abilities were exciting to use and had an epic quality about them.

The dwarf using a magical attack.

Negatives

The game was too short. I've completed the game a couple of times and always end up feeling a little cheated.

Memorable Moments

When I was at primary school the general consesus among the other students was that Golden Axe was the greatest game of all time. Because I only had a PC, I didn't get to play it for almost a decade after that.