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Reviews (8)
21 May 2008
Golden Axe II: decent remake to an arcade classic
A sequel to the arcade classic Golden Axe fantasy beat-'em up on the Sega Genesis. As far as sequels go, this is more akin to an enhanced remake (like Double Dragon II vs. Double Dragon in the arcade), than an actual sequel.
The box and manual explain that "Dark Guld" was once defeated but has returned stronger than ever (though the bad guy from the original Golden Axe was "Death Bringer" on the Genesis, a recolored "Death Adder" from the Arcade). The enemies tend to be more monstrous, consisting of Minotaurs, Lizardmen, and other creatures.
The sprites have a more "realistic" look in many cases, but lack the arcade original's cartoony charm.
The music in the game is probably the best aspect, and sets a good fighting mood. The sound however is pathetic, consisting of low quality and unrealistic groans and grunts. The original game's sound wasn't anything special, but it's even worse now.
The main differences between this game and the original are cosmetic, as the magics for Gilius Thunderhead the dwarf and Axe Battler the Barbarian have been changed from lightning and earthquake (as in the original game) to hailstones and tornadoes respectively. There is a new feature in the options menu called "special magic" wherein holding down the magic button slowly builds up your magic meter, allowing you to choose how much or how little magic you use in each screen clearing attack (full unleashes the strongest amount). Without the option, your entire magic supply is exhausted with a press of a button (the original game would use sufficient magic to wipe out the enemies onscreen, iirc).
Another difference is the Bizarrians, the ridable mounts you could knock enemies off to commandeer yourself. The Chicken Legs are unchanged, but the dragons are different. Formerly you had a Green dragon that breathed fire at the ground and a Red dragon that spewed fireballs that went the length of the screen. In Golden Axe II the Green dragon turns around and kicks with its legs (a much slower attack). The Red dragon now sprays fire forward. So the Bizzarians are less useful than before.
A memorable aspect of the original game were the small blue elf "thieves" that would run around at various times. Hitting them would force them to drop magic pots that you could pick up to build your magic meter. In between levels they would appear to "steal" your magic, and then you could attack them to get it back (and then some). Plus hitting the green clad thieves would give you meat or bread that could restore health (only between levels). Golden Axe II shakes this up a bit by replacing the pots with books (which function the same way). The formerly harmless thieves are now replaced by "Wizards." These guys can actually fight, clubbing you at close range with their wands and shooting magic fireballs from a distance. They can even ride Bizzarians, so they present something more of a challenge.
The game itself is about the same length as the previous one, and while the enemies are either the same or slightly harder, there are several points where the player can trick enemies into falling into bottomless pits or easily knock them in, making various sections a lot easier.
As before there's a vs. mode, and 1/2 players cooperative or competitive.
Overall here is how I would rate the game (mostly compared to the original):
Graphics 7/10
Sound 6/10 (mostly for the music)
Challenge 7/10
Control 9/10
Replayability 6/10
29 April 2010
If you want perfection, save your money!
This is a great collection of Sega Genesis games, plus a few fun arcade games that are easy to unlock. Also included are some unlockable interviews with various programmers from Sega. Most of the games are single player, but there are a few that let two people play at the same time. Conspicuously absent from this set are classics like the Streets of Rage series and Revenge of Shinobi, but otherwise it has something for everyone who enjoyed Sega in the early 1990's.
This is a very nostalgic package for people who remember the 16-bit era of gaming when Sega was on top of the console and arcade market.
A few problems exist with this collection, however. The SOUND is the main problem.
While the games are fast, have perfect graphics, and allow you to change the controls, the SOUND is off. The pitch is higher, and somewhat filtered sounding, so it comes off as "tinny." Some sound effects are glitched, so every time you hear them, they sound off. The worst example is the unlockable Altered Beast arcade game. Many of the enemy hit sounds are glitched as are some of the Werebeast secondary attacks (like the Weredragon's laser barrier in round 2).
This is sad, because the sound was always a big part of Sega games, giving them that memorable character.
I have the original cartridges, good memories of the original arcade games, and the emulations on the PC to compare, and they are just off. They should have done more testing before releasing this!
I'm told that the PS3/Xbox360 "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis/Megadrive Collection" is superior than this. I do know however that some of the games in THIS set are not featured in that set (On the Genesis: Ecco Jr, and Virtua Fighter 2; for the arcades: Zektor, Tac/Scan and Future Spy), even though the new collection has more games overall.
Many people reading these comments may argue that the SNES had better sound, and while that is true from a technical hardware standpoint, the Genesis had some very memorable soundtracks for many of its games, good use of voices and generally made good use of what it had, even when it was competing with the best that Nintendo had to offer in the 16 bit arena. Many of us who owned the original version of the Genesis used the stereo-headphones feature, and thought it was great. So sound is a big part of these games.
The interviews are all in Japanese, and have VERY SMALL subtitles which flash by rather quickly. If you have poor eyesight or aren't a fast reader, this will annoy you. The interviews are interesting, but they leave you wanting more.
The set also includes a "cheat sheet" which gives tips and cheats for the various games. However this is nothing you couldn't already find in about ten seconds on Gamefaqs.com.
I give this set such a good score, because it is an overall great package and selection of games and history of Sega. It fails to get the highest rating because of the sound glitches. Much room for improvement...
Gameplay: A+
Presentation: A
Funfactor: A
Sound: C+
Challenge: A
Nostalgia Factor: B-
02 April 2025
Here's to the Army and Navy and the batt...
Here's to the Army and Navy and the battles they have won; here's to America's colors, the colors that never run. May the wings of liberty never lose a feather.