Sega has a history of taking old arcade franchises and giving them new life. Most recently, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, a dramatic reworking of the classic '80s beat-em-up gives hack-and-slash game game fans a taste of nostalgic joy. However, a few problems keep it from super Beast stardom.
The story is similar to the arcade game. Death Adder, a tyrant and powerful warrior, has stricken the land with fear. His minions roam the countryside, doing whatever they please. Tyris Flare, a powerful and dedicated maiden, vows to stop him at any cost. She uses not only her sword skills, but also magic spells, mountable creatures and the power of the Golden Axe itself (as a projectile weapon).
Tyris is swift and capable of dishing out bloody justice. Her sword cuts through enemies in seconds, even those that are larger and wearing heavy armor. She can also charge up her mana meter to unleash powerful magic spells, such as fireballs and a ground attack that scorches the terrain. In addition, several creatures appear over the course of your adventure, each with different skills and techniques. One, which looks like a cross between a parakeet and a rat on its hind legs, whips its thorny tail at enemies and spews fire. You'll need these beasts over the course of the game to break through walls and battle larger enemies.
For the most part, these beasts are fun to ride, but there are two things that bother us. First, it takes a good two to three seconds to turn around. This leaves you wide open to attack from behind. Second, their special attacks eat away at their energy meter, with no opportunity to refill it. Therefore, if the enemies don't kill them, they'll die from their own strength. That makes no sense.
Once you're on foot, the game holds together but doesn't offer real innovation. You're stuck doing the same old attacks over the course of the game. Weak and strong attacks are combinable into powerful combos, but they don't change over time. The magic spells are cool, but limited in terms of choice.
Playing as one character disappoints us, since the original arcade game has three warriors to choose from: Tyris, the dwarf Gilius Thunderhead and the muscle-bound Ax Battler. Sega needed to include them for added diversity.
Beast Rider's parry/evade system also needed work. At first, it's rather easy to learn. You hit the left bumper (or L1) to evade orange attacks, and hit the right bumper (or R1) to parry an incoming attack. However, over the course of the game, you end up surrounded by enemies. If you successfully counter one attack, another strikes you and takes away energy.
Aside from these issues, Golden Axe: Beast Rider still plays well. Satisfaction comes from spilling the blood (and lots of it) of Death Adder's minions, making this an ideal stress reliever. Arcade enthusiasts who remember the original game will also smile at the return of the little imps, whom you strike to retrieve magic energy and food. It's trickier than it sounds, however. These suckers move very fast.
Developer Secret Level did great work with the presentation. The game as a whole moves fluidly, although there are occasional problems with slowdown and camera adjustment. Tyris herself is a knockout, a beautifully shaped heroine with sex appeal. The blood effect is also put to good use, as it splatters the camera lens. We love that. The audio isn't bad either, with rhythmic jungle beats, screaming enemies and sound effects that you'd swear were recorded in a butcher shop. It's nice to hear some of the classic Golden Axe themes as well.
Beast Rider's main story mode only takes a few hours to beat. However, you can go through it again on expert difficulty. There are also challenge stages and arena battles available, in case the dozens of gallons of blood you've already spilled aren't enough to satisfy you. They're fun, but without secondary characters to play as, they quickly get stale.
Had more been done with selectable characters and bonus goodies, Golden Axe: Beast Rider could've had some real bite. However, it's still a fun beat-em-up with lots of blood and dramatic special attacks.
Reader Comments (1)
"However, over the course of the game, you end up surrounded by enemies. If you successfully counter one attack, another strikes you and takes away energy." You can use defensive canceling - that is, you can evade and parry even while you are attacking and even while you are countering... so being surrounded is actually quite manageable. They explain this about 3 times in the game, and it's in the manual and it's in the hintbook... give it a try... its actually pretty fun but it is very different.