first : Golden Axe
Golden Axe is a side scrolling beat 'em up that was released for the Sega Megadrive on the 30th November 1990. It is the first in the series and spawned two further sequels for the Megadrive.
The game is set in a fantasy medieval world called "Yuria" where the king and his daughter have been captured by the main antagonist "Death Adder" who wants to become the ruler of Yuria. This is where three warriors come in to prevent this from happening and return peace to the land of Yuria.
There are three playable characters in the game and the first is Ax Battler, a barbarian who carries a two handed sword and wants to avenge his mother's death. An amazon named Tyris Flare is the next playable character and she had both parents killed at the hands of Death Adder. The final playable character is Gilius Thunderhead, a dwarf from the mines of Wolud who wields a battle-axe and wants revenge for his twin brother's death from Death Adders' henchman.
The main enemy in the game is Death Adder who now possesses the legendary Golden Axe and is responsible for killing various family members of the main protagonists. His aim is to become the ruler of Yuria and to achieve this he is willing to kill in cold blood anyone who dares oppose him.
The main game play mechanic is fighting off Death Adders' henchman and reaching the boss at the end of each stage. In between stages there is some light comic relief where the player has to kick the little sprites to drop potions that can be used to cast spells on your enemies and are particularly useful during a boss battle. Ax Battler has the ability to cast Earth spells, Tyris Flare can use fire magic and Gilius Thunderhead can cast his lightning magic. Each character can even ride different creatures such as a cockatrice that can trip down enemies using its tail or even a dragon that breathes flames and shoots fireballs to tackle opponents.
The main character sprites in the game are colourful and match perfectly the "Conan the Barbarian" style world. During the later levels you will start to notice that instead of new enemies appearing the enemies from earlier levels have just been given a different colour scheme instead, which was quite a lazy thing for the game developers to do but doesn't ruin the game too much.
The music in the game is quite bland and despite the console being capable of having some great music like in Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog, the game doesn't live up to this. The sound effects can also become quite annoying, in particular the sound of an enemy dying which becomes very repetitive after a while.
On the main menu screen you can select how many lives you want to start with as well as the game difficulty, even with the highest amount of lives and the easiest difficulty selected the game is still a challenge and I wouldn't recommend attempting the harder difficulty unless you are a Golden Axe veteran.
Overall, the game is good and is one of the first in its genre setting a platform for other games like Streets of Rage and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to be created. To complete the game on any difficulty is quite an achievement and requires quite a lot of skill. The bland music and repetitive sound effects in the game bring down the overall quality of the game. The enemies that have just been recoloured make the game feel slightly unfinished and this could have been improved with a more varied amount of enemies. The game is still fun to play and I recommend giving it a try.
second : Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage is a beat 'em up which was released on the Sega Megadrive in August 1991 and went on to spawn two sequels. The game is about a city that was once peaceful and productive being taken over by a criminal empire called "The Syndicate" that is lead by the mysterious "Mr X". To stop Mr X and The Syndicate, three former police who quit the force due to the high level of corruption within it decide to take the law into their own hands and work together to fight every member of The Syndicate and bring it down piece by piece until peace is restored.
There are three main characters that you can play as all of whom are ex-police officers. The first, Axel Stone is skilled in martial arts and is the most moderately skilled fighter as he is both quite powerful and quite fast. The next character is Adam Hunter who is a trained boxer and also the strongest playable character although his weakness is his speed. The final playable character is Blaze Fielding who is a Judo expert, Blaze is the weakest character in the game however her speed and agility makes up for this by allowing her to move around more quickly and jump higher than anyone else.
Enemies in the game vary a lot ranging from generic street punks to skilled ninjas. The real challenge however is facing the bosses that appear at the end of each round as they are capable of knocking the player down in one punch.
The game play is similar to Golden Axe and is essentially a side scrolling beat 'em up where the player has to fight their way through eight rounds. The player can attack enemies by punching and kicking them as well as attacking enemies using jump attacks to send them straight to the ground, the player also has the ability to grab enemies and throw them. Throughout the game the player can get special attacks that when activated make a police car come to the rescue and fire rockets at enemies to quickly dispatch them, the best tactic however is to save the special attacks till the end of the round and use them against the boss to take away a large chunk of health.
The character sprites in the game look pixelated but are colourful and have a retro feel which makes up for it. The rounds are all set in the city and take place in various locations such as the beach, an elevator leading to The Syndicate HQ and even a robotics factory.
The music is fast paced which is a good match for this game and may even get stuck in your head. After years away from Streets of Rage I could still remember the songs featured throughout when reviewing it. The sound effects included in the game are good quality and they enhance the game play.
The main issue with the game is that it is relatively short and can be completed in around an hour. Streets of Rage supports two players and is more fun to play with a friend, you can even unlock an alternate ending that is only available in two player mode. Each character has their own unique set of moves which makes you want to test every character out; this adds a bit more longevity and replay value to the game.
Overall, the game is a fun to play especially in two player mode as you work together to destroy The Syndicate, there is also no more satisfying feeling than defeating a boss that keeps knocking you down after every time you go to attack. The combat however can become quite repetitive and the game is quite short. Despite the flaws, I recommend the game as an all time classic for the Sega Megadrive.
Comments
Post a Comment