Golden Axe: Beast Rider - Xbox 360 / Playstation 3 (2008)
As it turns out, their fears were not unfounded. Golden Axe: Beast Rider is a sub par hack and slash with only the most basic elements in common with its predecessors. The biggest disappointment is a complete and total lack of cooperative play. The second biggest disappointment is that only Tyris Flare is available as a playable character. Gilius Thunderhead (whose best line of dialogue here is "By my balls, girl, I thought you were dead!") and Ax Battler (here officially named "Tarik", perhaps in a nod to the Master System conversion) both make appearances, but only in cutscenes. Death=Adder, too, is the penultimate foe, and many of the enemies are similar to the old games. The gnomes also reappear in certain areas, who give up magic and meat when attacked, but also poison in later segments. Enemies also turn stone grey after being slain, although they disappear shortly thereafter. The classic "coin insert" sound effect also shows up. But outside of these references, and some vague attempts to weave together the storylines of the previous games - the main goal is to assemble the broken Golden Axe - the connections to the older games are fairly sparse.
The game is broken up into several chapters, most of which are subdivided into several "challenges", which act as checkpoints. As expected, the side-scrolling viewpoint has been replaced with fully 3D action, more common of modern action games. Unlike conceptually similar titles like Devil May Cry and God of War, which uses fixed camera angles, Beast Rider primarily relies on user controlled camera, which never quite feels right. This is a problem because there's no ability to lock on foes. Tyris simply choses a nearby enemy and attempts to follow it, although even that is clumsily implemented. The fighting is fairly simple - in addition to weak and strong attacks, there is a knock back attack executed by pressing both buttons. You can also jump, but these attacks are rarely used unless you're trying to knock enemies off a beast. The strikes lack impact, and everything just feels flimsy. There are approximately a dozen weapons, each which acts the same way but have different properties. These are unlocked by finding "tribute" found throughout the stages. In addition to Death=Adder's weapon, dubbed the "Death=Reaver", you can also obtain the Golden Axe in the late stages of the game, although you can unlock it for replays after obtaining an obscenely large amount of tribute. However, your weapon can only be switched in between levels. You also unlock various costumes for Tyris, including the classic red/white bikini get-up.
The only decent addition to the fighting is the block/parry system. Most enemies attacks give off a faint glow. Orange attacks can be parried with L1/LB, while blue attacks can be blocked with R1/RB. Green attacks can be either parried or blocked. After defending an enemy attack, you can counterattack with a powerful blow. This allows for a strong defensive game, one that's actually pretty fun when it works. However, parrying sometimes doesn't really work, especially against when you're stuck in a huge crowd or the enemies are fast moving. You end up dodging out of the way but your counter attack completely misses. The window for blocking is also way too short, making them hard to execute effectively, especially your view is blocked by other enemies. With a little more polish, this all could've been great, but it's really not quite up to snuff.
As the title suggests, a big focus is placed on the variety of beasts you can ride. These include dragons and other steads similar to the monsters from the arcade game, although they're not quite the same. Particularly, the famous bird beast is sadly missing, and its supposed equivalent looks almost nothing like it. Some enemies can be found riding them, and others spawn at summon points, which can be revisited at any time. There are only five types, although each has special powers. One can, for example, breathe fire, while others can turn invisible. The problem is, all of the cool attacks drain the beasts health, so you really can't use them too often. And while it's fun to run around and stampede over enemies, trying to control them in close quarters combat is incredibly awkward.
While Beast Rider has some excellent concept artwork, very little of it transfers well into the actual game. The character models are alright, but Tyris' running animation is a bit off. The environments look well designed from a distance, but the level design is pretty dull. The backgrounds not only lack detail, but repeat themselves over and over, making it seem like you're running in circles, even though you really aren't. The game even struggles to keep up 60 frames per second, even though there doesn't seem to be much that pushes any graphical edges. Other HD era games like Devil May Cry 4 simply crush it on every level.
The original arcade game had some incredibly stirring music given the tinny FM synth, and it would've been awesome to see it recreated in full orchestrations. Instead, we're given boring background music. The arcade game had some of the best sound effects in a beat-em-up, from the head clunks to the wailing screams. Here, everything is dry and unmemorable. And in the arcade game, slain enemies stay on the battlefield, while here, their dismembered corpses fade away. Although there are two fire-based magic spells (and one ability to summon the Golden Axe and chuck it around), they completely pale compared to the amazing graphical effects in the days of old. Forget flame demons and fire breathing dragons - you just shoot some fire around yourself and that's about it. But most importantly, wailing on bad guys and knocking their skulls in was straightforward but enjoyable fun. Golden Axe: Beast Rider can't even handle that properly, which is ultimately why it fails. It's even outclassed by second string action games like Conan and Heavenly Sword, although, to be fair, it's a bit better than the PS2 Altered Beast revival. The game also hints at a sequel, but after the abysmal performance of this title, it's highly unlikely.
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Cameos
Segagaga
Sega-16 - History of Golden Axe Another good look at the series.
Golden Axe Artwork
American PS3 Cover
Artwork
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
The release of Golden Axe III for the Mega Drive in 1993 marked the last "true" release for the series. Fifteen years later, Sega resurrected the license for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, giving it to developer Secret Level, who also created the ghastly-but-bestselling Iron Man movie tie-in game. Their track record was not great, and fans panicked that yet another Western developer would screw up a classic Japanese franchise.
Sega Superstars Tennis, released in 2008 for the Wii, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Playstation 2, and DS, features a number of Sega characters taking it to the tennis courts. In addition to the Sonic characters, most of the roster comes from Dreamcast era games like Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5 and Jet Grind Radio. However, they also have a couple of true classic Sega characters, like Alex Kidd and Gilius Thunderhead. Gilius looks like he's grown a bit of a beer belly and his character model isn't quite up to par with the other characters. Although there's technically a Golden Axe stage, it strangely takes place in the House of the Dead court, and there's no Golden Axe court at all. For his special move, Gilius summons lightning to confuse his opponents. His tennis racket also temporarily turns into the Golden Axe. When you unlock him in the 360 version, the accompanying text reads "His brother was killed by Death Adder!", acknowledging his roots in a rather amusing way,
Some of the major enemies from Golden Axe also show up in Sega's tongue-in-cheek video game simulator Segagaga. In the final stages of the game, a variety of Sega characters emerge to take on the evil Dogma corporation. The two big bald guys enter the playing field similar to the mechs from the legendary anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The final stage is a side scrolling shoot-em-up where you take on a variety of Sega consoles. When you fight the Mega Drive, it shoots out small versions of Golden Axe enemies.
Links
Death Adder's Castle Golden Axe fan site hosted here on Classicgaming.
Strategywiki - Golden Axe A walkthrough of the first game.
Gamespite - Golden Axe Warrior An excellent review of the SMS game.
