As I was looking through games that I know, I noticed, to my surprise, that the Golden Axe franchise has a lack of reviews and plays. It is one of the classic franchises that SEGA has produced and these games should be mentioned among similar levels with other SEGA games like Sonic and Streets of Rage. With that, I've decided to replay through the main Golden Axe games (Golden Axe 1, 2, 3, and Revenge of Death Adder) and give a review for all of them.

Originally made for arcades, Golden Axe is a Hack and Slash game that iss set in a medieval fantasy world. The main storyline is about an evil person by the name of Death Adder. He captures the castle of the land, the King and his daughter, and their magical relic (The Golden Axe). Death Adder threatens to destroy the royal family and the Golden Axe if the people did not accept him as their ruler. Three heroes were up to the task of travelling to the castle and defeat Death Adder. They are Gilius, the axe-wielding dwarf, Ax, the man with the two handed sword, and Tyris, the sword fighting amazon woman. All three of them lost someone close to them due to Death Adder so they traveled across the land and slash through multiple enemies to reach Death Adder and defeat Him. This game was faithfully ported to the SEGA Genesis for the ability to play at home. 

Has the Looks, but Looks Don't Add to the Game
      The game does a good job creating a fantasy world. A whole backstory creates a world of Good and Evil. As the player goes on to each level, a part of the map would reveal the pathway of the heroes as well as a description of the progression in the story. Each level is uniquely designed with where they are in the story, from a town on a turtle, to a death valley, to landing at the castle through riding an eagle. The sound of the game reflects on what the characters are doing and makes the immersion of this quest more believable. The soundtrack portrays the medieval feel that the game is trying to show. There are certain sound effects that I am not really a fan of as well as the cutting of the soundtrack whenever someone dies takes you out of the game at times. All of these exterior looks don't stand out but they are well enough to give life to the feel of the game.
      However, these things do not change the simpleness of the game. One might even be bold to say that the story has very little influence in the gameplay. If a person skips all the cutscenes and not any part of the story, one can still play through the game, hacking through baddies and moving from level to level. In fact, the game also included a "duel mode" where players can just play last man standing against waves after waves of enemies with only one life. The only huge influence the story has is the continual progression towards facing the big bad Death Adder himself with how the difficulty of the game increasing as you move from level to level.

Slight Unique Features, but Simple and Straightfoward      
      This game is more than just moving around and swing your weapon. There are additional features that allow you to pass the level. Each level (and bonus level) consists of dwarfs that roam around the area and drop bottles of potions or food when attacked by the character (if you can chase them down). The food is used to heal up your character, while the potions allow the character to use special magic attacks. The more you collect the bottles, the stronger your special attack can be. What's unique about this game is that each character has a different limit as well as different attack levels to use. This makes character selection to be important in the approach of playing the game. If you are a type of person that would use your special attack a lot, you would choose Gilius for his low potion limit. If you are a type of person who likes to save their special to make it a stronger for the boss, you would use Tyris for her high potion limit and high attack level. 
      Another small feature is the ability to ride dragon/dinosaur type creatures and use them to attack your enemies. Different creatures have different attacks, like fireballs, fire breath, or tail swinging. These can only be obtained from enemies and neglect riding them can cause them to run away. 
      Even with these features, the problem with Hack and Slash games still remains. Most of these types of games already describe what you do: Hack and slash. You have a jump button and an attack button.The only ways that your character can attack is through the following: Continually clicking the attack button to make combo slashes; get close to throw enemies; jump and attack at the same time; run up to an enemy and knock them down. With such limited moves, this game doesn't have anything more that can be offered. 

Imperfect AI and Gameplay but Difficult Game      
      From what I described, the controls are very simple and anyone should be able to play this without any effort. However, with such simple controls, players can find flaws in the gameplay in order to beat the game. The AI in the game is rather predictable, whether if it is charging towards you or doing a certain attack when they are close. A player can take advantage of this predictability to find choke points on the level to easily kill the enemy. I have tried finding a high ground on the map and since I know that the enemy is going to jump without attacking, all I have to do is to attack the enemy while he is in the air, and he'll fall to the ground, get up and do the exact same thing again until he dies. Some of the worst AI moves are like when they try to follow where you are on the level, but as they move down, their side of the screen has a hole that leads them to their death.
      Not all flaws are for the player's advantage. With how simple the attacks are, the moves that you have can only attack forward and unless your reflexes are fast enough, someone from the back can attack you. To add insult to injury, every time an enemy attacks would cause your character to be stunned under their mercy. So when you have to enemies on both sides and you try to attack one with another close by, you will be trapped in a near endless onslaught of slashes, receiving double the damage.
      To add to that, this game is not exactly the easiest to beat. Even with these strategies, the player must be able to pull them off in order to be successful. This is easier said than done. There are also some bosses that can takeout one life point of your meter when you are attacked. This means that if you make one too many mistakes in one level, using a continue (3 lives) would actually be quicker than what you would imagine. People who are not players of side-scrolling, Hack and Slash games may find this game frustrating because of its difficulty.

For a game that was made in 1989, this game is the grandfather for future hack and slash games. It is considered quite innovating for it's time. It is a good game that defined this genre as well as making some extra features in an attempt to make it more than just a "walk around and attack people" game. It is well designed in the way it looks and unique level designs make it far from the definition of "generic." However, the limitations of intelligent AI and the story's lack of importance to gameplay makes the game far from being perfect. Still, it is a fun game, it is a challenging game, and it is a classic.

play4fun : Great review . I don't have to say much about it , but its was well written , keep up the great work . Have a nice day .

Very well written review, your reviews are very descriptive and informative which is really good in writing a review because it lets the person who wants to play and lets them know what to expect and it also maybe even gives them a little back story of the game, so well done.. Your reviews are amazing and you motivate me to keep making more reviews and make them better too. You really make your reviews to where you convince someone to want to play that particular game which is really great and that is the whole point of making them. Keep up the good work man your reviews are amazing!