Previous Next

Death Adder is to happy families what Nicko is to Metros - absolutely lethal! There's nothing he likes so much as knocking on people's doors, introducing himself, then lopping off some heads. His latest deed of unabashed badness is stealing the fabulous Golden Axe which, for centuries, gave power to the land of Yuria. Now Yuria is crawling with Death Adder's evil henchmen!

Three brave people have decided enough is enough and you take your pick of which to control (a second player can also join in the fun). Ax-Battler is a muscle-bound barbarian whose favourite weapon is a hefty broadsword. Gilius Thunderhead is a feisty dwarf who carries a massive axe: he's quick on his feet and has a pulverising headbutt. Tyris-Flare's favourite move is a shoulder block and she carried a sword, just like the barbarian.

Each have been blessed with magic powers: Gilius commands lightning, Tyris firestorms and Battler explosions. All these can only be activated by getting potions from imps who run across the screen at bonus stages, increasing the power of your magic when used. Imps also drop food to restore energy.

Each of the main characters has a staggering number of moves, including two walking speeds (push right twice to run), piledrivers where you leap up to make lethal downchopping blows, kicks and so on. There's also two types of dragon to ride on, one breathes fire while the other sits lethal energy. They're also fast, can make crunching headbutts and disappear after just two hits!

The game pits you against ogres with spiked clubs, amazon women, axemen, skeletons and hulking end-of-level baddies such as Sumos and ultimately the Death Adder himself. Each opponent takes a different number of hits to completely destroy and the more powerful the blows, the quicker the enemies fall.

Golden Axe is incredibly fast; the characters zip around the screen like nobody's business! The characters and backdrops are very colourful, but tend to be a bit on the garish side. Most of the combat moves from the coin-op have been included, and they're needed because when you're faced with three or four bad guys on-screen at once, you need to be mobile and vicious!

I liked the arcade version and this is a good conversion of a very playable hack and slash game!

Golden Axe is another beat-'em-up in the same style as Renegade, or practically any Ninja game. What makes this different is the choice of characters you have and the abundance of colour in every level. You can choose between three characters and they all seem to possess the same fighting skills. Detail in the graphics is a little lacking; a large red blob stuck to the back of the girlie hero is not what I'd call a good hair do!

Golden Axe is an OK beat-'em-up, but best suited to those who know the coin-op.

Presentation 89%
Graphics 79%
Sound 75%
Playabiity 72%
Addictivity 70%
Overall 76%
Fans of the arcade original will enjoy playing this more than the uninitiated.