Retro Gaming : Golden Axe II

I am on somewhat of a role when it comes to Sega Megadrive/Genesis games. All night I have been playing old classics, namely Golden Axe II. The console always did Beat-em-up's better than anything before or since, this game is one of the greats which founded the reputation. Another game which I have owned since I can remember, this title holds a very special place in my heart. Playing it again after a ten year hiatus many things strike me.

This game actually has a story! I totally wasn't expecting this, as I was around the age of five or six at the time I wasn't really the perfect audience for a well crafted story so these segments of the game were simply skipped over until I got to stab and swing at bad guys. Sure the developer isn't going to win an Oscar for the setting but hey, it was more than I expected to say the least.

Golden Axe II is played for it's great combat, it is simple and basic but it works and is very addictive. Enemies flood towards you trying to tear you limb from limb as you counter-attack, the combo's are simple but fun to learn and surprisingly hard to master. As the game gets harder a larger selection of enemies become available to slaughter, sure, these enemies are exactly the same but different colours. It is an imaginative system but I glad that for instance Call of Duty doesn't opt for this system, bright blue Nazi's lurching forwards in latter levels wouldn't really have the same feeling.

One thing to note about this game is the difficulty. It is damned hard, another game I have failed to complete on my journey through Megadrive, sure this looses me gaming respect points but I am honest, I don't know a soul who managed to finish this game. Maybe that was the case back in the days of the early nineties, rock solid games designed to entertain, frustrate and humiliate fifteen years later.

This game offers character selection, a male and female warrior and a Dwarf. Of course I opt for the comical dwarf, he is bright green with white wispy hair, come on, he looks like military Professor Flitwick. Each character has different moves and special abilities and does offer something in the way of variation. It also brings back memories, my older brother taking the cool human warrior as I scrabbled around as the Dwarf. Routine now makes that choice for me, years ago I would have killed for a chance to be that damned Warrior.

Finally, this is a game I played as a young boy, I didn't realise until years later that the Megadrive was more mature console of the nineties, I didn't however realise how creepy Golden Axe can be, the music can approach creepy levels, level design is awfully bleak and eerie, the game makes me nervous now, back then I was oblivious, killing skeletons and strange walking dogs, are they Gnolls? Who knows.

In closing, fifteen years later, this game is still a gem, beat-em-up's rarely get old to this gamer, sure the graphics aren't what they once was and the gameplay is somewhat simplistic, however, nostalgia cheerily skips over these negatives and marvels in a river of denial.

If you own these titles or legally dangerous, check these titles out again, great look back at gaming history.