Alongside Alex Kidd and A Boy and His Blob, Golden Axe is another target I like to use often whenever I compare how a certain game is good compared to what it could’ve been, and honestly, it deserves it. Both Golden Axe I and II are pretty bare bones, uninteresting, and annoying beat-’em-ups, with sluggish movement and combat, an uninteresting setting, and having practically no innovation in the genre whatsoever, which isn’t usually an issue, but when you have gameplay as bland as what we got in those games, then it does show. With that said, I like to believe that I am somewhat merciful, and I like to give many series the chance to redeem themselves after having one or two blunders. After all, if you give up on a series after hating just one entry, then you aren’t really giving it a proper chance, are you? So, after putting it off for a good while now, I decided to check out what many call the best game in the entire series, Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death-Adder.

Back when I reviewed Golden Axe I and II on this website, I had multiple people tell me to check out this particular title in the series, as they claimed it was the only game in the series that was worth playing. Initially, I was a little hesitant to follow up these claims. I mean, come on, a Golden Axe game that’s ACTUALLY GOOD? You must be on some kind of substance that fucks you up REAL good. But, I still decided to play the game, and only after going through the first stage of the game was when I then realized… they were right. They were 100% right. Not only would I say that this game is good, but I would even go as far to say it is FANTASTIC. This is, without a doubt, the best game in the Golden Axe series so far, and the best Golden Axe game I have played at this point, and sure, it may not be perfect by any means, but compared to the original two games, it is a HUGE step in the right direction.

The story is incredibly generic, pretty much being spelled out to you in the title, but it is presented in an entertaining way, with these little scenes in between levels with a map, having pretty impressive 3D graphics for 1992, and speaking of which, the graphics are very good, not being that much of a leap from the past games, but looking much brighter, energized, and appealing then the previous two titles, the music is pretty great, giving off the right vibe that a game like this should, while being paired alongside plenty of voice clips and sound effects that make the game more enjoyable and alive, the control is very solid, controlling just how a beat-’em-up should, which I will go into more in a bit, and the gameplay is what you would expect from both this series and this genre, but it is improved in many ways to where I would now consider this one of my favorites from the genre.

For the most part, the game is your standard beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of four warriors, go through plenty of medieval and fantasy themed stages, take on many different threats of varying shapes and sizes using both regular and special magic attacks, gather plenty of health items, magic potions, and temporary weapons to help you along the way, and take on plenty of big and bad bosses that will certainly provide a challenge… or not if you have infinite credits. All in all, this may not sound that appealing when compared to other games on the market, but a lot of the previous elements that made previous Golden Axe games bad are greatly improved upon here, while introducing new elements. In terms of said new elements, the game has plenty of alternate routes you can take at points, adding replayability where most beat-’em-ups usually don’t have that, and there are also moments where you move forward rather then just from left to right. It’s not that much, but it does make the game feel more fun and unique in comparison to others, and therefore, more enjoyable for me.

When talking about the problems I have had with other Golden Axe games, this entry manages to fix a lot of those said issues. First off, the game actually feels fun to play for once! While you don’t have the most fluid movement speed ever, and the action of jumping is honestly pretty terrible, the combat feels IMMENSELY satisfying, and it is a major improvement from the slow, clunky combat from the previous games. It is fast and hectic, allowing you to get plenty of shots in if you are lucky enough, and when paired alongside your special magic attacks, you can deal out a lot of damage pretty quickly, which is something that I always love to see. Secondly, while the fantasy setting of the previous games was unique to the genre, those games didn’t really take full advantage of that, and it came off as generic rather then fun. Here, however, they do take full advantage of this, with enemy types ranging from your regular goons and skeletons, to tree people, tribespeople, cyclopses, and what have you. Hell, the rideable animals are also interesting as well, this time being giant praying mantises and scorpions, and you don’t really know how powerful you feel when riding a giant scorpion until you actually do it yourself. It is all great stuff.

With that being said though, it still isn’t perfect. For one thing, bosses are reused very frequently in this game, even as early as Stage 3, which does kind of suck, seeing as how, if the enemy types can vary so much, why can’t they make plenty of interesting and unique bosses for every stage? That may just be a me thing though. Secondly, while I did have a great time with the game, I do feel it drags a bit after a certain amount of time. There is a point where the game does stop introducing new elements, and it just feels like you are playing through more levels for the sake of it, which isn’t necessarily all that bad, but for a game to reel back after delivering a lot of creativity and enjoyment after a certain amount of time… it is somewhat disappointing. Don’t get me wrong though, it is still a blast to play, and I imagine even if you got three friends to take it on with you, it would be even better.

Overall, despite the constant repeating bosses and the lack of variety later in the game, this is, without a doubt in my mind, the best Golden Axe game so far, and an incredible game on its own, one that I will definitely be revisiting in the future whenever I get the urge to play it once more. I definitely recommend it for those who love beat-’em-ups, those who loved Golden Axe, as well as those who HATED Golden Axe, because trust me, this game will show you what this series is truly capable of when given proper love and care. And if you aren’t convinced yet, there are points in the game where, if you use Stern’s special attack, it will zoom in on one of the soldiers engulfed in the flames, with his face melting off in the process. That right there… chef’s kiss... is beautiful.

Game #336