I remember the days of sitting around as a kid playing the older Golden Axe games. They were fun to play with your friends and hack n slash through the game’s challenging but fun experience. When Golden Axe: Beast Rider was announced I was a little excited but at the same time a little skeptical. The real question on my mind and many others was “Could it compare to the originals?” and the more I watched or read up on it the less and less I thought it would.

However after playing it I have become aware that it really wasn’t trying to be. Secret Level was trying to bring some new things to the series and they did just an okay job. For everything new they put in, they left something out. The biggest of these is the lack of multiplayer, the sole reason I spent countless hours in front of my Megadrive as a kid. The only playable character is Tyris Flare, the Amazon female warrior from the originals who naturally has been slipped into an outfit that defies gravity.

While the dwarf makes a small appearance, in one scene after ripping an axe out of his shoulder which is as cool as it is weird (who rips an axe from their shoulder and stands around for a chat?), directs Tyris along the quest to reassemble the Golden Axe. After the Death Adder and their forces strike out the story is pretty much straight forward. Kill enemies, put together the axe and save the world. The dialog is pretty cheesy and not in the humorous way, but in a hack ‘n’ slash game what can you expect?

Visually however, the game looks fantastic, the artists have really taken the time to create some detailed character models and enemies. The gameplay is smooth and the loading times not too long at all. The level design is just as good if not better than the characters. A lot of time and effort has gone into creating some unique levels which just blow you away. The only downside to this is that there are invisible walls almost everywhere to keep you from turning off the path and exploring. Due to the time bonuses that reward you for speedy completion, you don’t spend too much time having a look around (unless you plan to replay the levels) for some extra items or just because they do look good, which is a real pity.

At the end of the levels you get some stats on how well you went and a ranking. These add to your tribute points to earn extra unlocks. To get more points you can play on a higher difficulty, finish the level quickly or just kill a lot more people without getting hurt as much. This adds to your Titan bonus in game and can help out at the end of the level if you have earned enough. Trying to keep this Titan bonus up in the later stages of the game can be difficult, especially when surrounded by many enemies.

The combat is pretty straight forward with a few basic attacks, some stronger, a knock back attack and of course magic. While the basic moves are fine for the little guys, to really take on some of the bigger enemies you need to wait for them to attack and perform a counter. To do this the enemy flashes a colour (orange for dodge attacks, blue to parry and green to perform either) when this happens you need to press the correct trigger (left for dodge, right for parry) for that colour. This can get tricky and confusing to start with or even later in the game when you are faced with multiple enemies. It is at this point in the game you really see how repetitive it becomes. Wait for an attack, counter, rinse and repeat. It also makes new enemies almost a little too easy when you see the colour and know how to take them down. The bosses keep you on your toes however it eventually comes down to the same thing.


The tutorial forces you to use these moves to continue on with the game and while that is usually a good thing, it becomes so repetitive that it becomes mentally locked in anyway. There is also a special dismember move for most enemies, where the right combination of buttons in a counter will take out the enemy in one go. It looks good and there is a nice level of blood to keep you doing this. However once again it becomes a repetitive task and in group fights, feels like you break away from the main fight. Stronger enemies change it up a little with a combo of blue and then orange attacks, failure to hit the right button or get your counter in and you will find yourself losing more help than needed.

The knock back move can be used as a counter as well to give you some distance on an enemy. It is nice but a little hard to time in normal fights and with multiple enemies around it almost seems pointless. However there is a gate that requires a blood tribute and the only way to unlock it is to kick someone into its sharp spikes, blood is given and the gate is opened. It gives you some satisfaction here but in terms of combat I found myself using this less and less and opting for more of a damage approach to the game.

The magic system is something that they tried to keep from the original, but failed. There are some handy spells to quickly remove enemies, however none of these are screen-clearing spells like the older games. Mana refills are also limited and when the spells get buffed and cost more mana, this can force you to try and save them until the most needed time. It really feels as if they have been thrown in last to give a feel of the older games. They aren’t really needed, just a little helpful in harder situations and there will be harder situations, as well as being used for some basic puzzles, and it can be annoying to run back right back to a mana pool just to proceed.


It isn’t called Beast Rider without having some beasts to ride! The beasts themselves can be used by yourself of your enemies, so if you are knocked off at a bad time someone else might steal your ride. They all have their attack and abilities but most of these abilities cost some of the beast’s life. Some of these aren’t worth the extra life; others are really helpful like invisibility or rage mode to rip everything in two. They are fun but once again the same enemies will appear and keeping your ride for long isn’t an option. In the later arena style stages, where you take on waves of enemies for tribute, the bests appear and if you get on them give you a slight easier advantage.

The game isn’t “bad”, it’s just “not good”. It is an average hack ‘n’ slash game with almost nothing to tie it into the originals. The only other thing to tie it in would be those annoying little gnomes who give health, gold or mana pots and trust me they are more annoying in a 3D world. Visually it looks great, but its repetitive game play just makes it feel like a chore more then a game. On the plus side the story mode is long and challenging and while there is a few unlocks that tempt you play again, you will probably find that once in most levels is enough. Overall it is nice for a few hours or something to break out if you are in the mood for some mindless game play but frankly I think I would prefer to bust out the old Megadrive versions.