Golden Axe: Beast Rider Review - Xbox 360

I’ll begin by addressing those who had hopes for this being a solid re-imagining of the classic 16-bit Golden Axe. Very little from the original Golden Axe returns; no multiplayer, no sense of playing through an 80’s sword and sorcery fantasy, and more importantly, very little of the fun that the original contained. Additionally, you won’t see many of your favorite faces this time around. Golden Axe: Beast Rider decided to go in a different direction by focusing more on the single player experience rather than reliving the glory days of its predecessors.

A Fresh Start?

You play as a red-headed Amazon in a third-person with little more simplistic hack’n slash to cover your fuzzy bikini-butt. Instead of going out to find an outfit that wouldn’t make Lara Croft blush, your little warrior princess is off to collect the pieces of a weapon that once brought untold destruction upon the world. Obviously, no-one EVER just destroys a dangerous weapon. They have to split it into pieces and send each one out to really dangerous places within a few hours distance of one another. Ugly mutants with anger issues and stupid clothes usually live in these places, spending their time doing nothing else other than defending these otherwise useless pieces.

The stand-out mechanic is that you can ride a handful of different beasts each with differing special moves and abilities. Each animal is unique and feels well-weighted and for the most part, satisfying to control. From the fire-breathing baby dragon from the 16-bit game to a gorilla-demon that can grab other beasts and slap them around the environment like a dead fish, these raging beasts add to the sorely lacking combat and add a bit of gruesome fun to the game. Other beasts have special ‘lock and key’ abilities that are required to progress through levels, but these situations are usually rudimentary and achingly linear, contributing a very dated feel to the game.

Not every ride comes without its bumps and bruises. Their tank-control-style rotation often causes you to get overwhelmed by peon enemies who spam you with their attacks. This usually results in you being knocked off the beast, only to have it stolen or killed. If the camera actually let you see the teaming beasties rushing your behemoth, maybe you would have a chance to defend your ride.

Old, non-classic gameplay

While the game was meant for this generation, problems from the 80’s rear their ugly head. The camera needs constant baby-sitting as the enemies strike you from off screen. Get friendly with the run button as you’ll be using it to make a dash through long stretches of empty and often monotonous scenery. Those little minions are cheap and spam you with attacks – wait till you get to the continually spawning exploding dwarves or the constantly spawning super cheap green ballerina things. Most hazards in the environment aren’t even hinted at; they just pop out and hit you.

The melee counter system does feel satisfying when in full swing, though it takes some getting used to and breaks its own rules at times. Orange means you have to evade, blue means you have to parry, green seems to mean ‘do anything’ and light blue means jump. The results with the latter two aren’t always consistent, but there you go. Your moves never change and the auto-targeting does miss the target when trying to use the kick move. These mechanics are competently realised, but offer nothing particularly fresh or exciting to the genre.

Less is more?

Without being a bully, there are some other nice ideas and puzzles lurking deep within the game. One such classic puzzle ripped straight out of Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks lets you impale enemies on a spike to open a door. Blood is definitely my method of choice for opening doors - right behind silver keys and answers to obnoxious riddles. These small distractions help to give your thumbs a much needed rest. Later levels add a little variety and feel like some thought was put into them, but even those brought back the game’s earlier issues and well… here we are again.

Broken Weapon

It should have been an easy sale. Multiple players careening around quasi-medieval settings with lots of blood and power-ups made the original Golden Axe a huge success. Beast Rider takes a different direction by focusing on the combat and beasts instead of instant gratification. While the counter-attacks and the beasts add something to the lacklustre gameplay, everything else from cameras to enemies makes it a chore to slog through one end of a level to another. Gamers looking to take a trip down memory lane might want to find another ride.   

Article by: Daniel Boutros