No, I'm not talking about getting deodorant or anything. I'm talking about the game I said I was finishing up "Golden Axe: Beast Rider." But before I get into that, Realtime Worlds has my regards on having to shut down servers to "All Point Bulletin" after just a short run of 79 days. It's hard maintaining an online game and I've played many of them to see them shut down, acquired by other companies, or overlooked altogether.
Unfortunately, their services weren't that great which was the main downfall to the game. This is based on players of the game who blogged about it and by my own personal opinion when I was "trying to" beta test it. The game had potential, but there were too many problems, hackers, and lack of communication with the people maintaining the game which killed off a lot of their custom's interest in continuing the game. I've heard rumors that they might go for a free2play format, so perhaps I'll give it another shot if that should ever happen. They could get acquired by another company and go free2play then. That's what Flagship Studios did for Hellgate: London
I can't express how excited I am for an international release of Hellgate: Tokyo. I love Hellgate: London and am still playing it now. Now then, I had a game I wanted to talk about:
[Golden Axe: Beast Rider - PS3]
This game was TERRIBLE! Everything I loved about Golden Axe was chewed up and spit out into this abomination of a game. But on the utmost unbiased side of me, this game was ambitious and had a lot of potential that was ruined by faulty game mechanics due to creative concept choices and unchecked computer AI. This is what critics were saying about this action hack n' slash train wreck.
"With the exclusion of co-op -- what people really want to play -- and the constant hint that a sequel's already on the way, Beast Rider feels like a difficult, drawn-out, $60 tutorial. Why bother?" -1Up
Yes, the game was hard, but that wasn't the problem for me. I beat the game and found it much more frustrating than challenging. The original Golden Axe was hard. Ninja Gaiden (new and old) is hard. Shinobi (PS2 one) is hard. Demon's Souls is hard. This game wasn't hard, it just had a lot of problems in design that made it hard. The only time it'll get hard is if you played on the hardest difficulty (which you only get after beating the game) and see that the enemies don't have an aura which tells you whether you should parry or dodge (I'll get into that later).
"If you ever plan to design a hack & slash-game, you should definitely play Golden Axe: Beast Rider. It's the perfect example of what not to do." -Game.nl
I kind of agree, but also think that this game was going somewhere really great. There were a few times I was genuinely having fun and found it challenging and exciting. But more than often, there were problems with the combat system, the thing that made the game so great, that it caused more anguish and annoyance.
"If that wasn't bad enough, the glitchy, jerky graphics are further ravaged by a spastic camera that literally had me woozy at times. [Holiday 2008, p.84]" -Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)
If you're wondering where I'm pulling all these quotes from, they're from metacritic, which I tend to check often now. This quote is quite right on the graphics. I found the game lagging a lot on transitions, particle effects, or when turning the camera.
"This is a game worth avoiding like the plague, even if the classic remains deep and warm within your heart." -IGN
This game spits in the face of fans of the series and devours newbie gamers with its difficulty. For gamers who are familiar with counter systems, action orientated hack n' slash, and harder games, normal isn't that bad for this game. But new players or casual players would be turned off by its complexity and faulty controls. Heck, I bet even hardcore gamers would be disgusted with the mechanics of the game. The game still has the dwarf and barbarian, but they both appear TWICE in the entire game with barely a story to give a background. And you can only play as Tyris Flare, which is alright; however, the game has unresolved problems that made me not care.
"The graphics and sound are great, and the numerous challenges and arena modes offer some diversity. If you're up for a quick hack-and-slash game, rent it. If you want a game with depth, however, this Axe needs sharpening." -GameDaily
That's the best quote I could find on MetaCritic for this game. The game DOES have depth in my opinion, but it also has problems. I'll go through them now:
Graphics
The graphics are fine. They're actually beautiful in terms of environment and detail. A lot of the artists are from China I believe, since all the names were Chinese for Art when I was going through the credits screen. Like an earlier quote noted, there are randomly dropped frames, slow downs, glitchy animations and such throughout the game. This wasn't actually too big of a problem for me. One of the biggest gripes I had about the graphics was the camera orientation. It's a given that it should be behind the character for a hack n' slash like Dynasty Warriors; however, the combat is heavily based on using dodges and parries to counter attack enemies. When an enemy attacks and has a blur aura around their arm, you must parry. Blue magic can be deflected as well. If the enemy strikes with a heavy attack with an orange aura around their arm, you have to dodge. If you don't do this accordingly, you either get hit or stunned respectively. This is okay when you have 1-3 enemies and they're all push overs. But when you have 5-9 enemies surrounding you, auras are blocked, enemies are in your blind sides (such as behind the character AND camera), magic is flying towards you from off the screen, and you get juggled to death because the counter mechanics can't dodge or parry more than one consecutive attack at a time and you can't do either when attacking either. The other problem I had is not being able to get onto of roofs and platforms that are reachable. The designer decided to not allow the player to get up on higher places...Even so, animation was awkward, cut scenes weren't magnificent, and graphics were only okay. Graphics: 7/10
Audio
NO MUSIC! Can you believe it? One of the greatest things in Golden Axe was the music that set its mood with catchy tunes. There WAS some audio in the background though. The whole game consisted of a lot of generic tribal ambiance and was barely audible. The most audible background music is the title screen, and it isn't even that great. The only two notable tunes in the game is when the stupid gnomes come out. They play the same obnoxious clip they did in the original with revamped instruments, but can barely be heard. The game over sound is the same too, but is also very quiet. I am very annoyed with no music in games and make few exceptions to them. Counter-Strike and Hellgate: London was okay with no music. I'm sad that Demon's Souls doesn't have music in-game, but I soon realized that it was so that the player can hear creatures around the corner. I would have loved to hear some of the old songs from the original in this one, but am glad they didn't now that I've experience how bad the game was. The sounds effects were alright though. 3 points for sound effects. Audio: 4/10
Controls/Gameplay
As I've discussed before, the game concentrated on a counter-system that required the player to respond to an attack with a defensive maneuver before counter attacking. The problem is the camera angle, the fact that the controls don't allow consecutive dodges and parries to multiple enemies, and non-responsive actions (you clearly dodge, move, or attack an enemy and it doesn't register. Throughout the game, I am constantly juggled by a string of attacks, bombarded by ranged attacks not within the view of my screen, ambushed from the back or sides, or knocked off a ledge or killed RIGHT before a checkpoint (I kid you not, I was at the end of a challenge with one enemy left and am usually killed right then not knowing when the next checkpoint was and did not want to restart from the beginning). When you die in Beast Rider, you get to choose to use a Dragon Statue, which is like a 1-up or freeman if you will, that revives you right where you died. Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, you could go back to the beginning of the checkpoint from 5-20 minutes ago and start over. I started over so many times because I didn't want to use a dragon statue. They are rare and not given, you have to find them. In the end, I used a lot of them because I didn't want to start all over. One of the stupidest creative choices they could have made was giving tips and descriptions of a new enemy AFTER you've defeated them, leaving the player clueless to what they're up against and how to kill them. I could go on and on about this, but I'd be just rambling. Gameplay&Controls: 5/10
Replay Value
They made this game under the impression that the player would play it more than once and do the challenges. The more loot you get, the more stuff you get. After beating the game, I have all the spells and all the outfits. I have 3 of Tyris' swords, but I'm missing 8 of them. I don't have the nerves and patience to continue playing this game any longer. I truly want to like this game, but it's just so bad...The final weapon is the Golden Axe, and you get to use it on the very end of the game anyways. Everything explodes into pieces when they get near you! =D Except for the boss of course. The final boss, Death Adder, wasn't even hard. It took me the 2nd try (because the first time, I thought you only had to fight him once). The ending of the story was really stupid too. Actually, the whole story was pretty bad. They tried to follow the original Golden Axe in their story and setting, but it didn't feel like it at all. Pretty much, the ending was a huge hint that they're working on a sequel already. Terrible..... Replay Value: 5/10 (I enjoyed some parts...)
Overall
I wish I was part of the development team for this project. I would have been able to make this game SOOOO much better. I'm not bragging, and I'm not saying that the team who made this game is bad, but I have so many ideas that could make this game better or even great! There were a lot of mechanics that could have been viable for the creation of a truly great Golden Axe, but where flawed. Unfortunately, I think this game was a new coming and was just going to be called "Beast Rider." But Sega bought the company "Secret Level" and had them change it into a Golden Axe game, probably when they were already far into the project. To sum it up to one word, the game was a "disappointment." Lots of great and ambitious ideas ruined by badly programmed AI, poor creative choices in camera and design, and the lack of multiplayer. Overall: 4/10
I also beat Army of Two: 40th Day with a friend, I'll do a short one for that:
[Army of Two: 40th Day - PS3]
This game is weird...but fun surprisingly. So you have two guys, Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem, who is hired to do some work for the government in Shanghai. They get their job done, they get their orders to head back and suddenly "BAM" Shanghai goes into chaos with destruction and debris all over the place and people are suddenly killed by random mercenaries everywhere. So the game is a third person co-op based shooter that you could play with an AI, a buddy with split screen, or over the internet with another player. The game offers a lot in weapon customization and play style choices. Who you play with could dramatically change the way the gameplay feels (I would know playing with two friends of opposite play styles). The story made no sense until the very end, and then it gives a lame ending that reminded me of the ending for Haze. But the gameplay was deep and very involving when playing with a friend right next to you.
Graphics
Lots of beautiful visuals. A lot of pointless ones considering that things around the characters kept blowing up for no good reason. The camera control was probably the hardest thing to get around since it's shifted to once side and needs to be switched if the player wants to look at the other side of him. There were also times where my friend and I weren't certain that we were well under cover behind a wall or object. Despite that Graphics: 8/10
Audio
Music isn't as important in this game, but it had it. It's not memorable, but it had impact on the game. I respect that, and really enjoyed what the music and sound did for the game. Some of the guns didn't sound very accurate, but it wasn't that big of a problem. I think I'd give audio an extra point for all the witty comments the two characters exchanged between one another. Audio: 9/10
Gameplay
Gotta admit that customizing our guns and equipment was fun. We would spend 10-20 minutes going through everything and finding the best parts that fit our play style (sharpshooter, attention getter, sprayer, assassination, etc.) These aren't names within the game, they're just generic labels you would call your play style in shooters. A shooter in third-person feels weird at first, but does get rather satisfying after getting accustomed to it. Gameplay: 9/10
Replay Value
The freedom to make choices and take different paths each time gives this game a lot of depth and interesting options for the player to use each play through. I haven't tried the versus mode yet, but the campaign itself has enough content for about 3-7 playthroughs. If you're a achievement horde, then get ready to play this game over 10+ times. Replay Value: 9/10
Overall
Down to the point since I have to go eat dinner now: If you see it for $40 or less and you have a buddy to play with, go out and buy it. Overall: 9/10 with a friend, probably a 7/10 if you play with just AI, kinda boring.
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