Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"All flash, no substance"

Golden Axe: Beast Rider. Why give the game a title BEAST RIDER? You ride the beast just about as much as you did in the original. I admit there's more variety of beast to ride than the original. Not as good as I expected but WE must remember that Golden Axe was always a (hack & slash)adventure FIGHTING game. The control fighting felt awkward at first. I changed my controller configuration to profile 2. That way my attack buttons were (X&Y) and jump was button (A) and magic was (RT). The parrying & evade is where the art of fighting comes into the game. Once you get that technique mastered you will be able to battle multiple enemies at once. Without learning that technique you will get crushed & killed quickly.The gameplay feels more like Conan. So just to give players an idea of how it is. As far as riding the beast goes ...the same rules apply in this Golden Axe as the originals. Your beast will be killed if it takes too many hits or if you use up the entire beast powerful attacks. Also you can get jacked for your beast just like in the original game. The creatures walk very animal life like as if you really were riding a beast. The story isn't the best and actually starts off rushed. As you progress in the game you obtain the Golden Axe, which starts off as a boomerang until the axe is complete. Overall I don't think it's worth $60 but it's worth $40. It may get repetitive to some just like the original Golden Axe. Just remember it's one of those (hack & slash)adventure fighting games where it's gets better as you progress and LEARN to PARRY & EVADE or just be ready to get frustrated and take the game back for a trade in. Games from the 80's would just chew some of today's videogame players up and spit'em out. Some players don't realize how good they have it now in videogames and some game designers need to expand their imagination a tad more. We have save points, continue as an option and stage select now in just about all games now. Try playing a game for several hours just to die and have to start back at the beginning. Stay on the porch with the puppies if you can't roll with the big dogs. Golden Axe: Beast Rider, decent, but definitely don't expect any type of Gears of War gameplay or graphics. Your feelings may be hurt.