Golden Axe: Beast Rider Review (PS3)

Golden Axe: Beast Rider is an action video game released on the Playstation 3 and developed by the company Secret Level. The Golden Axe franchise is very very old and as such has a cult following. A Golden Axe game done correctly is sure to bring hours of enjoyment. So how does this game hold up? Let's find out.

Story : Well the story is a revenge story, and a quite generic one at that. But that doesn't matter because this is Golden Axe. Nobody plays Golden Axe for engaging characterization and development. People play Golden Axe to turn off their brain and split some heads.

Graphics : The graphics in this game are excellent. There is some slowdown, but it's really negligible and won't mean much unless you're really nitpicky. The characters are all drawn and animated very well, and the backgrounds also have a very high level of detail. Overall a really nice looking game with a variety of animations to look at and great backgrounds with good detail.

Sound : The music is just awesome. It really gets you in the mood to play this game, which is very important. The sound effects are all here and very vibrant. A sword swing never sounded quite this good. All the weapons have different sounds and tones and the level of detail in the sound alone is really quite good.

Game play : The game play is a lot like the very first Golden Axe, which is a great thing. You have tons of moves which creates a large number of strategies you can execute on your way to victory. The best part of the game though are the mounts. You can mount huge beasts and do all sorts of violent things to your enemies. I promise, this is what you will spend a large amount of your game time doing. It's a ton of fun. Also in the game are those classic old gnomes. You remember them, right? You hit them and then they drop an item or power up for you. The fact that these guys are in the game show that Secret Level really wanted to provide a nostalgic feel for all the old school games. Well, they delivered in spades. Bravo, Secret Level.

Re playability : Honestly, a really good action beat em' up is very re playable and as this is one of those, it's very re playable. If you have a friend to play with you, then this game's re playability goes off the charts. Excellent game.

Overall : 8/10. A great classic updated for modern systems.