The graphics are incredible! The game's opening introduction pictures, its backgrounds, its characters and even its magic animation are truly amazing. If you don't believe me, check out Flare's fire-breathing dragon which can only be summoned when her magic reserves are at full strength! The bigger boss characters are exactly that...BIG! When you finally run into Death Adder and his mighty axe, you feel that you are in for the fight of your life!
The opening music is truly awesome. You can choose either sound effects or music, both of which are very good. It might be a one song soundtrack but it still conveys the mood nicely for this faithful coin-op conversion.
The moves are simple with the exception of the head, but manoeuvres can be somewhat tricky at times during the heat of battle. Also, the fire-breathing beasts you can mount along the way are extremely hard to use effectively and are actually more harmful than good in the case of this Commodore version of the classic Sega game.
A few things were left out to incorporate this multiplayer game into a solid one player game capable of standing alone on its own merits and that is understandable. Yet, this game is Fun! Fun! Fun! The makers really put the time and effort to exploit every nook and cranny the C-64 had to offer and it showed. All in all, another faithful Sega conversion of a classic coin-op for the ages.
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Managed to get a game in before school on the day it arrived (despite 2x failed load attempts). Initially I was impressed with it, probably because it was "Golden Axe". In retrospect however its not that great - sure the music is great and the intro/ loader screens are impressive, but the in-game colour is a bit washed out and the one on one combat is not as much fun. After having played the Megadrive version I'm less likely to play this version again.
The music, the visuals were very good. The hack and slash of it.
I really loved it. Good Job.
7 / 10
The startling thing was that for an extra £20 you could have been playing the Megadrive version instead.
Games like this are the perfect example as to why most people moved onto games consoles into the late 80's/early 90's.
An utter shambles of an arcade port.
Recently played the game in Vice64, and discovered it's quite fun to play it again. The extra magic-power is a graphical treat to see, and the overall design of the backdrops is also pretty nice. The in-game music gets anoying after repeating, but sounds solid. I don't see much wrong with the sprites btw, although they're only maybe a little crude; the end of level guardians and the dragons are particulary well drawn. And the ladies on level 2 land at least in a good position when they drop down.
Excellent presentation by the masters of Probe!
On top of that, the sprites suck big time! Nice backdrops, though.
I guess without the 2 player mode, it was always going to be a disappointment.
lovely bomb effect though...
This one was a big disappointment. It's the best example of a C64 trying to be an Amiga - a typical disease of that era (90s). Games like "Bop'n'Rumble" show what graphics the C64 is made for.
The lack of 2-player mode made me realize how dumb the game's aim is in general. They even needed automated doors because the characters could only swing their weapons...
Not that it was a great game to begin with - just keep slashing the enemies that attack you until you meet the big guy.
Still the music is better than on any other machine, which proves even a crappy C64 game might give you something.
It still is one of the better games and would be in my top 50.