Video Game Review - Golden Axe 2 (1991 - Sega Genesis)

Coming up, I was brought up on fairy tales. I was taught the code of chivalry, about knights saving fair damsels and the perils of ancient Greece from Edith Hamilton's Mythology as related to me by my mother. I've never read The Lord of the Rings, yet I feel I know it through myriad homages to it. My cartoon lineup consisted of Thundarr the Barbarian, Galtar & the Golden Lance (an early double-bladed lightsaber), the original Dungeons & Dragons cartoon and to a stretch, He-Man. Nothing appealed to me more than cleaving through monsters to stop the bad guy and get the girl. There are two ways I was able to access this fantasy: one was the all-purpose daydream, the other was through video games.
Some of my favorite memories are the times I spent playing the original Golden Axe, Gauntlet, Final Fight, Double Dragon and Streets of Rage. The release of smacking a few hundred bad guys around who'll smack back was fun. I was not prepared for the onslaught that is Golden Axe II.

Every "sword-and-sorcery" story has to have a text scroll to inform the viewer of the world they were about to visit. So it is with Golden Axe II:

A few years after the last battle...
in this land, the peace is threatened again
by an evil power.
The lord of darkness, 'DARK GULD',
who should have been imprisoned
in ancient times, arose again.
He destroyed entire countries with his evil clan
to bring this world into chaos.
Once again, the three warriors
have thrown themselves into a mighty battle.

Yep, the big dude in the big armor with the BIG axe is at it again. And so are our 3 heroes.
The dude, the girl and the dwarf are ready to take on the forces of evil once more as the crawl stated earlier. The Bizarrians (the weird pink-parrot-sperm thingies you ride) are back also. The gameplay of Golden Axe II has been spiced up with several options. Each character has their own maneuver to get out of being surrounded by pressing the attack button and the jump button at the same time. You can collect as many magic potions (to cast magic) and use as many as you want in a given moment by holding down the magic button. An example:
Tyris-Flare (the girl) has 8 magic slots. She can hold 6 magic spells. When she casts a small spell, you'll only have to hit the magic button once. One of the blue bars representing a magic slot will turn white and the spell will be cast. To cast the magic at full power, hold the magic button down until all of the blue bars turn white. Needless to say, game play has improved. But what of the enemies? Have they improved as well?

The enemies in Golden Axe II have improved vastly, yet they leave something to be desired. Many of the low-level enemies are dumb as posts (as they should be). Some of the bosses are the same way also. Two different enemies stand alone in their ability to kick ass in greater quality than their peers or supervisors.

THE SKELETON: Cunning, fast and relentless, these undead minions make up only a few elite units in Dark Guld's army and his personal guard in the final battle. Fighting them is worth every minute spent outwitting them.

THE LIZARDMAN: Lizardmen are not to be fucked with. Close-quarters fighting is their forte; the only way to really stop them is lots of charges. Even with that tactic, they'll find a way to make you pay with your blood and sweat.

The only disappointing thing about Golden Axe II is its bosses. The programming for these enemies makes the boss look like he's phoning it in. The only thing that makes the bosses formidable enemies is their attacks hurt a lot when they are conscious enough to hit you.

With a high nostalgia factor and some of the best rear attacks out there, Golden Axe II gets a 9.

RATING: 9/10