By Joseph Walter
By rejuvenate, I mean remake the games with less-than Nintendo 64 quality graphics, unresponsive controls, a framerate that begs for death, and then, finally, defame the previously air-tight version of the game with one that is unfairly unplayable.
While others were somewhat passable (like "Space Harrier," and I mean somewhat) "Golden Axe" seems to have taken the biggest blow. Aside from an intro that adds a new layer to the oddly memorable plot, it goes from hilariously easy to impossibly difficult on a whim (and I use "impossible" with its literal definition) and has a framerate that is so weak in the knees that a scene of a flowing river drags the game down to a fatally slow pace.
It's apparent that the programmers all failed on the grandest scale imaginable, but there is one person on that cursed team that did their job, and took it beyond even my wildest dreams.
Using the already stellar themes from the original "Golden Axe" and then releasing them from the odd Genesis sound-chip shackles, the composer was able to show off the potential of these themes with synthetic orchestral versions that are far greater than what the entire "Sega Ages" line deserved.