Even though it’s too early to tell, I don’t see Chicken Stinger in any of the screenshots. It just isn’t Golden Axe if Chicken Stinger isn’t in the game.

So when I first heard the rumors of a new Golden Axe coming out I was pretty pumped. I was a huge fan of the original arcade game and all of the Sega Genesis variants. However after reading the latest details, my enthusiasm waned. From CVG:

The first details on Sega and Secret Level’s long announced Golden Axe update have been revealed in the latest issue of PSM3.

If you’re looking for a straight update you’re probably going to be disappointed, because the classic bruiser has been pretty much completely re-imagined in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 update.

First off, you now play as one Amazonian hero, the scantily clad Tyris Flare, instead of the original game’s trio of fantasy stereotypes. Gillus the dwarf and Ax Battler are still in the game, says PSM3, but only as supporting cast.

Secondly, and probably the biggest change of the lot, is instead of straight-forward bruising Golden Axe: Beast Rider’s focus shifts over to free-roaming environments and - surprise, surprise - the various beasties you can ride and battle on. There are five in total, ranging from the light and nippy to hulking, slow dragon-ites with scales the size of toilet seats.

The traditional hack and slash combat is still there and if you’re tired of fumbling around on a dragon you can hop on foot and perform combos whenever you like - plus Tyrus has a range of spells at her disposal.

The open environments are looking rather nice, but as always it’s going to come down to how decent Golden Axe’s combat system is when it finally comes out next year.

We’re expecting media to hit the net shortly, but for now you can pick up issue 95 of PSM3 - The PlayStation 3 Magazine in the shops now.

What the hell? Why doesn’t Sega just make this game under a new IP because it doesn’t appear to have anything in common with the old Golden Axe games. There’s a multitude of things wrong with this “Golden Axe” game:

+ You can only play as the amazon. Don’t get me wrong, Tyris is pretty fun to play with, but everyone knows that Gilius Thunderhead was the best.

+ Tyris looks nothing like Tyris. This wouldn’t be that big of a deal except for the fact that they hoochied her up to the nth degree. She looks like she should be in a Soul Calibur game.

+ Even though it’s too early to tell, I don’t see Chicken Stinger in any of the screenshots. It just isn’t Golden Axe if Chicken Stinger isn’t in the game.

+ I wouldn’t mind so much if this game was maybe a sandbox with good fighting mechanics, but from the description, and the title (Beast Rider’s), suggest that you’re going to spend most of your time riding on dragons or what not.

Sega has really dropped the ball as of late. They’re one of my favorite video game companies and have put out some of my all time faves (Shen Mue, Jet Set Radio and Shining Force just to name a few…), but they’ve been really sucking as of late. Their only solid releases in the past year have been Virtua Fighter 5 and Bleach: Blade of Fate.

You know, it just hit me. Nobody kills their past franchises the way Sega does. They’ve really made an art out of it these past couple of years. While some companies, i.e. Capcom, love to milk their intellectual properties, Sega likes to exhume the corpses of their storied franchises and shit all over them. (Hello Sonic.)

Related Posts:

→ Golden Axe
→ I Hate Rastan Saga
→ Cave Story
→ Knytt