In full retro fashion, the most veteran players are swelling to receive productions of this same nature in an untiring way. The proliferation of independent studios has especially encouraged the arrival of all kinds of works of a classical nature, and in some cases these productions have a specific name. That is the case of Henk Nieborg (known for his work in works such as the saga Shantae O Xeno Crisis), which is the alma mater that has led this project that is named Battle Axe. A quite enjoyable game that takes us to the golden age of arcades from the late 80s and early 90s. A good example that a simple and humble work backed by Kickstarter it can end up giving a very good result, something that fortunately we have already experienced many times over the last few years.
The narrative takes us to a fantasy land called Mercia, a place that has been dominated with an iron fist for many years by the sinister Etheldred. Every seven years exactly, this sorceress sends her hordes of monsters and creatures from the grave in search of poor victims to become her slaves. Faced with such a situation and tired of their cruelty, the inhabitants of Mercia try to reverse the situation by sending their three best and most powerful warriors to the cold northern plains, which is the area where the witch has established her court. Three guys who, in the end, become the great protagonists and heroes that we can handle in this interesting adventure full of action and confrontations.
Pitched battles
Indeed, this is a game that has a very arcade and direct playable layout. It’s about a hackn slash in the old-fashioned way and which, according to its own creator, is inspired by works as beloved and revered as Gauntlet O Golden Axe. And that is noticeable from the first moment, because the approach that the title possesses consists, basically, in choosing our favorite character and kill every monster that comes our way. And what characters do we have at our disposal? Well, we have a trio, as we mentioned before, which is made up of the ruthless dark elf Fae, the druid Ialo and the prowling “animal” Roonie. Some protagonists who have a very good design and a lot of charisma.
Each character has their weapons, attributes and set exclusive movements, although they all share a similar control scheme. This consists of four main action buttons (attack, fire, ability and object), a simple system at best but that allows us to carry out authentic butchery. The scenarios are riddled with undesirables, there is a quite considerable variety of adversaries that vary depending on the level at which we are. And in case you are wondering, indeed, each phase is guarded by the final boss of the shift who will do everything possible to finish us off.
The game formula is straight to the point and does not beat around the bush. The fighting is constant and it is necessary to advance by funds that have a fairly linear designAlthough it is true that an attempt has been made to bring some diversity to the matter thanks to two well-present factors. On the one hand, in the scenarios there are characters waiting to be rescued if we wish (it is not mandatory), a light brushstroke of exploration that never hurts, to which is added the presence of certain chests that are scattered throughout the funds and containing succulent rewards. That for one thing. And on the other, as we move forward and kill the rivals we collect fresh money that can be exchanged for different tiles. As you can see, this is a work that could well have made us enjoy decades ago in the arcades, especially in its cooperative doubles game mode (local only).
It may not be the most original title of the moment (it is the opposite case), but it is entertaining and also quite itchy. An odyssey of wild action with a twist gore in a cartoon style that suits you wonderfully, as does its level of difficulty. And it is that even in the easy level, it is not a precisely simple game, forcing us to learn the attack patterns of the final enemies by heart so as not to fall in full battle if we manage to reach them beforehand. A production that, as you can see, has also been blessed by a formidable technical finish. We find the aesthetics captivating and it is a pleasure to contemplate both the sets and the beasts that roam the different locations we visit, very varied indeed. Y the soundtrack is wonderful. Composed of the underrated Manami Matsumae, whose past is closely tied to masterpieces such as UN Squadron, Final Fight and such atrocities, each melody is an ode to good musical taste. Therefore, we are facing a title of nature indie very prominent in its audiovisual facet.
A return to arcades
Talented creator Henk Nieborg has brought a game to life that has lived up to what he surely had in mind: bringing to life an old-fashioned action-fighting adventure that pays tribute to classics as great as Gauntlet O Golden Axe. Without coming close to reaching the greatness of these legendary works that we have just mentioned, the truth is that it is very much enjoyed distributing firewood among the monsters that populate the lands of Mercia. A work as simple as it is well recreated and enjoyable As soon as we are interested in what he proposes, which is nothing more than to advance alone or doubles (on the same console), killing every bug that gets in our way. A title that also has a fantastic aesthetic line and, better still, a truly magnificent soundtrack.
We have performed this analysis using a download code sent by Meridiem Games.
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