From: blacklion@juno.com   
      
   BelPowerslave wrote:   
   >> Wanted to add my impressions to the original thread. Played through   
   >> the first level just past the first gnome encounter. The game is   
   >> competent and nice to look at, but lacks a certain polish. It's also   
   >> brutally difficult in some places, and leaves you fighting the camera   
   >> a lot. Overall I'm glad I bought it, but I don't think people will   
   >> like it enough to let the series continue with a sequel.   
   >   
   > How far are you in to it now? I made it to the desert, where you get   
   > that one really large best for the first time. Sadly, right after that   
   > encounter, I just sort of gave up. There are these female wizards who   
   > show up and constantly snipe you with spells while two to three enemies   
   > attempt to bash your skull in with their axes. With no block, it was   
   > just too much to handle.   
   >   
   >> In a nutshell, the game is built a lot like Gunvalkyrie on the   
   >> original Xbox. The environments are large and forboding, and the   
   >> enemies appear without a whole lot of warning. You're rewarded for   
   >> quick thinking and tactical quickness, but mistakes multiply each   
   >> other and leave you on the ground unable to defend yourself. The   
   >> secret items scattered around to encourage exploration is a   
   >> distinctive Sega feature, but everything else is rough and derivative.   
   >> I get the feeling the designers spent all their time making everything   
   >> look good, and then forgot to give you an opportunity to actually get   
   >> a chance to look at it.   
   >   
   > What kills me about it is that Secret Level is a very competent dev   
   > house(at least, based off their work on DC Unreal Tournament), and they   
   > even had the guy who did the original game at their offices giving   
   > thoughts and input on the project. I just don't understand how it came   
   > off the way it did. Makes me wonder if it's the curse of new Sega, as   
   > they bought SL for this project specifically.   
      
   Actually just got a chance to play Golden Axe yesterday.  It's not   
   nearly as bad as everyone is making it out to be - I've had a great deal   
   of fun with it so far (though I'm not that far into it yet - I think   
   just on level 3).   
      
   I will say that I've found that the beasts, while cool, are largely   
   useless because Tyris is just so much faster and more nimble and can block.   
      
   once you get the blue = block and orange = evade down to a reflex rather   
   than having to think about it, some of the multi-monster fights get   
   quite fun.   
      
   I'm not a big fan of exploring huge levels without at least some   
   indication of where I'm SUPPOSED to go (even if I choose to go every   
   other way first), and that loading screen with the bad-guy-in-a-thong   
   just disturbs me to no end.   
      
   > Though I have GGX on the DC, I haven't put a whole lot of time in with   
   > it. From what I have played of it, I wasn't real thrilled. I don't know   
   > if it was the daunting task of starting up with an entirely new fighter   
   > or what, but I just couldn't get in to it. I hear it's a quality fighter   
   > though, so I think I am going to give it some more time when I get the   
   > chance. Is there anyone Ryu/Ken-like that may help me ease in to it?   
      
   The Guilty Gear games have such a completely oddball range of   
   characters.... and yet they're FAR more balanced than Capcom could ever   
   hope to get.  You won't find any ryus or kens, but just picking one of   
   the 'less weird' characters ought to help you get into it.  Johnny's   
   pretty good for a starter.   
      
   --   
   -benstylus   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)