Game:

Myth (1989)

Duration: 15:04

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Heh heh, I wonder how many people expected me to come out with this vid after the bulletin I posted about going back to old platforms (which I am... confirmed it with my bro that we're starting SNES/SFC tomorrow or later today). It's funny how some of the greatest projects get released with little to no fanfare. Golden Axe Myth, an Italian-developed (from my understanding) freeware prequel of sorts to the original Golden Axe, is one such title. While the recent release of "Streets of Rage Remake" was being closely followed for years, nobody anticipated that a new Golden Axe game was in the works, and nobody really expected it to be finished shortly after SORR either. I've been following this game since late 2007 and it's good to know that the game is complete, and has exceeded my expectations for a number of reasons.

For one, it is easily one of the most ambitious games ever to be developed with the "OpenBOR" engine, an update to Senile Team's original BOR engine. The game loads quickly, supports up to four players, and almost every asset for the game is original, from new character designs and stages to new music, extra routes, new secrets and character cards, upgradable character parameters with skilled playing, and a new story. The soundtrack is excellent with enhanced and remixed tunes from the series, and the character designs and visuals are simply beautiful. While I was initially put off a bit with the designs of the heroes (not the enemies; they look fantastic), they admiteddly grow on you and are a little less "beautiful" and a little more "barbaric", as they probably should've been to begin with. With weapons, spells, and monsters, this GA game actually has blood and several brutal ways to defeat foes, which is awesome. It's detailed and articulated in such a way that you almost forget its an OpenBOR game.

Secondly, given the overall detail of the game and relatively low profile in which it was created, the game was completed within a reasonable timeframe for an indie project and with amenities most projects of this type do not offer. Considering development started in 2007, you not only get a complete free game of this quality, you can also download an official artbook from the creators as well as the game's soundtrack... all for FREE... remember when I said Sega fans had some kind of "do it better than Sega" quota to fill or something with all these quality fan projects? Well, besides Streets of Rage Remake and Sonic Fan Remix to name a few, you can add this game to the growing list of games. What's next? Phantasy Star V? Panzer Dragoon Saga II Zwei? Who knows, but I wouldn't be suprised in the slightest if this game got a cease and desist as well.

If you've never played Golden Axe or any of its sequels or spin-offs, it's largely a high fantasy medieval series of brawlers/fighters that originated in 1989 and was popular for many years afterwards. Combining the basic hack and slash formula with mountable beasts, magic(k) spells that could be gained that differed between characters, and kickable gnomes, the game was good fun and still has a decent following after all these years. The most recent (official) game in the series is "Golden Axe: Beast Rider" which... is... decent, but lacking something vital: co-op. Needless to say, some people wanted more, like for the series to return to its roots, which is just what Golden Axe Myth set out to do.

With that out of the way, GAM isn't perfect. The game is easy with anything more than one player (and it supports up to four), there are some spelling issues with the story, some dialogues can't be skipped apparently, and the gameplay could be tweaked and balanced a little more (magic is insanely powerful, my man Gilius is just too awesome now, and character status displays can obscure the lower section of the screen), but an astounding amount of effort was put into the game and Baritono Marchetto and crew should be very proud. This is a sample of the game in action. Get it before it's too late at:

http://www.goldenaxemyth.com.ar/

Enjoy.