thordog
Feb 25th, 2007, 08:14 PM
Before I got a Turbo, I used to go play my friends all the time. He only had one game, but it was fun as hell and it was because of these experiences that I ultimately decided to get my own Turbo. The basic premise of this game is pretty mundane: you are the hero who must hack his way through multiple side-scrolling levels of destruction to save the kidnapped girlfriend. Basically you walk, jump, and attack with no variation to speak of. This is the trite filler that was seen in many games up to that point, but the rest of this game stands above the others. The level designs are excellent, often departing from the rigid design often seen in NES side-scrollers. Most of those games were simple beginning to end in a straight line, but L. Axe will often challenge you to take many paths to reach the boss or find the final secret room. MOST of the enemies you will encounter are fun, well-designed creatures that take a little thought to beat. Each time you swing your weapon, your strength meter goes down a bit. If you try to hit and back off, hit and back off, you will more often than not be chased down and clubbed like a baby seal. To help compensate for this, the game gives you power-ups like the mask, which increases your weapon power in large increments. When your axe gets to full power and you land a perfect blow, the screen flashes at you and rewards your efforts with a "CRUNCH!" The music in L. Axe displays a great range and is incredibly atmospheric. After playing for a while, you begin to identify the type of stage you are going to play just by listening to it. Some people may be turned off by the difficulty, but the game almost perfectly curves it with power-ups, etc. While most people would enjoy this game, it isn't for everybody, but everybody should try it at least once.