Welcome to another edition of From the Shadows. Today we’re going to take a look at Golden Axe: Beast Riders and make a few speculations on what both oldschool and newschool gamers may be expecting out of this game. Information on this title is very limited, so it’s certainly ripe for the picking.

Golden Axe is a series that many arcade goers will have fond memories of. The very name of the series causes most gamers to think of an early hack and slash that paved the way for future games of the same ilk. Iconic to the retro gaming fanbase, the series will face a new challenge in enticing a fresh generation of gamers to experience a Golden Axe game possibly for the first time in Golden Axe: Beast Riders. Many things will need to be done if Sega wants to maintain the loyalty of older gamers while winning the hearts of the new generation.

Possibly the most memorable thing about the original side-scroller Golden Axe games is the simplicity behind the gameplay. Players were given a button for jumping, a button for attacking, and a button for magic use. This simple layout allowed more or less anyone to jump into the game and begin smashing up the bad guys. This combined with a fun yet challenging learning curve created a great gaming experience that had its share of success in the arcades.

However, gamers of today are used to doing more to get their gaming experience. A new wave of games such as God of War and Ninja Gaiden 2 bring about an equal feel of running around and beating someone into submission with an impressive combat system filled with combos and plenty of different ways to put an end to a foe. These movements are performed using an array of buttons in a fast-paced environment.

Sega should feel challenged to find a way to revamp the gameplay of Beast Riders in such a way that the new generation feels comfortable while not alienating the retro crowd. This could be difficult seeing that honestly any advanced combat system at all will show the age of the original games. A system with combos could be easily and effectively done, but adding too many buttons to the fray may spoil the experience while leaving too much potential out may create a more shallow system that could be deemed a failure. Hopefully Sega can create a fair mix of both aspects that looks and feels great.

I also believe that the magic system will need updated in an original way that pays homage to the classics. Collecting magic potions isn’t asking much since many games of today still demand that gamers collect specific items for specific reasons, and it wouldn’t be all that difficult to collect potions since the gnomes are making a return. Players could gather potions from the ground or beat them out of everyone’s favorite, giant sack-carrying thieves and cast massive spells that wipe all enemies from sight. Thinking back to the original, Tyris was the master of fire and the most powerful magic-user in the first Golden Axe. This means that the game developers have a lot to play with since Tyris already has a reputation. Perhaps, when summoned, the dragon can swoops close to the ground, breathing fire and creating chaos, then swiftly fly off only to make a quick U-turn and continue its fiery onslaught.

I’m glad that the developers of Beast Riders are continuing the tradition of riding creatures to beat the ass of many bad guys, but I feel that they have to get this part just right. The new generation is going to want the beasts to do more than just walk around and perform one attack over and over – hence making the beasts completely suck gameplay-wise – and oldschool Golden Axe players like myself aren’t going to enjoy mounts getting spammed every single step during a level. I think it would be cool to bring the beast mounts into play every so often during a stage or level. These guys should be strong enough that the battle between the player and the enemy should be over the control of said beast. Yes, the gameplay of the original series was like this, but the beasts immediately took a nap if nobody was mounting them. That’s not very fun. The developers should have the beasts going wild and attacking anything and everything if no one is controlling them. This would provide a brand new experience and level of difficulty to the game. I’ve already read that the main focus of the game will be riding beasts, but I can only hope that they take a more thought out direction like the one I’m proposing.

I read the thread about this game on the Screwattack forum, and I’d like to quote one g1 when he heard that Beast Riders support no multiplayer options: They’ve already screwed up. The very idea behind the Golden Axe series was gathering two of your friends up, getting Ax Battler, Tyris, and Gilius in a game together, and sticking it to Death Adder as hard as you could. The tradition continued with other Golden Axe titles with Golden Axe III introducing teamwork moves. Now that Sega has established the series as a multiplayer classic, they’re ready to smash it to bits. Let’s get one thing straight: oldschool and newschool alike are going to hate this.

The rather weak excuse given for this fiasco is that Sega was exploring new boundaries and wanted to get Beast Riders just right so they could build onto it in the future. The message I’m reading is “wait until the sequel if you want multiplayer.”

While I’ll agree with plenty of people who will show up here only to tell me that multiplayer isn’t everything in a game, multiplayer is what carried this series into the history books. I am honestly suggesting that if Golden Axe was single player, it never would have made an impact. Does that mean this new generation of Golden Axe will flop? I certainly don’t want it to, but God of War III will probably wipe the floor with this game. Gamers old and new simply want multiplayer extras or amazing single play, and God of War has come damn close to perfecting the latter.

Thanks for joining me for another edition of From the Shadows. Do you have a future title that you want me to look a little deeper into? Send me a PM! Remember that magazine speculation isn’t automatically the final word. Sometimes the best speculation is from the shadows.