Battle Axe

I bought the game day one, but didn't really keep in mind how much I paid for it. Battle Axe is a modern arcade game and it's basically a fun, co-op slash em up and nothing special in those regards. However, that fun doesn't really translate to $25. I would have rather paid $15 for the game, so wait a few years and get it on sale at a price that I think makes better sense. It's just an arcade game. There might be something to endless mode, but there's no way in heck I'd pay this much for an arcade game even back in the nineties.

This game feels like a hybrid of Gauntlet, Chaos Engine, and Metal Slug. The pixel art, animation, sound effects, and 90's MIDI-like arcade score are second-to-none for capturing the essence of coin-gobblers. That said, the only thing I'd like to see in future versions would be an additional character or two and a large flashing, noisy, golden "GO!" with an arrow pointing to the general direction you should be heading as sometimes it gets confusing as to where you should be and you may spend a few minutes wandering around lost until you learn the maps. Maybe they could add this and have it only flash on-screen when the players stand still for 5 seconds. Anyway, great game! The artwork and music alone are worth the price of admission.

My first impression was very positive, because the graphics and overall presentation are really nice. But it quickly shifted into being negatively surprised: Fixed controls in 2021, really?! And the toggeble "CRT filter" just blurs the picture like if you're long-sighted and misplaced your glasses. So, instead of a nice retro experience, I only have the choice between blocky or blurry. Both parts are signs of extreme negligence in polish, and diminish my playing experience to a significant extent. It's unfortunate, since I would've liked to like or even love this game, but controls and (here: retro) visuals are such central elements of a game that I can't just overlook them. All that said, I still like the rest of the game, and the native Linux support couldn't be praised enough. If some future update would add customizable controls and a better CRT filter, this game could actually become a really gem to me.

...especially in co-op. If you liked the old arcade games, like Metal Slug, Chaos Engine and some others (maybe even Golden Axe), than you will like this game. The graphics, scound it excellent, works great on low end hardware and can be played with keyboard, but cotroller is recommended, since with keyboard it is quite hard to shoot projectiles in 45°. Relly, two things, I miss are maybe one or two additional playable characters and a yellow/golden arrow with the Go! sign or similar, that would show you the way, when you did sweep off all the enemeis. So that you don't need to wander around and wasting time 😉. Anyway, highly recommended when on sale.