Battle Axe Review

Every seven years, Etheldred, an evil sorceress, sends her army of cronies to wreck havoc on each township of Mercia. Battle Axe puts players in the boots of one of three heroes, an elf, a wizard and a marauder who are called up to defend and protect the homeland of Mercia.

Battle Axe is a top down action game where players can pick from three different characters; the aforementioned elf, wizard and marauder. While all three characters has three different types of attacks. A default close range attack, a long range one and a special attack. They also have different perks; the marauder has a bit more health than the wizard.

For example, the big burly Marauder carries a small cannon whereas the wizard throws knives. Their special attacks can be used sporadically; as players need to wait until the special meter fills back up again. Thankfully it refills pretty quick.

As you kill enemies, you’ll be able collect coins to use in the shop in between levels which can either refill your health (a bit unnecessary given your health auto-refills between levels) or other beneficial perks to help you traverse the next level.

The game looks great with its 16-bit pixels visual styling; a nice little throwback to classic Super NES games; reminds me of The Lost Vikings a bit. Each level has its own visual color palette and theme. Levels have a bit of a dark tone for the macabre story. The soundtrack on the other hand, while chiptune sounding, it feels off and a bit over the top.

The game’s first issue here is what while it does offer two different difficulty settings, there’s little to no difference between both of them. The game automatically starts off on Hard; so you need to change it before starting. You take and dish out the same amount of damage whether it be Easy or Hard.

The little nuance I’ve noticed is that bosses take slightly more damage. Another problem is that each item in the shop lacks a description so you’re basically spending money without really knowing the benefits. And there’s no save feature. You die, you start over. There’s also no replay value unless you must absolutely play it through with all three characters.

Battle Axe is a fun little action game, albeit on the short side and no replay value. The gameplay is simplistic and easy to pick up play. Boss battles, while straight forward, are pretty fun and require some decent reflex. The game’s best selling point is definitely it’s 2 player co-op mode as we could always use more of those. Given it’s shortness and lack of replay value, shelling out $29.99/£24.99 feels a bit too much. Wait for a sale and enjoy an hour or so of button mashing.