This game is exactly what it is trying to be...a next gen version of Golden Axe.
I'll start with the beef first. I expected to have a revisit to the old Golden Axe world with a fairly decent story. What I got was a revisit to the Golden Axe world with the same basic game play and a few added gimmicks. Instead of "battle, move right, battle...", you get "battle, move right, battle move forward, battle, go down the hill..." The story is to be expected, a little weak. But I was ready for that. The thing that gets me is each stage is broken up into "challenges". You will play so far into a level, then it will tell you how well you ranked, and then you move onto the next part of a level. I don't have a problem with this at the end of a level, but the placement make you feel like each segment is more like an American Gladiator run then part of a fluid story. I feel it drags an already weak story down more.
Then there is combat. The idea is sound. It has been used since the dawn of games. Bad guys spawn, good guy fights the spawn, on to the next fight. The problem is the animation. The enemy's attacks have a color to them so you know to dodge or block. This looks pretty neat if it is you vs. up to about 4 minions. Any more then that, though, and glitches start. Instead of swiveling behind an enemy while dodging, the axe goes through you and deals no damage. The camera gets wonky, especially if there is terrain nearby. The first thing I did was to go to the options and manually move back the camera. This helped a lot. Also sometimes the enemy don't even have a light behind their attack, so it pretty much always hits you, ruining your "Titan bonus". They have also used the camera angle against me, seemingly on purpose. Put a caster on either side of me and you can only see and block one at a time, while getting pummeled by the other. If your game lacks decent camera controls, don't try to use that to make your game harder. It just makes people hate your game more.
Other then those things, I've seen a decent amount of glitches with the shadows and even seen the refresh rate mess up once, and I'm only 40 minutes into the game. A little lag here and there as well.
Now for the good things. For a hack and slash, It does what I bought it to do (hold my attention until Rock band 2 and LBP). It's solid enough to not get you ticked
at it and quit. You may get a little board at times, since it keeps the same pace, but it's not too hard to pick back up. Being that I'm not too far into the game, I still have hopes for the story not turning out totally lame, but not many video games these days fail miserably close to the end. The graphics are good. And the characters are mostly likable. Overall it seems to work, if only in short bursts.
All and all I gave the game a 7.5 which represents to me a average game. Hardcore gamers will feel a void from this game, lacking the energy of the high end and high budget game they are use too. But I feel the typical Hack and slash lover will feel a bit of charm from reliving a past favorite in 3d. Try renting this title first, and if you like it, give it a buy.