Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

Blades of Vengeance is one of the most fun games I've played on the Genesis.

It reminds me a bit of Golden Axe,but even better.

You can select to play as a barbarian,female warrior or wizard.

The barbarian can perform the most powerful attacks.He uses a giant axe but can upgrade to another weapon later but I forgot what tha weapon is.

The female warrior can do a decent amount of damage to enemies with her sword(although not as much as the barbarian,but she's more faster and agile)and she can upgrade her weapon to a crossbow.

The wizard can shoot magic at enemies(his magic attacks don't do as much damage as axe/sword slashes)but he can use his magic to attack enemies from a safe distance but he needs to be careful because some enemies don't slow down after being hit by magic attacks and they'll charge at the wizard and will try to harm him. When the wizard upgrades his staff,he can shoot a fireball.

The characters can upgrade their armor/weapons one time if they collect enough silver(which is the currency in the world).

The game plays similary to Golden Axe,you'll hack n slash/shoot enemies and the enemies will try to surround you and the enemies start off as slow, cumbersome rock humanoid things,but eventually some enemies such as fast moving trolls who don't stop advancing towards you even when you hit them with your weapon come into the game,so do werewolves,swordsmen,flying one eyed creatures that shoot energy beams at you,flying creatures and reptilian creatures.

Besides an attack button,the game has a jump button(which allows you to jump out of the way of enemy attacks and sometimes you'll need to because some enemies won't stop advancing towards you even when you hit them with an attack)and there's platforming segments in the game too.Some of the platforming segments require good timing or precise jumping because in some areas one missed platform jump will cause you to lose a life instantly or will cause you to lose a lot of health if you fall in lava and some of the platforms that you'll need to walk/jump on constantly move which tests your timing.

If you press up and attack,you'll perform a special move but it takes a couple of seconds to charge up.The game also allows you to use healing potions(which you can find or buy),and you can buy/find items that create temporary shields around you to make you invincible to enemy attacks,or create energy blasts that destroy enemies and you can stock up on these items.

The game has 8 levels,all of which have a boss fight at the end.The game is short,but you cannot save you progress and once you use up all of your lives it's game over.

The levels are filled with traps.Sometimes you'll need to find a key to unlock doors and you won't always travel from left to right because you'll need to do a bit of exploring when you search for keys and doors.

The story is about Mannax(who is also known as the 'Dark Lady')trying to conquer the fantasy world the game is set in with her army.The 3 characters you can select will be trying to find Mannax and kill her,because if war breaks out,it will be devestating for the world.

The environments you'll travel through consist of volcanic areas,rocky/mountainous terrain,dungeons,forest,casltes.

Without giving away too many spoilers,the bosses look fairly powerful and I will say the bosses include things such as Medussas and a 2 headed dragon.

I love the music in the game,the music at the title screen and for some of the levels sounds like music from a 1980's fantasy movie(electronic like from The Never Ending Story and Labrynth).

Sometimes the music can give you a daunting feeling,and the music for some of the boss fights suits the atmosphere of facing a dangerous enemy.

The werewolves growl at you and everytime I heard it,it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up(I was only a kid when I played this game).

Overall-A great fantasy action/adventure game for the GENESIS.