Comments on: An exciting preview

By: microbiology study guide

microbiology study guide — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:06:30 +0000

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By: Lee H Pappas

Lee H Pappas — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:37:28 +0000

What ‘da ya mean? Many of our strategy guides were the best out there. The one on Military Madness still gets referenced today. Wow, I wished we had Photoshop and advanced screen capturing back then to deal with games images.

By: John H.

John H. — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:05:45 +0000

I’ll admit to having a fondness for VG&CE, even though their strategy guides were terrible. It was the only magazine at the time that seemed able to keep some kind of detachment from its subject. They seemed to have a better grasp of the language than GamePro, EGM, DieHard GameFan and the like.

Yeah, when the primary audience for your publication is kids I guess detachment is not exactly what is called for, but even in my teens the breathless nature of EGM grated on me. (Yeah, I’m kind of boring.)

By: keving

keving — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:55:57 +0000

Repost that when I actually write the article!

By: esteban

esteban — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:46:02 +0000

Oh yeah, I trust that everyone will bathe in the delightful soundtrack to Legendary Axe:

Stage 1: Warm and enchanting–until you get to that really urgent sequence–which is a nice bit of drama.

Stage 2: Too-hip and catchy for its own good. Caverns were never this fun.

Stage 3: Rich, soaring and lovely. Too graceful and cultured for Gogan, though.

Stage 4: A break from the more somber undertones in the soundtrack thus far. Initially, this track starts out far too upbeat, cheerful and happy for my tastes. But then its 110% pure, unadulterated catchiness wins me over, every damn. Yeah, it’s that catchy.

Stage 5: Back to a more somber, atmospheric piece… it has a definite marching-band-meets-haunted-cavern vibe to it. I love the “staccato” bass in this. I actually don’t really understand musical terms, so that’s the best way I can describe it.

Stage 6: This is a deliciously catchy, warm-sounding anthem dedicated to a$$-kicking, replete with a frenetic organ. Simply divine. If this song doesn’t make you want to engage in gratuitous violence, nothing will. Notice how the opening drama continues to build and build, only to loop back to the beginning seamlessly to start all over again.

Stage 7: OK, this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it captures the tediouinsness of this stage (navigating the maze). For the record, I like this track, but it is one of the weaker ones.

Boss tunes: OK, but a short loop. I especially like the “spooky” vibe infused in the final boss music.

Ending credits: OK, but pretty generic, IMO. None of the flair and unique qualities from the stage music carried over. Oh well.

Clearly, I have issues. Sorry .

By: esteban

esteban — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:33:26 +0000

So, was VG & CE passing this off as a “Preview” for an upcoming strategy guide? Genius.

As far as I know, the “Unabridged” Legendary Axe Strategy Guide didn’t show up in TurboPlay, but rather a future issue of VG & CE (perhaps the December 1989 issue?).

I do like the old-skool screenshots, though, manually photographed and cobbled together with loving care.

Finally, were there any other TG-16-related items in this November 1989 issue of VG & CE? Thanks in advance.

By: brandon

brandon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:57:39 +0000

wow, that was awful!