There's been a few changes since Golden Axe II, as you'd be able to tell after starting the game. Gilius Thunderhead (the dwarf with the huge axe from parts 1 and 2) is no longer a playable character. Instead, he appears at the beginning of the game to send your character on their quest… and speaking of your character, you can now choose from four: two characters who appear to be Ax Battler (the barbarian) and Tyris Flare (the Amazon) from Golden Axe and Golden Axe II, and two all new characters. One is a werepanther; the other is a huge musclebound character that may be a dungeon escapee, considering that he still has chains hanging from his arms and legs. Each character has different magic that they can use; however, unlike the first two games, the level of damage magic will cause enemy characters is the same for all four characters.That's not all that's been added. New to the Golden Axe series is the addition of multiple branching paths. Each path will take you to a different area, and may be instrumental in getting the good ending to the game. You see, during the course of the game you encounter the three characters that you did not pick. They've been possessed, and you have to literally beat the spirits out of them to free them. You only encounter all three of them if you pick the right set of paths to go down, though.On a whole, Golden Axe III controls just as good, if not better, than the first two games – with the exception of Bizarrian control. The Bizarrians are strange domesticated creatures that you can wrest from the enemies and use to defeat them. For instance, the original game had dragons and a strange creature called a “chicken-leg” to control. The sequel had more dragons and large kicking lizards. This one has… snails. Yes, snails. Giant snails with legs. There's also a dragon that breathes fire and a dragon that will grab enemies with its mouth and throw them, but the snails are the weirdest. They attack with their tongue… one has a short tongue, and the other has a long tongue.

This “Prince of Darkness” has taken away the Golden Axe and put an evil curse over all the warriors. However, one of the heroes has their curse relieved and is sent to set things straight – lift curse off others, defeat the villian and return with the Golden Axe.

You get four characters to choose from: Amazon, barbarian, panther man, and a big gladiator-type brute. All play more or less the same, with the difference being the amount of damage dished out. The gladiator is slow but deals the most powerful blows, panther man is quickest but is also the weakest of the bunch, etc. Your energy is now displayed by a long health bar, as opposed to the individual bars from the previous games

Golden Axe 3 features:

• Several levels but with different paths to take through them now
• 2 new characters from previous installments, but Gilius Thunderhead is no longer playable
• More interactive environments with destructible objects
• Action for one or two players

The graphics of the characters aren't too great since they may be quite small. as for the enemies well the enemies are actually drawn quite well. The towns and castles are also very well drawn and once again. As for Magic the magic is quite cool and looked devastating.Some of the best sound effects and Music files I have ever heard in video gaming history. The first battle music is incredible, and the other music files are exhilirating.

The game is Golden Axe 3 I am 10. This game will keep you playing all year.