Sega’s 60th anniversary is here and to celebrate they have given some games away for free on Steam, including classics like Nights into Dreams. What they also did however, was release 4  “new” games for free, albeit as micro experiences. I say “New” for reasons I will go into soon.

Let us take a look at each game based on my personal preference for each one.

Armor of Heroes

Armor of Heroes is an overhead twin stick tank combat game based on the Company of Heroes series. This one is the game I liked the least, as I did not like the controls and simply didn’t have any fun.  Of course this is a free promotional game, but I just could not get into it. You will fight against other players or AI, against 3 other tanks and go all out to try and get the most kills. Its decent for what it is, but like I said, I just did not enjoy it.

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Golden Axed: A Cancelled Prototype

The game that attracted quite a bit of attention, this was the reason I put new in quotation marks. This is a brief 4 minute prototype of what could have been a new Golden Axe game from Sega Australia before it was cancelled. I have to say that I cannot understand why Sega passed on this one, as despite parts being clunky, the game was very early in development and what they had here showed a lot of potential. You only have Ax Battle to choose from, and there are two main attacks to do, but there was a spark here of something that could have been amazing but Sega chose not to purse.

I will also have to add that one of the developers found out about this being released on Steam recently and went into detail about the issues with the development. You can read that here

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Endless Zone

Endless Zone is a new take on Fantasy Zone and I have to say that while I was not expecting to like this one due to how different it looked from the classic games, it still had the same gameplay charm. This may seem like a darker and edgier take, but the gameplay is just a modernized version of what we have come to expect from the Fantasy Zone series. The attack methods are the same, you collect coins the same way and the shops are still there. I would love if Sega turned this into a full game experience for modern systems. This was definitely the most pleasant surprise of the bunch for me.

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Streets of Kamurocho

The game I had the biggest expectation for, Streets of Kamurocho is a crossover between Streets of Rage and the Yakuza series. You can play as the iconic protagonists Kiryu Kazuma and Goro Majima, along with a secret character as well. This is the best game of the bunch, and beautifully melds the two franchises. There are neat touches such as enemies and bosses from the Yakuza series showing up as the foes here obviously, but also new takes on music from the Yakuza series and satisfying controls. Like with Endless Zone, I would love if this could be made into a full length spinoff of the Yakuza series, as the concept works just so well. I would love to see this on consoles as well, because it is so enjoyable to play.

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And there we have it, Sega’s four experiences brought out for the 60th anniversary. Some worked better than others, but all had something to offer, with two standing out as amazing.

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