Athena

Somehow I don't believe this game is the #1 Arcade Hit in Japan that the cart's sticker claims to be. In this game, you play the Lesbo Warrior Princess Xena... Oops, Athena. Bored with castle life, she enters the magical realm, the Fantasy Zone, to battle monsters and become the Princess of Victory. As you can see, another heavily plot-driven adventure game.

Athena is a quirky, unique adventure game. It has a certain charm to it, but whatever charm is has comes from its similarity to Karnov in layout and from the insanely bad play control. The game inches across the screen, and Athena wields her weapons like a old lady trying to swing a seventy-pound weight. Making no sense at all is jumping, Athena does a small jump and then jumps high the next two times, which makes no sense whatsoever. Battling the monsters is unfair because most, the end-level bosses especially, easily trap you in unbreakable rehit combos until you die, i.e. Level 1 Tree Boss.  

Graphics D+ (Sad, just sad graphics. Cartoony, no detail, no depth. You could make better graphics with COBOL.)

Sound/Music D+ (beep, bloop, annoying BGM)

Play Control D

Challenge B ( hard because of bad play control)

Fun Factor C- ( hampered by bad play control too)

Replay Value C+

Overall D+ 1/2 links