Average hack n' slash only worth purchasing at a discount
Golden Axe: Beast Rider is yet another disappointing Sega effort at reviving one of their classic franchises. Unlike the 16 bit originals, Beast Rider is a solo adventure only, giving players control over Tyris Flare as she hacks her way through Death Adder's hordes.

The combat is effective but not very exciting. The titular beasts add little to the actual game itself. Getting knocked off is way too easy, and most of the earlier creatures have a very limited attack repertoire. Tyris Flare looks pretty good as do the beasts, but the backgrounds are bland and enemies cookie cutter.

The game is pretty large (if you can get past the repetitive nature of the gameplay) and is an alright time waster if you can get it at a discounted price since there are definitely better hack n' slash titles available.

Good Value and not terrible
For the price it's a good game. The lead character is very cool. The graphics are ok but the controls take getting used to. If you are a fan of the original you may get a kick out of this. It's Region Free which is great.

Goddess of War?
Another hack-and-slash fest in the same vein as Ninja Gaiden, or X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Only not as good. Combat is repetitive and quickly devolves into a minigame where your main goal is watch for blue/orange/green sparks and press the corresponding dodge/parry button. There is the bright side of getting to play as a half-naked Amazon, but the novelty quickly wears off.

Engaging
Faithful remake of the original Arcade game. Pure SEGA structure and fun. Not very long though. The game has more than enough for the weak and strong of heart!

Stick with the original
This game is just incredible boring. If you're a hardcore hack'n slash fan you might enjoy it....and that's a big "MIGHT enjoy it". My main problem is that it's really slow and doesn't focus much on combos and stuff but more on countering. Countering is the easiest and most powerful way to beat your opponent so basically all you do is waiting for the enemy to strike and hit either the left or right bumper depending on which color the enemy glows. There's dragons and other creatures along the way which you can mount and use in battle but they control kinda stiff.
I'd say the worst part about this game are the graphics. I never pay much attention to graphics, it's not a big criteria to me but Beast Rider is probably the 2nd ugliest game(the 1st being Phantasy Star Universe) i've ever played on the XBox360. It seriously looks like a PS2 game.
Overall just not my type of game, i like hack'n slash but this one is just to slow, to boring, to ugly. If you prefer a slower pace it might be worth picking up especially at this price...but to everybody else, i recommend firing up your Genesis and playing the original(or playing the ones on the Ultimate Genesis Collection)