Barbarian

Copyright : Palace Software | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

The evil sorcerer Drax desires Princess Mariana and has sworn to wreak an unspeakable doom on the people of the Jewelled City unless she is delivered to him. However, he has agreed that if a champion can be found who is able to defeat his demonic guardians, the princess wil be allowed to go free.

All seems lost as a champion after champion is defeated. Step forward the Barbarian!

A swordfighting game for one or two players and looking like no beat-em-up that came before it, Barbarian is a sumptuous game that takes place in front of four luscious backdrops - The Forest, The Wasteland, DraxÂ's Dungeon and DraxÂ's Throneroom.

The animation is fluid with realistic thrust and parry motions from the competing warriors but itÂ's in the little touches that Barbarian excels – the forlorn goblin crossing the screen at the end of the battle dragging the mutilated corpse of the fallen fighter with the additional ignominy of booting any severed heads he comes across out of the screen like some macabre football. Grisly, funny and brilliant!

Truth be told, thereÂ's very little difference between playing the game in practice mode and playing it for real other than itÂ's a different background and it you beat all of the other guys you donÂ't get the chance to win the game, for that reason IÂ'd skip the practice mode on one player mode and jump straight into the game proper.

Your beat-em-up skills will be pushed to the limit and unusually for a game released at the time that it was, defence is as important as offence. Steaming straight in and trying to perform flying neck chops continually will make you easy pickings for the computer opponent and only by learning the best counters to each of the computerÂ's moves can you hope to string together an impressive offence. YouÂ'll also learn what moves flow from each other and will soon find yourself switching between defensive and offensive moves like a pro.

Although a beat-em-up that can be played alone and enjoyed, Barbarian really comes in to its own as a two player game. Few multiplayer experiences can ever come close to the sheer joy of being bludgeoned by your mate in to near submission only to spin round and lob his head clean off in one swift manoeuvre!

And that is the ace up the sleeve that Barbarian has – you can never guarantee a victory until your opponent lies dead on the floor (in the game, not real life – I can in no way advocate murder as a means to winning a computer game. Not even Scrabble.) Every player, including the computer, has that puncherÂ's chance of landing that single killer blow and swiping victory from the jaws of defeat.

No review of Barbarian would be complete without even a cursory mention of THAT cover art. Featuring the buff Michael Van Wijk (who later went on to carve a C-List career for himself in the UK as Wolf from Gladiators), with a great big sword and the bikini clad (just!) Maria Whittaker a famous UK topless model at the time.

If ever a game declared a mission statement in pictorial form on its cover art and accompanying poster, it was Barbarian! The deliberately racy material helped to garner precious column inches in the gaming press and created a buzz about the game before it was unleashed.

So far so good right? 10 stars? Nothing to see here, move along? Not quite. As good as Barbarian is, and for all of its many shining points there is one glaring drawback. ThereÂ's a sure-fire way to winning the game. It is possible to perform a combination of moves that may well bore you rigid but will bring about a victory. Although handy for seeing the end of the game if youÂ're an otherwise rubbish player - it does have to be held up as a real flaw and is also an absoulte nightmare to defend against in a two player game!

Having said that, until you stumble across the pattern or if you can resist the temptation to break into it, Barbarian is gaming gold and one that youÂ'll find yourself coming back to again and again.