Death Sword

Unless you have a weak stomach, you should tie on your lion-cloth, sharpen your sword, and dash out to the nearest bazaar for a copy of Barbarian right away.

Barbarian on the 64 was great; this 16-bit incarnation is even better. It is graphically superior, a lot faster and smoother, and the use of sampled sound effects ice a beautifully prepared cake. One of the collection, methinks.

There are relatively few backdrops, and the gameplay doesn't alter significantly from screen to screen. Someone is bound to moan about the game's violent aspects, but until then, go get your copy and do some serious slaying.

Barbarian on the ST is great. The sound enhances the game no end and the backdrops and side-snakes are very polished. The characters themselves could, perhaps, have been improved upon as they appear very similar to the Commodore 64 version, however this by no means detracts from the game play, and Palace do well with this very competent conversion.

Although it is a bit sick, it has to be said Barbarian is a real winner. Beat 'em ups just refuse to lie down and die and, when they are as good as this gamers should be mightily grateful.

No tak, małe Atari doczekało się kolejnej swojskiej interpretacji światowego hitu. Pół biedy, jeżeli chodzi o ściągnięcie tylko pomysłu, a cala reszta jest twórczym rozwinięciem owego. Jeżeli jest to niemal dokładna przeróbka, to jest to... hm, co ja tu będę wpadał w mentorski ton. Gierka (Edwarda) i tak jest całkiem niczego sobie.

So, if controls are no problem for you or you have a joystick, give Death Sword a try and don't be surprised if you find yourself hooked to the monitor, swinging the sword while the challenge is releasing floods of adrenaline into your blood.

Nothing really special, Barbarian got famous and popular for other reasons than originality or sizzling playability. Its main attraction with kids back then was the brutality it shows.