It had been many months since I went through the Antstream service, but it was to see that the mythical Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior from Palace Software was recently incorporated in its version for Amiga 500 and to want to remember it and see how it has aged. Because from time to time games emerge that rescue their essence (or rather, that of its sequel), like Age of Barbarian.
This 1987 classic stood out, as many will recall, for two reasons: its cover featuring “gladiator” Michael Van Wijk and model Maria Whittaker, both with very little clothing; and the level of gore that the game offered in action , being one of the most violent in the eighties, before the controversy with Mortal Kombat.
The great duel to the death between two barbarians …
Barbarian debuted in 1987, the same year as Street Fighter , sharing with Capcom’s work the fact that it is another fighting game. Now, this Palace Software work was quite limited in this regard, having a single character … for both parties. Yes, a barbarian whose skin or clothing color varied by phase.
Nor could it boast with the variety of its scenarios, as there were only two, with an extra pair facing the final stretch that curiously also were repeated throughout the only eight “phases” as such that the game consisted of. A succession of duels against another barbarian with the same appearance as ours and with the same attack and defense movements, hence he soon got tired.
Logically, he had “something”, surprising a special movement that many of us still do not forget: that attack that could instantly decapitate the rival if we found the exact moment. An instantaneous victory unusual in fighting games (except for the arrival of the later Bushido Blade for PlayStation in 1997 ), which gave us another moment to frame: to see his head rolling on the ground while the body continued to spill Tarantino blood until a goblin came and kicked him while dragging the rest of the body. Shocking
It was not easy to always get it right, of course. On many occasions you had to be lucky, because it was impossible to anticipate the opponent’s movement; especially considering the high degree of difficulty involved in blocking his attacks or having to suffer when he threw us rolling. In this sense, I am very funny about a comment from a user on YouTube when comparing it with Dark Souls, because “80% of the game we spent shooting in front of the enemy”.
Barbarian, extremely limited sword fighting
Its control today is the strangest thing , by forcing to keep the attack button pressed to attack, varying the type of sword stroke according to the position of the command. If we do not hold the button, the direction control serves us both to move and to roll or protect ourselves. And it is not something that is comfortable.
Neither comfortable nor fluid, actually, due to the slowness and / or clumsiness of some of its movements, especially when the machine cornered us and it became the most absolute chaos . There the tactic disappeared completely and was translated into a pounding of buttons combined with the rolling motion. And it is that part of that chaos was also given by the absence of grabbing to separate the rival more comfortably (yes there was a kick with that function, but easy to cut) or simply jump as in any fighting game. It was too limited.
It was more fun against another person , instead of playing against the machine, since the campaign was dull and repetitive, being the most anecdotal presence of a hint of “boss” at the end. In the sequel, the figure of Drax , the villain, was better used, as well as for the entire game, with a greater variety of scenarios to explore, a large number of monsters and the possibility of choosing the protagonist.
That Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax from 1988 was precisely the game that Crian Soft took as a reference almost a decade ago to develop Age of Barbarian , without neglecting the explicit content with violence and sex as advertising claims, much more marked in this work for Steam that received an Extended Cut in 2016, to return to its origins with the fight in 2017 in Arena: An Age of Barbarians Story , appealing to the nostalgia factor … but without success.
Has it stood the test of time well?
No , because of a control of everything but practical. This Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior would “blow” our heads in its day , but today it can hardly be sustained by something more than that gore technique of beheading the enemy to make fun. And there are memories that it is better to leave them in their place so as not to lose your head.
Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior
| Platforms | Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga 500 (analyzed version), Amstrad CPC, Atari ST … |
|---|---|
| Multiplayer | Yes, local (two players) |
| Developer | Palace Software |
| Company | Palace Software |
| Launch | 1987 |
| Price | Not available |
The best
- Decapitate the enemy to win instantly
- Playing against another person like crazy
Worst
- All rivals were identical to ours
- Control to attack was impractical
- The phases were constantly repeating
- Once the initial grace was overcome, he did not give more of himself
