Barbarian II

Last updated
Barbarian II
Barbarian II cover.jpg
Developer(s) Psygnosis
Publisher(s) Psygnosis
Designer(s) Mike Chilton
Platform(s) Amiga, Atari ST
Release 1991
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Barbarian II is a 1991 fantasy action-adventure game by British publisher Psygnosis for the Atari ST and Amiga. A sequel to 1987's Barbarian , the player takes on the role of Hegor on a quest to destroy his resilient and nefarious brother, the sorcerer Necron.

Contents

Plot

Upon returning home at the end of Barbarian and having defeated his evil brother Necron, the High Council decreed that Hegor was not exactly the right person to take the reward of kingship. They inform him the position would demand much work on his part, and thus convince him to instead take a significant sum of gold as his reward. However, Hegor was never very good with numbers, and before long he soon finds himself broke again and looking for ways to pay for his wine and women. Whilst in the busy hamlet of Thelston he encounters a woman thief who claims she saw the barbarian seemingly defeat his brother, except after Hegor left Necron's remaining minions came along, retrieved their master's body and set about resurrecting him. Taking up arms, Hegor races to again face the challenges ahead, avenge his father's death and put an end to his brother's insidious activities once and for all.

Gameplay

The game takes place from a side-on view, and Hegor moves between areas across the six regions, including forests, caves and temples. Hegor's primary weapons are his broadsword and bow, but he can attain other weapons including a shortsword and axe. Running and jumping comprises a large part of the gameplay, and in particular some of the later levels are extensive and require significant exploration.

Reception

The One gave the Amiga version of Barbarian II an overall score of 80%, expressing that it pales in comparison to its predecessor, stating that "Barbarian II has much to recommend it initially, but with too few levels and similar gameplay throughout, the appeal soon wears off - especially when you compare it to the original Barbarian". The One praised Barbarian II's graphics, calling them "well animated and colourful" and the backgrounds "well-drawn and detailed", as well as complimenting its "atmospheric" music. The One praised Barbarian II's difficulty scaling, and expressed that the controls for Barbarian II are more intuitive than its predecessor. The One concludes their review by calling Barbarian II "a simplistic bundle of fun for those who like their hack and slash unadulterated". [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Wonder Boy in Monster Land</i> 1987 video game

Wonder Boy in Monster Land, known by its original arcade release as Wonder Boy: Monster Land, is a platform video game developed by Westone Bit Entertainment and released by Sega in Japanese arcades in 1987 and for the Master System in 1988, with a number of other home computer and console ports following. The game is the sequel to the 1986 game Wonder Boy and takes place eleven years after the events in the previous game. After enjoying over a decade of peace on Wonder Land following the defeat of the evil King by Tom-Tom, later bestowed the title "Wonder Boy", a fire-breathing dragon called the MEKA dragon appeared; he and his minions conquered Wonder Land, turning it into "Monster Land". The people, helpless due to their lack of fighting skill, call for Wonder Boy, now a teenager, to destroy the monsters and defeat the MEKA dragon. Players control Wonder Boy through twelve linear levels as he makes his way through Monster Land to find and defeat the MEKA dragon. Players earn gold by defeating enemies and buy weapons, armor, footwear, magic, and other items to help along the way.

<i>Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight</i> 1991 video game

Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight is an action role-playing video game by Canadian independent developer Rob Anderson and published by Mindscape for the Amiga in 1991 and one year later converted to DOS with different sound and music. The title is a play on A Hard Day's Night.

<i>Top Banana</i> (video game) 1991 video game

Top Banana is an environmentally-themed platform game produced by Hex and Psycore for the Acorn Archimedes in 1991 and ported to the Amiga and Atari ST in 1992. The chief artist and coder was Miles Visman, with supporting graphics and sound by Karel Dander, and supporting graphics by Sophie Smith, Robert Pepperell and Matt Black. Top Banana was released using recycled cardboard packaging, furthermore being advertised as being the 'first video game with recycled packaging'. Top Banana's plot is about trying to save the environment from pollution using love.

<i>Mega-Lo-Mania</i> 1991 video game

Mega-Lo-Mania is a real-time strategy video game developed by Sensible Software. It was released for the Amiga in 1991 and ported to other systems. It was released as Tyrants: Fight Through Time in North America and Mega Lo Mania: Jikū Daisenryaku (メガロマニア時空大戦略) in Japan. The game was re-released on ZOOM-Platform.com via Electronic Arts on August 31, 2022.

<i>Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II</i> 1991 video game

Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II is a platforming action-adventure video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) developed by UK-based company Zippo Games, a subsidiary of Rare. The game was published by Acclaim and released in North America in December 1989 and in Europe on March 27, 1991. It is the sequel to Rare's 1987 title Wizards & Warriors. In Ironsword, the player controls the knight warrior Kuros as he ventures in the land of Sindarin. He must defeat the evil wizard Malkil, who has assumed the elemental forms of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Kuros must collect the parts of and assemble the legendary "IronSword" in order to defeat Malkil, who resides at the top of IceFire Mountain.

<i>Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos</i> 1990 video game

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, known in Europe as Shadow Warriors II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, is a side-scrolling platform game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This is the second installment in the Ninja Gaiden trilogy for the NES and was released in North America and Japan in 1990, and in Europe in 1992. An arcade video game version was also introduced by Nintendo for their PlayChoice-10 system in 1990.

<i>Xenon 2: Megablast</i> 1989 shoot em up video game

Xenon 2: Megablast is a 1989 shoot 'em up video game developed by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Image Works for the Amiga and Atari ST. It was later converted to the Master System, PC-98, X68000, Mega Drive, Commodore CDTV, Game Boy, Acorn Archimedes and Atari Jaguar platforms. The game is a sequel to Xenon and takes place a millennium after the previous title. The goal of the game is to destroy a series of bombs planted throughout history by the Xenites, the vengeful antagonists of the first game.

<i>Cadaver</i> (video game) 1990 video game

Cadaver is an isometric action-adventure game by the Bitmap Brothers, originally released by Image Works in August 1990, for Atari ST, Amiga, and MS-DOS. A Mega Drive version was planned but never released. In the game the player controls Karadoc the dwarf.

<i>Switchblade II</i> 1991 video game

Switchblade II is a 1991 side-scrolling action-platform run and gun video game originally developed and published by Gremlin Graphics in Europe for the Amiga home computers. It is the sequel to the original Switchblade, which was solely created by Simon Phipps at Core Design and released earlier in 1989 across multiple platforms. Despite being primarily developed in the UK, its graphics had a distinctly Japanese style similar to anime or manga.

<i>Cannon Fodder 2</i> 1994 video game

Cannon Fodder 2: Once More unto the Breach, or simply Cannon Fodder 2, is an action-strategy shoot 'em up game developed by Sensible Software and published by Virgin Interactive for the Amiga and DOS in November 1994. The game is the sequel to Cannon Fodder, a successful game released for multiple formats in 1993. The game is a combination of action and strategy involving a small number of soldiers battling through a time-travel scenario. The protagonists are heavily outnumbered and easily killed. The player must rely on strategy and heavy secondary weapons to overcome enemies, their vehicles and installations.

<i>James Pond 2</i> 1991 video game

James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod, also known as Super James Pond on SNES in North America, and Game Boy, and Super James Pond 2 in Europe, is a 1991 platform video game. It was developed by the same British teams as the original. The title music by Richard Joseph is a marimba-heavy rendition of the RoboCop film theme. It is the second installment in the James Pond series.

<i>Monster Business</i> 1991 video game

Monster Business is a 1991 vertically scrolling platform game developed by Eclipse Software Design and published by Ascon that was released for the Amiga and Atari ST.

<i>RoboCop 2</i> (video game) 1990 video game

RoboCop 2 is a platform shooter video game based on the 1990 film of the same name. The game was released for several platforms, including Amiga, Amstrad GX4000, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System, and ZX Spectrum. Ocean Software developed and published several versions, and Data East manufactured an arcade version.

<i>Barbarian</i> (1987 video game) 1987 video game

Barbarian is a 1987 platform game by Psygnosis. It was first developed for the Atari ST, and was ported to the Amiga, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, MSX, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. The Amiga port was released in 1987; the others were released in 1988. The cover artwork is by fantasy artist Roger Dean.

<i>Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax</i> 1988 video game

Barbarian II: The Dungeon of Drax is a video game first published in 1988 for various home computers. It was released as Axe of Rage in North America. The game is the sequel to Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior, which was published in 1987. In Barbarian II, the player controls a princess or barbarian character, exploring the game world to locate and defeat an evil wizard. The game's plot is an extension of its predecessor, although the gameplay is different. While the first game offers two players the opportunity for virtual head-to-head combat, the second is a single-player beat 'em up with fewer fighting moves. It uses a flip-screen style instead of scrolling.

<i>Ghostbusters II</i> (computer video game) 1989 video game

Ghostbusters II is a 1989 action game based on the film of the same name. It was published by Activision for various computer platforms. British studio Foursfield developed a version for Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum, which also got ported to the MSX by New Frontier. It features three levels based on scenes from the film. Dynamix developed a separate version for the DOS, also based on the film. The non-DOS versions were praised for the graphics and audio, but criticized for long loading times, disk swapping, and the final level. The DOS, Commodore 64 and Amiga versions were the only versions released in North America.

<i>Sex Olympics</i> 1991 erotic point-and-click adventure game by Free Spirit Software

Sex Olympics, alternatively titled Brad Stallion in Sex Olympics is an erotic point-and-click adventure game developed and self-published by Free Spirit Software, and released for DOS, Atari ST, and Amiga. The Amiga version of Sex Olympics was released in Europe in April 1991. Sex Olympics is the finale of the Brad Stallion series, and is preceded by Sex Vixens from Space (1988), Planet of Lust (1989), and Bride of the Robot (1989). Sex Olympics was panned by reviewers.

<i>Hexuma</i> 1992 video game

Hexuma, alternatively titled Hexuma: Das Auge des Kal is a German text adventure game published in 1992 by Software 2000 and developed by Weltenschmiede, and released for Amiga and DOS. Hexuma is the last entry in a text adventure trilogy; it is preceded by Das Stundenglas (1990) and Die Kathedrale (1991). The trilogy lacks an overarching plot, and in each entry the setting, role of the protagonist, and goal differ between each game. Games in the trilogy do not require knowledge of the other entries and may be played as standalone games.

<i>Deathbringer</i> (1991 video game) 1991 video game

Deathbringer is a 1991 side scrolling action game developed by Oxford Digital Enterprises and published by Empire that was released for the Amiga, DOS, and Atari ST.

<i>9 Lives</i> (video game) 1990 video game

9 Lives is a 1990 platform video game released for the Amiga and Atari ST developed by ARC, a software division of Atari. The player takes the role of Bob Cat, who must rescue Claudette from a mad scientist who kidnapped her.

References

  1. Watsham, Jools (November 1991). "Barbarian II Review". The One. No. 38. emap Images. pp. 81–82.