Barbarian (PS2)

The graphics are top notch: from the movement of cloth and fur (lots of fur) to chainmail (ditto) to the movement of characters' muscles the inidivudal animation is great and the detail excellent: the characters looking suitably heroic and fairly realistic. The background graphics for the arenas are excellent especially as they are liberally splashed with colour- even the swamps and subterranean arenas have some colour and light to them.

The sound is great as far as the music goes: blaring trumpets and horns, pounding drums and dramatic chanting sets the atmosphere for a barabaric extravanganza perfectly. The sound effects are not so good, but do their job satisfyingly enough.

Unfortunately all this superb set-up (and all squeezed into a CD, not a DVD) leads to major disappointment. The game is not bad, but it is overwhelmingly average when it plays. Fights are okay, nothing more- its rare you'll get the edge-of-the-seat feeling of Soul Calibur et al. The environments are fairly interactive, which is solidly in the game's favour: fighters can pick up objects and belt opponents with them, they can even pick up opponents and belt other opponents with them! walls can be shattered, revealing extensions to the arena. But all this leads to is more fighting blandness- the characters do have character and are distinctive in appearance, but their moves are extremely non-descript and rarely satisfying to execute- even a win can be a let down as the best result you'll get is a character holding their sword in the air briefly. The multiplayer option is great idea but can't really save the game from this blandness.

By no means is Barbarian a bad game, indeed it excels in atmosphere and looks, but in that most vital area, gameplay, it crashes badly. Very disappointing as it would be nice to see a barbarian fighting game appear for a change from the norm. Worth renting for a couple of nights, but not really worth buying.