Barbarian - PS2

Barbarian is a game of fighting and conquest in combat arenas across the land of Barbaria. Gamers can play in different battle modes against one or more opponents, or experience the rich history of each Barbarian by playing their own Quest. Every successfully completed quest brings the choice of where to go next, and where you choose to go changes the future as much as your victories and defeats. As you advance in the story, players earn upgrades for their chosen characters. Not only can these characters be used in the ongoing quests, but they can also be played against friends, or in the game in the Versus mode. The rules of engagement are different in Quest battles, and explained at the start of each new Quest. But the ultimate goal in Barbarian doesn't change: the final encounter with Zaugg and the chance to beat him for good.

As players undertake their mission to rid the land of true evil, they can handily use the 3D environments to pummel their enemies. Throwing rocks, chairs, dead bodies and even the odd swordfish - they're all within your power in the quest to become the ultimate killing machine.

Gamers can also utilise magic powers and attacks which are built up by successfully pulling off combination moves and counters. Each character has its own range of attacks and combos, and each move imbues the fighter with a specific magic energy encouraging tactical battles, so they have to fight clever as well as fight hard to be victorious.

A non-linear storyline in the one player mode ensures that lone warriors will be challenged every bit as much they would going head-to-head with real-life opponents. But it's with friends that Barbarian really comes to life as a frantic fighting experience. Now, where's that multi-tap? more