Axe of Rage (aka Barbarian2)

Title           Axe of Rage (aka Barbarian2)
Game Type	General Action
Players		1
Compatibility	OCS
Publisher	Epyx
HD Installable  No
Submission	Chris Vella

Review
   This game is a sideways scrolling hack'em up with some nice gruesome
graphics. The PAL version is called Barbarian2 (from palace and not epyx).


   You control the hero and must collect certain items and bring them to
the exit located somewhere in the level. You are armed with a sword and
have a number of different attack moves. The enemies will come at you and
you must figure out which attack moves work best on each enemy. You will
occasionally have to jump over pits and fire to progress. Once you collect
the required number of items and find the exit, you will go to the next
level. The enemies have to be hit a number of times to be destroyed, some
enemies require more hits than others and you will see their energy on the
screen so you will know how much more they have left before they are
killed.

   The graphics are very nice, certain attack moves on certain enemies
will result in a fatality move. For instance, on the second level pulling
off a swinging attack on the fat man will have his heart fly out of his
body and land on the floor still beating! pretty cool but gruesome stuff.
Another move decapitates the cavemans head and has it bounce on the floor.
You can also suffer fatality moves. On the first level the dinosaur can
bite off your head and swallow it. You will see your head travel down his
throat! The sound is also nice and the game does play well. Joystick
response is good but not perfect and the difficulty level is very good.
The game has about 5 different levels and all have about the same
difficulty level. Even though the graphics are good they do look dated by
today's standards.

   In conclusion, this is a nice game to own. It plays well enough and is
cool to watch the fatality moves. This is not a game that you will come
back to once you've completed it, so the lastability comes into question,
but you will enjoy playing it until you have completed it. A really good
game when this was first released but only average now. Get this game and
enjoy a little nostalgia for a while, but don't expect anything fancy.

Alphabetical list.