It is difficult to think of how many good games Palace released for the Speccy - I can think of four off hand; two games and their sequels (ie Cauldron 1 & 2, and Barbarian 1 & 2). There may have been more, but nothing quite sticks in my mind. Still - on with the review.

Barbarian 2 was released a year after the original, in 1988. The original was a better than average one-on-one BEU though the warriors used swords rather than fists. The sequel kept the first games' main attractions: a scantily-clad Maria Whittaker (ex-Page 3 girl) on the game box and your character having the ability to decapitate some of your opponents.

So on with the game. Barb 2 is still a Beat 'em Up, though it is now straddled with arcade adventure elements. The main focus of the game is still hacking up your opponents but now you are negotiating a variety of screens in search of two special items per level. These items will be very useful in later levels.

There are six levels; the first three are mazes, the next two feature mega-nasties which need defeating before going onto the last level. The last level is a final attack against Drax. Each level is set in a different area, with a (thankfully) different colour scheme. I'm not sure I could stand playing a completely pink game! Within these first levels, the idea is to survive, find the items (two per level) needed for later in the game then locate the exit to the next level.

There are only two things preventing you from achieving this; the assorted nasties that will attack you on sight and the pits which you invariably end up falling down. There's a montage of the first three levels' worth of monsters here.

Thankfully, as the Barbarian (or as the Princess - Maria Whittaker's character - you choose) there are enough attacking moves at your disposal to ensure that you won't lose without a fight. The range of fighting moves has been quite dramatically cut down compared to the first game. To me, that's not a particular problem as too many moves just complicate matters and are often unnecessary.

How many of the 32,3413 * moves in Barb 1 did the average player use? I used the forward roll, kick and two chopping motions. That makes four moves; just about the same number that Barb 2 has. (For those interested, they are low swipe, kick, overhead chop and 'the one which allows you to decapitate man-sized creatures'. Ahem)

* this is an unconfirmed (and highly inaccurate) guestimate.