Age of Barbarian - created by Italian studio Crian Soft, headed by Christian Fanucci and Catherine Thalman - is about as pure a representation of sword and sorcery in games as can be found. It pays homage to the entire genre, both the best (Robert E. Howard) and the more questionable parts (80s B-movies like Deathstalker). It apologizes for nothing.
The player can choose between a male or female character. The man, Rahaan, is a thinly veiled Conan stand-in (even including a gap in his teeth like Schwarzenegger) whose village is destroyed and who survives being crucified by the dark lord Necron, while the woman, Sheyna, is a warrior princess who escapes Necron's slavers. Depending on which character is chosen, the game will change somewhat beyond their particular stats (Rahaan: stronger, Sheyna: faster), with distinct opening levels and cutscenes. Each character wears as little clothing as possible and they are as physically idealized as the creators could imagine.
The player must choose a level from a world map, and those levels scroll strictly horizontally, similar to Rastan but with occasion rooms to enter and multiple exits to different sections, which become particularly important when uncovering secrets. The characters are exceptionally large compared to most such games (closer to something like Gladiator) and the combat system is relatively simple but still complex enough to demand the player's attention. The player can choose among high and low attacks, combos, a kick to separate from enemies too close to hit, blocking, rolling, or simply switching direction. The kick and roll moves and some of the special techniques such as the spinning decapitation move are straight out of Barbarian for the C64, so the game isn't just a tribute to books and movies but to other games as well. The deliberate platforming elements, including climbing, leaping over pits, and avoiding lethal spike traps, are from Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia, for instance. There are mild RPG elements, including inventory to manage and experience points/leveling.
Every aspect of the game is hellbent on creating a true S&S experience. The bestiary almost entirely eschews Tolkien/high fantasy influences. There are masked slavers, lizardmen, apemen, giant spiders, crocodiles, zombies, etc. There are no elves, orcs, or dwarves present, and when something like a basilisk appears as a level boss, it's presented as something that is disturbingly singular, alien, and deadly. Wizards are similarly rare and dark-natured. Necron of course is basically swiped from Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta's Fire and Ice, and one of his chief henchmen is Frazetta's Death Dealer. Some levels include hostages, particularly scantily clad maidens, that need to be rescued and, in a unique touch, escorted to safety (thankfully, the escorting part isn't especially difficult or tedious). The player will traverse mountains, forests, swamps, spider-haunted temples, and Roger Dean's floating rocks in the skies. Combat is gory, full of disembowelments, decapitations, dismemberments, and harsh executions, and the game is uncommonly frank about nudity (although there is a censor option). The player can activate a filter to get some extra grindhouse movie flavor in the visuals. The game is also quite funny, but it's a humor that comes from love and knowledge of the genre rather than mockery from afar. Rahaan's crazed death glare in response to enemy taunts is always a highlight.
Graphically, the designers went for a very particular mid-90s look like something created on an old Video Toaster. The characters are lifelike but embellished rather than using straight digitizations of actors and it's quite an effective job. The backgrounds are reasonably well-rendered, with garishly colored skies and moons. The soundtrack is appropriately epic, and the voice acting certainly does evoke 1980s B-movies.
It's certainly not perfect. The game is a low-budget indie effort (maybe that's only fitting) and bugs are common. The spider cult DLC is particularly prone to crashing at odd times. The controls have a knack for becoming unresponsive, extra frustrating when the player is faced with an instant-kill trap that requires precision to pass. The animations sometimes jerk about. The English translation is rough. The menus and user interface are awkward and feel perfunctory in some ways.
But like the Millennium Falcon, it's got it where it counts.
No comments:
Post a Comment