''Barbarian'' is a 3D

fighting video game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining attac ...

developed by Saffire, published by Titus Interactive and distributed in Europe by

Avalon Interactive Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwoo ...

. The game was released in North America in 2002, and in Europe in December 2003. The Japanese title is ''Warrior Blade: Rastan vs. Barbarian''.

Gameplay

The game features 11 different fighters, each with different weapons and abilities. The player may freely destroy the environment, and use destroyed objects as weapons against their opponents. The characters each have alternate costumes, which, depending on which the player chooses, may change their default weapon. However, it does not affect the weapon's damage capabilities or uses. The game plays much like '' Power Stone'' with its arena-style gameplay.

Release

The

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

version was originally planned for a U.S. release in late 2002 and in Europe in 2004, but was canceled while it was released in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 2003. A scaled-down port of ''Barbarian'' was originally planned for release on the Game Boy Advance, but was later canceled.

Reception

The game received "mixed reviews" on all platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Many video game websites and publications gave earlier reviews and average scores on the GameCube and Xbox versions in late 2002, months before the release dates for both of those versions were canceled in the U.S. due to mediocre reception for the PS2 version.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2002 video games Video games about barbarians Cancelled Game Boy Advance games Fighting games GameCube games PlayStation 2 games Titus Software games Xbox games Multiplayer and single-player video games Saffire games Video games developed in the United States