Barbarian II - The Dungeon of Drax, a Short Game?!

ZEUSDAZ · 07 June 2019, 18:09

Barbarian II - The Dungeon of Drax, some say not a great game, others say an interesting game, some really enjoy the game such as myself (I love the creepy speech, the skeletons hand tearing through the loading pick beckoning you to follow him accompanied with the electric guitar music, the comical ways of dying and creepy sounds) and who can forget that amazing Skeleton disk swapping request sequence, whichever way you look at it there are many different feelings about the game.
BUT, how quick is it possible to complete?!
Well as you can see from the video below, I managed to finish the game in just 3m49s!
If I payed £20 back in the day for it and recorded a time like that I think I would feel a litle bit gutted,...or was it sheer skill on my behalf?!

I hope you enjoy it, don't blink too many times

[ Show youtube player ]

rsn8887 · 07 June 2019, 18:22

I played this on the Amiga and C64. Of course it is fast if you know the maps and how to play the game. It took me forever to draw maps for the game. So you should count the time to figure out how to play the game and the long time it takes to explore the game and draw the maps.

These statements how short the old games were are highly misleading because of this. Take Antiriad. It takes hours to figure everything out. Then, when you know everything, of course it is short.

Concerning Barbarian 2, nowadays, I enjoy the C64 version more. The graphics are more pleasing to my eye on the C64 for some reason, they seem more consistently good on that platform. The Amiga gfx are all over the place. It seems as if someone started with the C64 gfx and then tried to draw over it with higher resolution pixels. This makes for a very strange look.

meynaf · 07 June 2019, 19:15

What annoyed me with that game is the constant flood of monsters. It never ends, forcing the player to rush into the game rather than exploring.
But aside of this, it is quite enjoyable, i especially liked these creepy ambient sounds and the funny ways of dying.

dlfrsilver · 07 June 2019, 19:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsn8887

I played this on the Amiga and C64. Of course it is fast if you know the maps and how to play the game. It took me forever to draw maps for the game. So you should count the time to figure out how to play the game and the long time it takes to explore the game and draw the maps.

These statements how short the old games were are highly misleading because of this. Take Antiriad. It takes hours to figure everything out. Then, when you know everything, of course it is short.

Concerning Barbarian 2, nowadays, I enjoy the C64 version more. The graphics are more pleasing to my eye on the C64 for some reason, they seem more consistently good on that platform. The Amiga gfx are all over the place. It seems as if someone started with the C64 gfx and then tried to draw over it with higher resolution pixels. This makes for a very strange look.

The Amiga graphics were converted from the Atari ST release.

demoniac · 07 June 2019, 20:15

Besides what meynaf wrote,I also don't like how the character's orientation changes, especially when a monster appears behinds the character while the character is facing the opposite direction. The way how most enemies just disappears after a puff of smoke seems cheap. Also the wizard at the end is much weaker than the first game's boss fight.

Anyway, thanks for the speedrun.

ZEUSDAZ · 07 June 2019, 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsn8887

Concerning Barbarian 2, nowadays, I enjoy the C64 version more. The graphics are more pleasing to my eye on the C64 for some reason, they seem more consistently good on that platform. The Amiga gfx are all over the place. It seems as if someone started with the C64 gfx and then tried to draw over it with higher resolution pixels. This makes for a very strange look.

Imo I think the Amiga version is the best version, all the extras aside such as speech, the creepy sounds, intro and disk swap sequence, it to me is the most playable thanks to the faster gameplay, the C64 version was far too slow for me, it just felt like the game was dragging along and worst of all was the hit detection, the big guy on level 3 was such a pain in the arse to kill thanks to his long reach, I just don't enjoy the other versions.

van_dammesque · 08 June 2019, 23:03

Hey Zeus, this reminds me of The Way of the Exploding Fist and its sequel: FIST II.

I guess the 2nd game is more akin to the Conan films it draws inspiration from?

roondar · 08 June 2019, 23:29

I had this on the C64 back in the day. Came in a compilation and was incomplete. Only the first level was actually on the tape.

Never knew it was this short though, back then it took me quite some time to even finish the first level.

Turran · 09 June 2019, 08:58

Seeing this makes me think I really sucked at gaming as a kid...

Superman · 09 June 2019, 12:04

I was always getting kicked to the edge of the screen by the infinite respawning enemies. Couldn’t get a hit in at all and instant death. Usually rage quit the game after about 1 minute. Good job I didn’t buy it.

ZEUSDAZ · 16 July 2019, 00:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turran

Seeing this makes me think I really sucked at gaming as a kid...

Don't be so harsh on yourself

07 June 2019, 18:09	#1
ZEUSDAZ Registered User Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: England Posts: 743	Barbarian II - The Dungeon of Drax, a Short Game?! Barbarian II - The Dungeon of Drax, some say not a great game, others say an interesting game, some really enjoy the game such as myself (I love the creepy speech, the skeletons hand tearing through the loading pick beckoning you to follow him accompanied with the electric guitar music, the comical ways of dying and creepy sounds) and who can forget that amazing Skeleton disk swapping request sequence, whichever way you look at it there are many different feelings about the game. BUT, how quick is it possible to complete?! Well as you can see from the video below, I managed to finish the game in just 3m49s! If I payed £20 back in the day for it and recorded a time like that I think I would feel a litle bit gutted,...or was it sheer skill on my behalf?! I hope you enjoy it, don't blink too many times [ Show youtube player ] Last edited by ZEUSDAZ; 02 July 2022 at 00:55.

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07 June 2019, 18:22	#2
rsn8887 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,058	I played this on the Amiga and C64. Of course it is fast if you know the maps and how to play the game. It took me forever to draw maps for the game. So you should count the time to figure out how to play the game and the long time it takes to explore the game and draw the maps. These statements how short the old games were are highly misleading because of this. Take Antiriad. It takes hours to figure everything out. Then, when you know everything, of course it is short. Concerning Barbarian 2, nowadays, I enjoy the C64 version more. The graphics are more pleasing to my eye on the C64 for some reason, they seem more consistently good on that platform. The Amiga gfx are all over the place. It seems as if someone started with the C64 gfx and then tried to draw over it with higher resolution pixels. This makes for a very strange look.

07 June 2019, 19:15	#3
meynaf son of 68k Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Lyon / France Age: 51 Posts: 5,323	What annoyed me with that game is the constant flood of monsters. It never ends, forcing the player to rush into the game rather than exploring. But aside of this, it is quite enjoyable, i especially liked these creepy ambient sounds and the funny ways of dying.

07 June 2019, 20:15	#5
demoniac Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: - Posts: 1,687	Besides what meynaf wrote,I also don't like how the character's orientation changes, especially when a monster appears behinds the character while the character is facing the opposite direction. The way how most enemies just disappears after a puff of smoke seems cheap. Also the wizard at the end is much weaker than the first game's boss fight. Anyway, thanks for the speedrun.

08 June 2019, 23:03	#7
van_dammesque Registered User Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: England Posts: 228	Hey Zeus, this reminds me of The Way of the Exploding Fist and its sequel: FIST II. I guess the 2nd game is more akin to the Conan films it draws inspiration from?

08 June 2019, 23:29	#8
roondar Registered User Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 3,410	I had this on the C64 back in the day. Came in a compilation and was incomplete. Only the first level was actually on the tape. Never knew it was this short though, back then it took me quite some time to even finish the first level.

09 June 2019, 08:58	#9
Turran Moderator Join Date: May 2012 Location: Stockholm / Sweden Age: 49 Posts: 1,572	Seeing this makes me think I really sucked at gaming as a kid...

09 June 2019, 12:04	#10
Superman Super Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Wakefield Age: 48 Posts: 1,334	I was always getting kicked to the edge of the screen by the infinite respawning enemies. Couldn’t get a hit in at all and instant death. Usually rage quit the game after about 1 minute. Good job I didn’t buy it.

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