Barbarian Preview

It took us a while, but we finally caught up with Mike Tidwell from Saffire, the developer who's currently working with Titus Games to bring the action title Barbarian to the world of next-generation gaming. The game is going to arrive some time during the second half of 2002 for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube.

Taking a swift kick in the chest.

You missed me pretty lady.

Mike explains what makes the Barbarian tick, as he gets deeper into the issues about the gameplay (combat, skills, quests, multiplayer, and more).

Action Trip: First off, give us brief info on your development team and tell us something about the previous experiences they had in the gaming world.

Mike Tidwell: We have been making games at Saffire now for 9 years. The team has some of the most experienced people Saffire has to offer. Games team members have worked on in the last few years include: Broodwar: A Starcraft Expansion Pack, Top Gear Rally for the N64, Xena for the N64, Rainbow6 for the N64, Rogue Spear for the PS1, Several Gamboy Color/Gameboy Adv games.

AT: I remember the good old days when I used to play Barbarian endlessly on the C64. It was thrilling then and never seemed to get boring. In terms of gameplay, can you tell our readers what they can expect?

MT: We designed Barbarian as a fighter that is fun for anyone to just pick up and play, but also rewarding for someone who has mastered the game. As far as play activities are concerned, beyond fighting with up to 8 combatants at once, we allow you to rip objects out of the ground to use them as weapons. You'll also be able to find secret arena areas, and even advance your character's skills where you want to allow for super powered custom battles.

AT: Back once more to the old Barbarian games, they were spiced up with quite a lot of gore and violence. Does this game include stuff like that (hewing limbs and chopping off heads, etc.)?

MT: As games become more main stream, they are subject to more and more scrutiny. We decided not to include blood or gore in Barbarian so we could achieve a teen rating.

AT: What types of quests will be put before us in Barbarian?

MT: Much of the game is comprised of one-on-one battles to the death, but we also have quests where you will have to fight multiple AI opponents and their henchmen. Still, other quests have simple, auxiliary goals to keep things interesting. These include destroying specific objects, fighting opponents with advanced stats, defeating your opponent while poisoned, etc.

A delightful foursome.

The ultimate bowler is pretty pissed.

AT: Tell us what sort of combat moves will the players be able to use against enemies.

MT: Barbarians can run, jump, slash hard, slash fast, throw, use objects as weapons, use (certain) AI characters as weapons and hang to attack from ceilings or poles. Ground attacks can be combo'd into special combos that regenerate magic, pop-up their opponents to set them up for juggles, do extra leak damage to blocking opponents, or other special functions. Most attacks can be blocked and some can be countered. Magic can be used to hurl destructive spells or push opponents away, and everyone has special character-specific moves (rune attacks) that do everything from giving them super speed to calling an eruption of boulders from the ground.

AT: I really liked some of the weapons I saw on the screenshots (some are two-handed, some have magical characteristics). Can you depict some of these weapons we'll get to use? Also, enlighten us more on the subject of RPG elements (magic skills, players experience, and so on).

MT: Each character has a signature weapon. We have characters that use axes, swords, dirks, shields, staves, knives, claws, and concrete balls. The RPG system in our game is simple. As fighters progress through quests they acquire levels that grant them points to enhance their skills and attributes. Their fighter can get increased health, damage bonuses, enhancements to their magic, increased speed and blocking, the ability to lift and perform combos with heavier objects (and thugs), and some small special abilities, like double-jumps. Customized characters can then be loaded into versus battles so you can annihilate your friends. It doesn't take long to max a character, so you can quickly create a custom character of your own to fight against your friends. Even two of the same character will play differently through advancement.

AT: Describe a few more details about the game's multiplayer.

MT: Multiplayer gameplay can be very calculated or chaotic, depending on how many players you have in versus mode. With less players, you can concentrate on the mind-game, and use your abilities more broadly to stay a step ahead of your opponent. With additional players, the game changes. If everyone decides to clobber each other at the same time you end up with a real mess of fists and effects! In this case, it's smart to play keep away, concentrating filling up your magic so you can use more special attacks that hit multiple opponents. Whether or not you play with lots of opponents (friends with the multi-tap, or AI players) or just a few will also affect how you choose to advance your characters in quest mode.

AT: In your opinion what sets Barbarian apart from numerous PS2 action titles?

MT: We think there is still a lot of room in fighting games for new ideas, and we wanted to bring some of these to the table. Our hope is that with our quests and character advancement system we are creating a fighter with a strong single-player experience. We have also tried to make a game that even non-fighter fans will enjoy; a game that is both easy to play and fun to master. We want to see fighting games with stronger single-player experiences and ease of introduction and we think what we've done in Barbarian is a good step in this direction.

AT: When will the game be released?

MT: Q2 2002