Retro developer Microids has teamed up with Anuman Interactive to bring the 1987 classic Barbarian – The Ultimate Warrior to the iOS and Windows platforms. Last month they announced they’d be resurrecting this old favorite, and after a rocky start, it has finally made its way to the App Store.
The iOS version of the game was redone entirely with 3D graphics, and offers four different gameplay modes: Story, Arcade, Survival, and Local Multiplayer. Story mode, as you might expect, is drawn out adventure where you play the Barbarian tasked to rescue the Princess Marianna who has been kidnapped by the mad wizard Drax. Story mode currently has two difficulty levels, Normal and Hardcore, with a third in development, Death Sword. Arcade mode consists of a collection of mini-style games where you’re simply fighting against opponents with increasing levels of difficulty until you reach the mini-boss. Survival mode is exactly what it sounds like. Set up as an endurance test, you fight through as many opponents as possible before your health runs out. Multiplayer is what I think will be the major selling point for this game. You can connect with your friends over a local network connection, and with the cross-platform component, you can battle it up against your friends on a PC while you’re on your iOS device. Cool, right?
Although the game itself looks a little clunky, I definitely think it has some potential. Personally, I love fighter games, and I love them even more when there’s a real multiplayer feature. It’s available right now on the App Store for a decent price of $1.99 for the iPhone version and $3.99 for the iPad version. The game will be released for Mac and PC this March.
Go check it out.
