We're talking the early Psygnosis Amiga game here (circa 1987), not the far better beat 'em up from Palace, but still, this is a controversial one.

For a start, the game looked fantastic. This was the time when the Amiga was just becoming popular and Barbarian's sumptuous graphics were wowing everyone. Essentially though, the game - a 2D platformer - suffered terribly in the gameplay department. The controls were awkward to say the least (you controlled the main character via a series of icons at the base of the screen - click on the left arrow and your chap moved left, for example), but the game's biggest flaw was its unavoidable death loops.

As you moved through the game you were never sure where the next death was coming from because there were no clues. You would suddenly be flattened by a part of the ceiling falling away, for example, and though this is hardly enjoyable, what made the game worse was that you'd often be restarted in a place from which you couldn't avoid being killed again and again by the same thing. Barbarian certainly proved that with a skilful artist these new-fangled Amiga games could certainly look great, but as a piece of enjoyable entertainment software it stank. That didn't stop it selling though, proving that since gaming began, a good-looking game of no substance has always got a chance with the gullible public.