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You know how it is when you're in possession of a soul-craving sword. You just can't help killing everything in sight. It's not that you want to...

Karn the barbarian has just such a sword, given to him through a long and unnecessary plotline. With it, he wanders the world hacking and maiming the inhabitants. He has to do this to get their souls, because it's only when the soul level in the sword is at a maximum that Karn's energy rises.

The levels are connected in a pretty strange but mappable way. They can be exited by either right or left routes, with each exit taking you to a different level. If you know the route then it's possible to skip through the game by the minimum number of levels, or by using just your favourite type of landscape.

Deathbringer has one outstanding graphical attribute - its parallax scrolling. It uses so many levels of parallax the effect looks almost perfect. Each creature is drawn and animated with some care and they all have different ways of hurting you, like the small goblin who lobs a bomb at you and then runs away.

There's not a heck of a lot to Deathbringer. Each level is just a matter of moving towards the next, killing numerous creatures on the way to ensure your health doesn't run out. The creatures get harder and the landscapes alter, but that's about the only things that change.

The game's fun for a bit but the novelty of seeing how each creature attacks soon wears off. Unfortnately, it looks as if the programmers have spent the time getting the parallax right without thinking about the game itself.

1. Superficially similar to most hack-'em-ups like Palace's Barbarian, but it's slower and more deliberate.
2. Engaging graphics, slightly less arresting gameplay, but not quite to the same degree as Space Ace.