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There's this sword, right. These evil wizards have magically given it the ability to absorb the souls of anyone it slays. Their intention is to use it to get rid off their goody-goody though thicky-thicky nemesis Karn, a barbarian so stupid he can't even spell his own name right.

However, luck isn't on the wizards' side, and the sword finds its way into Karn's calloused hands. Hardly believing his luck, Karn sets out to give the sword back to the wizards - in style. Basically, it's all a thinly-veiled excuse for a sideways scrolling bloodfest of hacking and slaying, with Karn ploughing through wave after wave of bizarro monsters.

Deathbringer boasts some of the most impressive parallax-scrolling backgrounds yet seen, even if they are somewhat lacking in colour. The sprites are well-drawn with a nice line in humour, but they're rather garish in a monochromatic sort of way.

But, despite its good graphics and adequate sound, Deathbringer's real problem is that it's basically a bit dull. The combat moves are limited in range and slow to implement and just wandering along, endlessly plugging away at the baddies, is not all that interesting. And the prettiest backdrops in the whole World can't make up for that. Barbarian III this ain't.