Sword of Sodan 1990 By: Interprise Software

Overview:

This may be the worst game I've ever had the displeasure of having to endure. It fails in almost every aspect that makes a game. The graphics looked good enough, but were animated very badly. It's a side-scrolling disaster. The sounds were bad, they sounded muffled and were annoying as heck. You only have three different attacks, and two characters to choose from. They both act the same, they just look different. There is a side slash, a top down chop, and a poking attack. The poking attack does the most damage and has the longest reach, so you will spend your whole "gaming experience" doing this stupid looking poke attack.
The controls were slow, but easy to use because there are only three attacks. Now you can jump, but there is no reason to. The hit detection is a disaster too. Several times you will miss when it clearly should have hit.
The only story you hear is that there is a renegade warlock that needs dispatching. There are way too many enemies that can attack you, and since your controls are slow and poorly designed, you will die often. Everything is too big on this game: the hero, the enemies, everything. They take up so much of the screen, you can't see that there is one monster pile of enemies building up off screen until they are right on top of you. Definitely a stinker.

Directions:

Start by choosing either the male or female barbarian (not that there is any real difference, but you still have to choose one). Then fight your way through eight side scrolling levels, if you can stand it. You have three attacks, a slash, a chop, and a poke. The poke will be used more often than not, because it causes the most damage and has the longest reach. You can also jump, but it will only result in your death. There is no jumping attack, and there are no pits to jump over until late in the game where there is a pit level.
Enemies will attack you en masse and sometimes from both sides. If this happens, you are as good as dead. Turning around is a chore. You have to push the control pad in that direction and another button, meanwhile, your back is being beaten to death. Trying this game on easy may be a good idea, so the frequency of enemies will be decreased. You can also choose to start with more lives.
There is a potion system in the game where you get to mix and match different potion elements. There are three rules when making potions. First, you can only hold four potions at once. If you already have four potions,
enemies won't drop any more. Second, you can't have greater than 9 lives. Third, you can't skip level 6 or 7. There are four base potions to make potions out of. Vitalium(Vm) increases your hit strength by fifteen. Etherium(Em) is only good for mixing, it does nothing on its own. Solarium(Sm) will give you a Magic Zapper that will hit one enemy pretty hard. Hydrium(Hm) will restore stamina. There are several "recipes" you can make by mixing the various potions: Vm and Em will produce an extra life, Sm and Em will fire brand your sword, Hm and Em will produce a temporary damage reducing shield, four Em will skip the level you're in, Vm and Sm will flame brand your sword, Hm and Sm is poison. To use potions, press Start to pause the game, then choose which potions you want in the mix by pressing A. After you resume the game, press A again to drink your potion.
This game is filled to the brim with bad design. If you manage to beat the game by defeating a near impossible sub-boss, followed by an impossible final boss, your reward will be three lines of text to read. I should probably put them here, just to further discourage you from playing through this game to find out what they say... You will also NOT be able to put your name on the Top Score list, that's only possible when you get killed.