 In their review for Dragon magazine , the Lessers called Axe of Rage " an engrossing slash ' n hack that 'll please most arcaders . " Zzap ! 64 's reviewers were unanimous in recommending Barbarian II to their readers ; however , two years later in a re @-@ review , the magazine 's staff said the game has aged badly , finding the gameplay " lot more crude and clichéd " and of dubious replay value . Martyn Carroll concurred in his article for Retro Gamer , 17 years after the game 's release , calling Barbarian II " hugely disappointing " for " [ messing ] up almost everything that was great about the first game . " Brown and Palace Software 's co @-@ founder Richard Leinfellner admitted as much ; they said they had mixed feelings about Barbarian II , thinking the idea of a simple fun game was lost by stuffing too many features into it . 
