dwl10@amdahl.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) (11/13/87)
A brief review of MINDSCAPE'S "GAUNTLET" for the C-64
This is the home computer version of the popular Atari arcade game.
For those of you who haven't played (or at least watched) the game, here
is a brief, but inadequate, description.....
The goal is for one or two adventurers to survive the perils of a many
leveled dungeon while collecting valuables and destroying evil creatures.
Each level must be explored to find the exit(s) to the next level. How
long you survive is determined by your health score, which will go up
and (mostly :-) ) down as you progress through the levels.
You first step is to select a character. There are 4 characters to choose
from: THOR the Warrior, THYRA the Valkyre, MERLIN the Wizzard, and
QUESTOR the Elf. Each character has 4 attributes: Armor, Shot Power,
Hand-to-Hand Ability, and Magic Power. Each character has different
levels of each ability. You job is to select the "best" character
for you. When there are two players, they each select a different
character.
The dungeons are filled with a variety of objects...some good, some
evil. You should collect the good ones and avoid the evil ones. The
objects are:
POTIONS - Grants magic ability to character
SPECIAL POTIONS: - Grants a special ability to the character
FOOD: Increases health score
CIDER: Same as food, but can be destroyed by a shot.
POISON: Looks very much like CIDER, but it takes away a special
special ability, and decreases your health score.
KEYS: Used to open doors
TREASURE: Increases your score.
AMULET: Makes you temporarily invisible.
WALLS: Most are impenetrable, but some can be crumbled with shots.
TRAPS: Make some walls disappear.
DOORS: Can only be opened with a key.
TRANSPORTERS: Transports you to another transporter.
EXITS: Lead to another level.
Scattered throughout the dungeons you will also find Monster Generators.
Creatures spew forth from these generators at regular intervals. Each
generator generates a specific type of villain. There are three generator
levels, creating monsters from merely strong to deadly. You can destroy
the generators by shooting them, pounding them into rubble (if your
character is able), or by using magic. The monsters can be destroyed
by shots, hand-to-hand combat, or by a magic potion.
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The review........
MINDSCAPE's version of this game comes very close to matching the
arcade version. You have all of the same characters, monsters, and
objects. It also appears that the dungeon levels are the same (I never got
very deep in the arcade version, so I can't guarantee it). There is no
voice synthesis, but that's no big deal to me. (No more of the
"Wizzard needs food badly" that I used to hear much too often) :-)
There is one BIG difference....the C-64 version is in Black & White. The only
color on the playfield are the characters, and shots. The reason for this
is that Black and White offers twice the resolution of color, so you get
most of the detail from the original arcade game. The lack of color
bugged me at first, but now I don't miss it. (The picture on the game
package that shows the Atari-ST version looks EXACTLY like the arcade
version).
The game plays very well. The playfield is about 4 "screens" in size,
so the screen scrolls (very smoothly) as the player moves. The
character moves in 4 directions, shoots in 8.
Problems:
I have two major complaints. The first is that there is no pause feature!
Once you start, you have to keep going. I can't imagine going through
100+ levels without taking a break!
The second complaint is that the "copy protected loader" doesn't work
with my FastLoad Cart. I have to physically remove the cartridge in order
to load the game. A slip of paper that came with the game says that
the game has it's own fast load pgm. That's true, but the only thing
fast loaded is the copy protect code. Then the rest of the code is
loaded via the usual SLOW c-64 load routine! The initial load takes
3 or 4 minutes, and you can't just start the load and go do something
else for a while, as you have to select you character(s) about 2 min.
into the load, the wait another 2 for the game to start.
My last complaint is a "feature" that causes the dungeons past level 8
to be selected at random. I don't know if the arcade game was the same,
but it's hard to get good, when every time you play you get
different dungeons.
Bottom Line....
I would recommend this to anyone that likes the arcade version.
It seems to me to have everything the arcade
game had, and plays almost as well also.
Feel free to contact me if you have any further questions about the game.
(Like how to tell the difference between Cider and Poison)
--
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"Familiarity breeds attempt"
Dave Lowrey
Amdahl Corp.
Houston, Texas
(713)-850-8828
...!{ihnp4,cbosgd,hplabs,oliveb}!amdahl!dwl10
[ The opinions expressed <may> be those of the author and not necessarily
those of his most eminent employer. ]