Zzap


Gauntlet II

Categories: Review: Software
Publisher: Kixx
Machine: Amiga 500

 
Published in Zzap #61

Gauntlet II

The original Gauntlet was a massive phenomenon in the arcades, proving that you can have four players and fun at the same time. US Gold did the business and converted this arcade smash incredibly well onto all machines, bar the Amiga. The coin-on follow-up wasn't quite as good a game, with little in the way of improvements, but this did make it onto the Amiga.

Of course, it's all about mass monster slaying on a grand scale as one to four adventurers hack and slash their way through 100 different dungeons. As well as ghosts, grunts, sorcerors, and Death to kill (how do you kill Death?) there's a fireball-spitting Dragon, an IT creature (and its cousin THAT), and other dungeon denizens.

An extremely slick conversion, Gauntlet II even boasts the coin-op's four player option (although you need an interface to get this). The graphics are superbly detailed with snippets of speech too, to add that finishing touch to it all. Unfortunately, variety is severely lacking, death virtually impossible with two players, while loading (including inter-level accessing) is unbelievably slow. Enthusiastic fans of the coin-op will like the near-perfect conversion, others may find it a bit boring.