Previous Next

If there is any justification for all the type and publicity Quartet has enjoyed, it has to be credited to fact that it was the fastest off the blocks in the great Gauntlet rip-off sprint. Although other later C64 games such as Druid and Dandy were even more faithful copies of the original of the species, Quartet's special claim to fame was simply that it was the second four-joystick console around.

I will probably get an ear-roasting from many a gamer for admitting that I thought this was as good as Gauntlet in the arcades, if not better. Gauntlet on the home micro was welcomed passionately with open arms, can this possibly do as well?

The Quartet are definitely the most highly trained team of professional assassins in the galaxy. So when terrorists overrun a space colony, these men... oops! and woman, are the ones called in to do the kind of jobs other people wouldn't have the guts for.

The four tough guys and gals are as follows:

1. Edgar A ruthless tough guy who is also winner of the "Errol Brown lookalike contest"

2. Lee With his wide beam gun Lee shows those aliens just what he is made of... also impressing Mary!

3. Mary The alien bashing beauty looks simply ravishing in her skin-tight jump-suit, but is not impressed be Lee and his gun.

4. Joe The fastest mover in the team, also in Mary's eyes the hunkiest but is she fast enough to stay with him?

The first thing you must decide is which of the tough team you wish to control, and whether you wish to play two players. Once all this trivial rubbish is settled then you and a team-mate (if you choose to play two players) are beamed down to the complex.

The complex is set out in twenty-two levels, each level made up of strange abstract platform formations which can be hopped on and off. The platforms aren't in any way a necessity to use, so don't fret, this game has no real platform game element about it. The player must jump around until he gets a jet-pack which makes things a great deal easier, enabling you to dodge and shoot at the aliens in your path.

The aliens are a bit too frequent on the screen for my liking. There are doors in the background where the creatures obviously live, as they flood out of them after you. Calling the aliens 'creatures' was probably not the right choice of word, they are not living things in any sense, and they appear to have a strong metallic connection. Robotic or alien they still pose a severe health hazard to the Quartet.

When first beginning level one, the Quartet team start as fairly slow movers, having only the ability to jump, and the weapons... huh. The petty little bullets they fire make water-pistols look like Magnums. As is the current with trendy vogue software houses, this can be improved by picking up different icons for things such as improved firepower, the jetpack that was mentioned earlier, and - straight out of Gauntlet - a magic potion that kills all the enemies on screen like a smart bomb.

To complete a level, you must find the key, which is always hooked to what I call a key-monster. You must shoot the key monster what seems a million times, until he disintegrates and drops the key.

In between each level, there is a presentation screen in which each of the players is given their deserved bonus for the last level's completion. Bonuses are ranked - whoever gets the key through the exit gets the highest bonus.

The Quartet arcade layout was so successful probably because the sprites were of mammoth size unlike those in Gauntlet, and the view was also a more comprehensible side view. Two months ago I told you how Activision managed to botch up the conversion of a perfectly good motorbike game by the name of Enduro Racer, and now they've had another shot at ruining a game.

Don't sweat too much, though. OK, I think they will happily admit that the graphics aren't up to the standard of the arcade version. In fact, they're lousy, whilst the sound just squeezes past the mediocre barrier. Most importantly, it is playable and not too buggy, contrary to what I was expecting. Playable, that is, if you can take a little slow movement and flickering. Still, for the sheer hell of having a game of Quartet in your own bedroom, it's worth a cockle!