Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!caen.engin.umich.edu!netnews
From: netnews@caen.engin.umich.edu (CAEN Netnews)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Review of Gauntlet
Summary: One thumbs up and a skewed thumb
Message-ID: <43546d7c.a590@mag.engin.umich.edu>
Date: 20 May 89 07:27:00 GMT
Reply-To: mystone@sol.engin.umich.edu (Dean Yu)
Organization: Univ. of Michigan College of Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI
Lines: 52


  Well, I was in the local computer store today when I saw the Mac version
of Gauntlet sitting on the shelf, and being the impulsive type, I immediately
plopped down my $40 for it.  After a few hours of intensive playing, here's
what I think of it.
  First, the details.  You need a Plus, SE, or II to run it.  It plays in
16 colors on the II.  Two disks come with the package; one is the black and
white version, and the other is the color version.  One or two players can
play, and choose among the four different characters.
  
  The good:  It's fairly faithful to the arcade game.  The levels are the same,
the graphics are pretty good, even in black and white.  The CLUT for the
title screen seems a little messed up, but the game graphics are fine.  The
sound is pretty well done.  The only things wrong with the sound is the sound
of a key being picked up and the shots.  Everything else sounds just like the
arcade game, even the little tune they have between levels.  The speech is a
little slow, though.  (Like, 'Elf just shot the food', etc.)  You can save
games in progess, so you don't have to start over every time, and if you're
playing the two player game, if one player dies, the character can be
resurrected from a menu option.

  The bad:  It can get slow sometimes, even on the Mac II, when there are
a lot of monsters on the screen.  On the Plus, well, if you've ever complained
that the monsters come at you too fast, you don't have to worry about that
here.  If you're on an ADB machine, you can't hook up two keyboards and play.
Typing on one keyboard will freeze up the other keyboard.  The controls can
be pretty unresponsive.  You can sit there with 10 ghosts coming at you from
a diagonal, and no matter how hard you pound on the diagonal key, you won't
turn.  Some of the passageways are a little tight, too.  If you get caught
in a passage, you might have to turn diagonally for a bit to fit through.  
  It's also missing a few features found in the arcade game.  You don't get
points for shooting monsters, only for destroying generators.  The characters
move at the same speed.  While the Merlin enthusiasts won't complain, it just
isn't quite the same to have everyone moving at the same speed.

  The bad paragraph looks longer than the good paragraph, so you might think
that it's not worth it.  But when you get down to it, Gauntlet is Gauntlet,
and be glad you don't have to plunk quarters in any more.  (I've put $7 into
the arcade game in one night before...)  So will I be skipping classes for
the next week playing this?  You betcha!

_______________________________________________________________________________
Dean Yu                            | E-mail: mystone@{sol,caen}.engin.umich.edu
University of Michigan             | Real-mail: Dean Yu
Computer Aided Engineering Network |            909 Church St
===================================|            Apt C
"These are MY opinions." (My       |            Ann Arbor, MI 48104
 employer doesn't want them.       |===========================================
 Actually, they don't really care  | 
 what I think.  But President      |   This space intentionally left blank.  
 Duderstadt does...)               | 
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