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Gauntlet II
By Steve Kilpatrick

What's Glove got to do with it?
Actually nothing. The gauntlet was a way for adventurers and heroes to test their Mettle. Despite the fact that a gauntlet that you wear would be made of medal the two words are spelled differently and therefor don't have a rat's ass to do with one another. I might go on to question where a rat came up with the money for a donkey, but that would be a larger digression than we're already in the midst of. Anywho, if you've ever seen the movie First Knight with Gere and that sexy man Sean Connery then you will have seen a gauntlet. It was the device that Richard Gere ran through in with no armor in order to meet the queen. The official definitions include: A severe trial or ordeal, the one about the gloves and an onslaught from all sides. I'm pretty sure the characters all wear gauntlets in order to defend themselves, the game is certainly a severe trial or ordeal and you are certainly facing an onslaught from all sides. So I guess the title is just about as poignant as a title can get to an NES game. Now that we've sorted all that out

Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
I'll tell you who. Four treasure hungry heroes. This game may offer some storyline pretext of saving someone or fighting evil, but don't believe it. This game is based on an arcade game. Arcade games have always been about one very important thing: High Scores. There are about 100 levels to this game and only the most patient player will cover them all. Thankfully that isn't the goal. The goal is to collect all the treasure you can carry. Amazingly you can carry a dragon's hoard on your backs in this game and you won't even slow down.
There are four main characters to control or team up with in your quest for the Quan. The characters are: Thor the Warrior, Thyra the Valkyrie, Merlin the Wizard and Questor the Elf. They each have their own special abilities(though they are pretty similar in design and effect) and weapons. Naturally the elf is quicker than the warrior, but the warrior is stronger and the magician is more magical. Pretty simple right? Well that's the way arcade games are meant to be. Simple is the way to go when it's all about the points and the action.

Is That a Projectile Weapon in your Pocket? Oh, it is
Given that this is an arcade style game you need hoards of enemies to protect that treasure that you're after and to give the game a faster pace. Thankfully the designers help keep the odds a bit more even by making all of your weapons projectile weapons. That's right, even the warriors weapon is a projectile. Another thing is they never run out. I don't know where you're keeping all of those swords, but I'm betting somebody needs some medicated cream somewhere. The key in this game isn't to kill all the monsters you can eat though. It's to collect all the treasure you can. The monsters are just pixelized versions of Regis there to goad you into losing your money. The monsters aren't the real enemies though. It's the monster generators you need to worry about. Since we're using metaphors we'll call them "producers". Take out these big studio producers so that the Regis Monsters have no more funding. Then you can run off with all the money you want. Ok, enough of that. On a serious note I'm not kidding about the monster generators. Until you take them out the monsters will pour out until there is no space left to pour into. If you like lots of killing then you can wait a bit and then mow them down in hoards for fun. If you're health gets low there are plenty of foods and drinks to raise your health. Careful though because there are plenty of traps and poisons to help keep a man down. This game is arcade to the bone and it pulls it off well.

Gameplay and Gauntlet both start with a "G"
They also go hand in hand in this game. While there are four characters with minor differences they all handle about the same. The only real differences are their speeds, defensive and offensive strengths. They also have different looking attacks, but the attacks are pretty similar. The control is quick and responsive in most games. When there are too many monsters on the screen that sometimes changes and that can be an issue in the tougher levels, but it's usually something that can be overcome. The slowdown and sluggish control is probably the reason I don't score this one higher. As I said it only happens when there are too many images on the screen, but that's often the time that you need the best control. There is also a slowdown when you play with four players and since there is no split screen the cooperative action can get very tedious with so many players to account for. One or two players should have no major troubles though and even four players can have fun if they work well together. If you don't mind blisters from constantly tap tap tapping the fire button then the control will be ideal. The only thing you'll have to get the hang of is angling your attacks or coping with some of the more interesting traps. The ricochet arrows or the pinball trap come to mind. Those things only add to the fun if you're willing to ignore the silly nature of them.

Here's Looking at you Questor
So how do the graphics and sound add up? I can tell you that while they aren't as good as the original arcade version, they are very crisp. There is a bit of slowdown when playing four player mode, but the single or two player mode that most will play moves along fine. The sound is pretty true to the arcade, but the sounds do often get very repetitive. 100 levels of the same sounds will wear on even the best of us. None the less the looks of the characters and the designs of the levels actually manage to stay pretty fresh even with the large number the designers had to overcome. I will say that while the monster designs are good, there are far too many to choose from. Overall the sites and sound make me glad that I don't have to stare at any one dungeon for too long, but they are good enough that I don't mind them while I'm there. Besides this game isn't really about the look, but the gameplay and as I've stated that is pulled off well. The graphics are more than adequate and backup the gameplay very well.

Bottom Line: I've always loved the Gauntlet series. The original was far too buggy for the NES and often made me bored very quickly; this one, however, manages to fix the mistakes of the first and stay true to the arcade feel that makes it so endearing.

My Score: B-

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