U.S. Gold
£4.99 cassette
£6.99 disk
Requires GAUNTLET
Attention all GAUNTLET fanatics! Having rushed out to
buy the current U.S. Gold top seller, perhaps after reading the
review in PAGE 6 (!), you might have survived the dangers imposed by
demons, ghosts and similar obnoxious nasties, and be seeking a
further challenge. If that is the case, THE DEEPER DUNGEONS are for
you.
What you get are 512 brand new previously unexplored
mazes, bubbling to the brim with all manner of adversaries,
treasures, doors, rations (beware of the poisonous ones!) and
generally the kinds of things that you would expect to find on any
Sunday afternoon stroll into a deep dungeon. If you were an entrant
to the design-a-screen competition then you may even see your name
printed on the inlay card! Adhering to all of the rules established
in GAUNTLET you will be given the opportunity to control the hero of
your choice around the dungeons collecting treasure, searching for
exits and, of course, killing anything that moves.
The genuine GAUNTLET arcade machine features stereo
sound (courtesy of the POKEY sound chip!), voice synthesis and
superb graphics. Nobody was expecting anything quite so mind-blowing
on a home micro, but the truth of the matter is that following
months of speculation and rumour, the Atari 8-bit version is a huge
anti-climax. It is completely boring, visually very forgettable –
apart from a glimmer of hope resting in the ace title page – and
sonics are virtually nonexistent.
Needless to say, any comments made by Paul Blazeby in
issue 28 hold true in this review. THE DEEPER DUNGEONS are simply
more of the same – quite a lot more in fact. Take my advice, invest
your hard-earned cash in Firebird's DRUID instead. It's infinitely
more playable! Don't forget that you must already own GAUNTLET
before you can run THE DEEPER DUNGEONS, and also that the cassette
and disk versions cannot be intermingled. Not a lot more I can add
except buy it at your own peril!
top
