Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows (XBox)
Published by: Midway Games
Developed by: Midway Games
Number of Players: 1-4
Intro
It seems like a new Gauntlet game comes out every few years like clockwork. I loved playing this in the arcade, about ten years ago, but will it still be the same. I have played pretty much all the Gauntlet games and I wasn't sure if more of the same would keep me coming back, but I had to try it.
Graphics and Sound
So as always, the cut scenes are non existent. There are simply pictures with the main guy talking in the background. The pictures are pretty regular, nothing really to keep you from just hitting the button and skipping them and the story, well it seems that again, they just need something to say in between levels. Basically, you have to kill the seven sorrows of a fallen warrior in order to bring peace back to the land (or to him). Nothing really interesting, they don't even go into the details of why and how this came to be. So now that we know that they have not done any work on the cut scenes or story I started to wonder about the game. The sound is basically the same also, nothing really noticeable. The one difference I did notice is that the voice over that you always hear during the game, the guy who says "Blue Elf has gained a level" and "Yum" is pretty much gone. Now he only tells you when you need food or are about to die. Not a major change but that voice is part of Gauntlet, not sure why it was removed.
Gameplay
More importantly, doe sit play well. The short answer is that even with the changes, it plays the same. Which might sound good if it was the second in the series, but with all the advances the XBox has brought you would think they could improve on it. The Gauntlet series was never known for its varied and state of the art gameplay but there is so much more they can do. Gauntlet is basically a button masher. This is still true, however now you can mash any of the buttons. You have four basic attacks: Hit, strong attack (which breaks through an enemies block), lift (which shoots an enemy into the air) and another hit move. You also have one button for magic and one to guard, but now you can buy upgrades, which give you combos and you can use the second analog stick to make lunge attacks and the d-pad is use to do special attacks that you bought.
So there are some additions, but they are not very useful. Even after buying everything, there is still basically only two buttons to use, the regular attack and the strong attack. The special d-pad moves use magic and are useful hen surrounded, but with so many enemies, you can't really pick and chose who to fight, you simply mash the buttons.
You can also see your experience increasing and know when your level will go up and are given one character point that you can assign to Strength, Magic Regeneration or Health at the end of each level. This is basically the same as before, since your character has been leveling in previous versions of the game.
Difficulty
Finally, the game took about eight hours to beat. Which is short even for a great game, but for a repetitive game that we have all played before, is a terrible thing. All in all, the game was kid of fun, playing with several of my friends and the fact that is was short probably prevented me from getting bored with it, but unless you want more of the same, this game should be avoided.
Conclusion
Another game that brings nothing new and has not brought anything new since the N64 versions. It seems like this may be the last one, with all the bad reviews, maybe they should give up on this series, I know I have.
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