Gauntlet: Dark Legacy GameCube Review @ Gaming Target

Written by Ilan Mejer on March 20, 2002

Review: УRed Warrior needs food badly! Blue Wizard is about to die!Ф

I have a confession; I am a Gauntlet fiend. Since that day in my teenage youth (mid 1980s) that I first heard the chilling Gauntlet voice utter the words, УRed Warrior needs food badly,Ф I was hooked to the insanely difficult and atmospheric hack and slash Atari arcade game known as Gauntlet. I missed the early 8- and 16-bit home versions of Gauntlet, but quickly snapped up GDL's Nintendo 64 predecessor, Gauntlet Legends, released by Midway. 2002 has seen a new generation of consoles, and a new 3D Gauntlet game, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, a semi-sequel, semi-expansion to the original 3D upgrade of the franchise. GDL was originally an arcade game from two years ago, and was expanded greatly and adapted to the Playstation 2 last year. This version of GDL is an upgraded port of the PS2 game; featuring GCN-exclusive features such as an expanded inventory system, new items and power ups, and higher resolution graphics (particularly with component cables.)

GDL can be labeled both as an expansion to Gauntlet Legends, and as a sequel. It contains the entirety of the first game, and adds more than double the content as well as a complete retooling of the story and characters. The Sorcerer Garm, deluded brother to the Wizard Sumner, protector of the land of Gauntlet, has reunited twelve of the thirteen rune stones needed to open the gates to Hell. Impatiently, Garm proceeds to summon the evil demon, Skorne, during one of Sumner's patrols, but fails to gain mastery over the spell. Skorne breaks free of Garm's magical control, and drags the hapless fool into Hell. He then proceeds to corrupt the various lands of Gauntlet, until Sumner reappears and locks the various portals to each land, until such a time that he can gather a hero from each realm to help fight the evil usurper. You will take the role of one of those heroes in your quest to recapture the thirteen scattered rune stones needed to banish Skorne and his minions back into the Hell that spawned them.

GDL features the four main worlds of GL arcade as well as the extra realms of the N64 version. Furthermore, Midway added four entire new worlds, completely retooled the old worlds, and added new areas to explore not seen previous. A total of eight characters classes ups the ante from GL's four. Eight more alter ego classes (more powerful, mythological versions of the originals) and a plethora of code-enabled hidden characters expand GDL's replay value tremendously. The Dwarf, Knight, Sorceress, and Jester join the returning classic characters, the Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard, and Archer (Elf.) You will choose and name one of the available characters classes, who are ruled by five main statistics, Hit Points, Strength, Speed, Intelligence, and Armor, and will progress through the dozen or so different realms of Gauntlet, which total approximately 60 individual levels. You will hack your way through thousands of enemies, grab gold and treasure, accrue experience, gain in levels, and upgrade your starting statistics in a frenzy of updated, old-school gameplay.

You start by entering the overrun Forsaken Province world and unlock new worlds by collecting colored, magical crystals, one for each world. Each level is relatively linear, though they twist, turn, and wrap up and down in three dimensions, in a respectably convoluted manner. Standard enemies, called grunts, will spew endlessly in hordes, from all directions, from portals called generators. The larger the portal, the higher the level of the grunt, and the more damage it will take to defeat each enemy as well as the generator. New to GDL is that level three grunts (the most powerful) usually wield some kind of strong projectile weapon or spell. The grunts themselves are much more varied in appearance than ever before, and the classic Gauntlet ghost makes a triumphant return. Ankle-biters also are much more varied in appearance and abilities. Snakes, slimes, and incarnations that are even more powerful join the rats and scorpions of GL. GL's golems also return, albeit in a stronger capacity. The golems are joined by a new foe, called a general. Generals are upgraded versions of level three grunts. They are usually found individually, and do not come from generators. They are incredibly powerful and agile, and like the golems, will now drop items when defeated. However, the toughest new non-boss enemies to join the ranks are the gargoyles, which appear in three ever-increasingly powerful varieties. Nothing less animated dragon statues, they wield rending claws, fierce magic, and powerful breath weapons in combat, and can easily deal hundreds of hit points of damage before falling. They will drop one of three golden artifacts of which specific numbers must be collected in order unlock new areas in the game, outside the eight main worlds.

Aside from the slew of enemies, you will be required to seek out and collect magical potions, of which there are four types, which fuel your magical abilities as well as keys in order to unlock chests and doors. Treasure hunting is another aspect of Gauntlet games, and GDL does not disappoint. All of the items from the PS2 version of the game may be discovered, along with new exclusive power ups. Furthermore, these items are no longer automatically consumed, but may be stored in a new inventory system. This inventory system is a simpler version of the one featured in Gauntlet Legends on the Nintendo 64, where you could toggle power ups on and off or opt to sell them in Sumner's shop for gold, which in turn could be used to replenish your health, potions, or keys, as well as enhance your four primary stats. Unfortunately, unlike the N64 predecessor, the inventory system is extremely buggy, and the selling option is almost completely broken. You will be lucky if the game will allow you to sell even one item after completing a stage, regardless of whether you have it or not. The unintentional benefit is that you will not be able to upgrade your stats nearly as fast as in the N64 game, making it a much more difficult game than the disappointingly easy GL. However, it is a shame to see these features, hyped in the game's documentation, so buggy as to be almost completely wasted.

The combat system for Gauntlet has been overhauled and significantly upgraded. You may still opt to shoot from a safe distance or engage in melee combat, which nets you more experience. However, your distant attacks now come in two speeds: Fast but weak or slow and powerful. Furthermore, you can now follow your melee attack with up to three character specific special attacks, in powerful and satisfying combos. The turbo attacks of GL return, and are unleashed in exactly the same manner. As time passes, your turbo meter will charge from yellow (level 1) to red (level 2) and will allow you to unleash one of two devastating turbo attacks. The level 1 attack is a radius sweep intended to combat overwhelming flank attacks and the level 2 turbo move is a forward pushing wave of destruction intended to clear entire hallways of grunts, obstacles, and even generators. In addition, with a tap of the button you will be able to initiate a turbo charge that boosts your speed, offense, and defense as you tackle whatever is in front of you. Magical potions can still be used either as lobbed bombs, magical shields, or a radius sweeping attack, and are as beautiful as ever. Finally, a turbo defend move has been added to your arsenal. When executed, your character will stand in place and brace for impact, minimizing damage inflicted and preventing him/her from being knocked down. All in all, these new combat elements help to deepen the gameplay somewhat without destroying the classic Gauntlet arcade experience.

For every level your character gains, they will gain five points in each statistic, and an additional 100 hit points. Like previous console versions of Gauntlet, your health will not decrease by one point for every real second of time. However, unlike the disappointedly easy Gauntlet Legends, the difficulty of the game has been upped significantly to compensate. Every ten levels you gain, the eight main character classes will subtlety change in appearance. Helmets, skullcaps, weapons, shields, armor, and clothing will acquire new styles and ornamentations, spicing up the graphical experience. Additionally, since each of these main characters can be customized with four different color costumes, there are a veritable plethora of appearances to experience. At specific intervals in your character's level progression, he/she will gain new skills including the ability to heal themselves and others, disable traps, cure poisoned food (for healing), and convert junk into gold. Furthermore, at level 30 all characters will gain their own familiar, which will fight alongside them. From then on, the familiars will advance in abilities parallel to their masters.

Each world is composed of four to six individual stages, and terminates with a boss encounter. The returning stages are all jumbled about and many of them are heavily remixed, to keep the experience fresh. Each world houses a legendary weapon that will net you some kind of advantage against a specific boss. The only guarantee is that the legendary weapon found in a world will only work against the boss of a different world. The eight main worlds are the Forsaken Province, the Mountain, the Castle, the Sky World, the Forest, the Desert, the Ice Tundra, and the Dream World. There are a variety of stages and partial worlds that must be accessed after these main worlds in order to complete the game, including the Battle Grounds, the Desecrated Temple, and Hell. Each of the main worlds also hides a secret stage or mini game that has you collecting magical coins. If enough coins are gathered, then one of eight alter ego character classes is unlocked and added to the roster.

The game is perfectly satisfying as a single player adventure, as it contains many more gameplay features than its predecessor, and more than double the total game time is required to complete it. However, GDL truly shines in a multiplayer capacity. Up to four players can participate in an adventure at one time, and each is saved independently. This means that you forever change around who goes on which adventures, never locked with a specific set of characters. In multiplayer, GDL introduces a hectic type of gameplay that is partially cooperative, and partially competitive. For every extra character that joins the adventure, the amount of enemies and loot are compounded, and the characters' levels are constantly taken into consideration to tailor the exact amount of generators, gargoyles, generals, and chests to add to the stages. This helps to create an element of random dynamics that helps to add to GDL's replay. The characters simply must battle together in order to survive, but you will constantly find yourself competing for gold, treasure, experience, keys, and potions, only compounding the fun.

Graphically, the game is a mixed bag, and it must be admitted that even at its best, it is not overly impressive. Although some of the returning stages have been overhauled, others remain relatively unchanged. These stages in particular drag the game down heavily, as they were not even considered particularly pretty on the Playstation or Nintendo 64. These stages are small, and plagued by very simple texture maps lacking in detail. Oddly enough, the new stages, while still not particularly polygon-loaded, contain textures so detailed you can count the grit particles on the ground. There is such a huge graphical gap between some of the old stages and most of the new ones that you will easily be able to discern the returning stages from the original ones. Furthermore, since at any given time, there can be up to four player characters, and dozens upon dozens of enemies at once, the actual character models are simple, low poly, and lacking in detail.

In addition, much to the game's detriment, the camera is generally placed closer to the ground than in Gauntlet Legends, not only decreasing visibility, but also unintentionally forcing you to focus on just how ugly the game can be. It is a shame, really, because some of the new stages border on gorgeous. One thing the N64 predecessor lacked was the copious amounts of blood that spills from every enemy as they are slaughtered in this game. It is a pointed and welcome reminder that Nintendo has removed themselves from the censorship that 3rd party developers experienced in the past. Finally, it bears mentioning that the game's frame rate is constant though not high, even in four-player multiplayer mode. The only place in the game that it truly stutters beyond belief is in Sumner's Tower, the hub from which you unlock and access new stages and worlds. This is particularly odd because this Tower is neither large, nor amazingly detailed, and does not contain any treasure, enemies, or actual gameplay.

I greatly enjoyed the music and sound effects of Gauntlet Legends. Some of the sounds have been redone, and some have been left completely unchanged, but they all sound convincing, if not fresh, in Gauntlet Dark Legacy. The remixed tunes from returning stages sound much better thanks to the GameCube's disc-based media. The new music is equally powerful and memorable. None of the music is actually grating, although some of it is forgettable. More often than not, you will be exploring and slaughtering to music that is at least hum-able, if not downright enjoyable. In general, the music is deep and melodic, and sounds appropriate given the locales they are meant to represent. The classic СGauntlet voice' makes a triumphant return and adds to the atmosphere in a huge and nostalgic way.