PlanetDreamcast | Games | Reviews | Gauntlet Legends

Gauntlet Legends Page 2/2 Finally, a new reason to own four controllers - Review By Subskin Picking up a particular item doubles your character's size. The manual doesn't explain why the item affects clothes as well. The ability to choose a character you really like is important, because you will be spending a great deal of time building up their experience. That's right, folks, Gauntlet Legends has an experience and level-up system, just like in an RPG. However, don't think you have to spend your first few hours (or days) chasing down rats and moss snakes like in Everquest. Here, building up experience is a natural consequence of fighting through the levels. What the exp system does is encourage teamwork, because you have to fight to gain a level. All too often in the original Gauntlet I would have to slap the Warrior next to me for watching my Valkyrie take on a screenful of enemies. In Gauntlet Legends, cowards sacrifice experience. In the later levels, when monsters are swarming from all sides, they'll regret not having an armor bonus. Effectively combining your forces is crucial in Legends. Elves are archers, and should not blindly rush a generator (the enemy spawn points that can be destroyed). A Warrior can walk through a field of hacksaw-toting zombies without so much as breaking a sweat. However, the Elf's fast arrow attacks are crucial for taking out projectile-tossing enemies. The advice someone told me for the original Gauntlet is still true: get as many different character classes in your party as possible. Then you'll be ready for anything, and be able to utilize items more efficiently. In other words, four Wizards are going to have a tough time playing together. Teaming up in Legends seems to be more important than it was in Gauntlet. In Legends you also have a turbo button. (Do all Midway games have turbo buttons?) Pressing turbo and attack at the same time launches a much more brutal assault, and the more turbo power you have remaining, the more powerful the move. For example, the Knight wields a mace. His fully charged turbo attack, however, is a ten foot tall wheel of death that rolls forward, crushing every enemy in its path. Additionally, each character has special multi-player moves. Using a fully charged turbo attack while standing next to another player gives you an entirely new move. Want to see something bad ass? Watch the Dwarf grab another player and form a spinning blade of death, slashing through villians. Tight. Very tight. The brief FMV interludes at the beginning of each world are pretty poor. Kudos to Midway for using many of the sound effects from the original Gauntlet. The voices are superb. In fact, hearing the familiar God-like voice warning, "Yellow Knight needs food badly" almost sent me running to stock up on tokens. When you show a Wolf Grunt what his insides look like, he lets out a believable howl of pain. The dying scream of a player character is even more realistic, especially since the person playing also tends to scream "NOOO!!!" Weapons and other action sound effects are good, but nothing to write home about. Perhaps that's because you are very quickly desensitized to them. Since regular attacks have unlimited ammo, you get used to the "thwwp" of an arrow during the first level. The best thing Gauntlet Legends has going for it is the fun. Even after you beat it, there are enough other characters, secret characters, and secret levels to keep you playing for hours, especially if you've got three friends to join in. The Bad Graphically, Gauntlet Legends is a bit lackluster. This is no big surprise; there are dozens of players and enemies on-screen at many times, and there's only so many polygons to go around. Besides, Gauntlet I and II weren't even that graphically impressive in the 1980s. Legends picks up right where its predecessors left off, focusing on gameplay over graphics. Another little problem is gold -- for the only currency in the world, it's pretty damned worthless. You can buy health, keys, potions, and magic items. However, if you need something like that, you can just go back to an early level and pick it up. You can return to old levels an unlimited number of times, actually, meaning you can keeping going back until all of your characters are stocked up. What's the point of gold then? Well, you can also buy increased strength, speed, armor, and magic abilities. However, you pay 800 gold pieces for an increase of 5 points. The first half of the game you net under 2000 gold pieces on a level, so you can buy maybe 10 extra points. Considering the ratings are 300-700 in each category even at the earliest levels, that 10 points doesn't do a whole lot. For all the treasure hunting going on, you're really better off just keeping it to buy health or keys later on. I have one more gripe about this otherwise great game: it teases you with glimpses of the original. Secret levels (accessed by finding hidden doors) are ripped straight from the original Gauntlet. The secret levels release the hidden characters, so they're good for something. However, all you do is try to pick up all the gold before the time runs out. No fighting, no exits, nothing but greed. I'm still hoping that somewhere on this GD-ROM Midway snuck in ten or so levels from Gauntlet I or II. The Final Word Gauntlet Legends is a wonderful game for fans of the original and newbies alike. This game is so packed full of gorgeous levels and medieval fighting that it's a joy for one player, and the fact that four characters can play together just solidifies its status as a classic reborn. Simplistic graphics aside, the action is exciting enough to draw you in and keep you there. Developer: Midway Games West Publisher: Midway Home Entertainment Genre: Action Highs: Classic Gauntlet action in a 21st century package, four player cooperative play. Lows: Slightly sub-par graphics, worthless gold system. Other: 1-4 players, VMU compatible (3 blocks), Jump Pack compatible. Media: Intro (MPEG) - Evil scheming! Average CG! [Big (5.2M)] - [Med (2.8M)] - [Small (612K)] Gameplay 1 (MPEG) - Scorpions! Fighting! Magic! Keys! [Big (12M)] - [Med (6.4M)] - [Small (1.4M)] Gameplay 2 (MPEG) - A barbarian takes a leisurely stroll down scenic mountain paths. [Big (12.5M)] - [Med (6.7M)] - [Small (1.4M)] Final Score: (out of a possible 10) Visit this Game's Dreamcast Database Entry Previous Reviews Comments on this review? Mail Feedback.