Developer: Midway Publisher: Midway Release: 12/12/05 Genre: Action Also on: Xbox
Gauntlet Legends was an incredible arcade game and reminded gamers why the series was so great. As much as I played it in the arcade I poured an obscene number of hours in to the N64 home port. Dark Legacy continued that greatness with more, more, more of everything. But the death of the arcade was a huge blow and it seemed like the series would disappear once again. However Midway would create Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows for the home market exclusively with modern sensibilities. The game had a troubled development but in the end it turned out average despite its troubles. If this were called anything but Gauntlet I would probably be more forgiving. But that title comes with certain expectations that the game fails to meet.
Long ago four immortal heroes served the emperor. He valued their counsel but was jealous of their immortality. The emperor’s six advisors trick him in to crucifying the heroes at the bottom of the world but it was for naught. The emperor felt sorrow for this act but committed six more sorrows before he in turn was killed by his advisors. Before his death the emperor released the heroes who now set out to destroy his advisors who were twisted in to monstrous creatures after stealing the heroes’ immortality.
There was big name talent behind Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. John Romero and Josh Sawyer were at the head of the project with an attempt at adding more RPG elements to the game. But disagreements on the game’s direction lead to them leaving the project before completion. Veterans from Midway’s arcade department would eventually finish the game instead. There were promises of heavy RPG integration with an in depth story but other team members wanted to create a simple hack and slash title. However this is a different flavor of Gauntlet and if you want more of the classic gameplay you loved you should probably seek elsewhere.
The four classic characters from the original Gauntlet return. The Warrior, Valkyrie, Elf, and Wizard are your playable character classes and in this game the differences between them are more pronounced. The basic gameplay has been significantly expanded as every character has multiple attacks and can use them to form combos. In addition you can block attacks and perform counters. Between levels you can purchase new attack combinations and special moves. Every character has a large move set which on its face is pretty appealing and one of the best aspects of the game. But in reality you will not need to engage with the vast majority of it.
The enemy AI in the game is brain dead and poses little threat outside of their numbers. One of the signature features of Gauntlet is facing hordes of enemies, sometimes close to a hundred if you were slow. Obviously that number is not as high but they did not have to make them so dumb. You can quickly buy almost every skill by the fifth or sixth stage which leaves you with a massive tool kit. But the game gives little reason to use most of it outside of two or three combos. Even the bosses are a joke once you “master” the block + counterattack. The RPG elements were suppose to spice things up. But they feel like an afterthought. You can allocate points in to strength, magic, and health but will barely notice the difference. The only true growth comes from finding new equipment which is pretty cool.
The difficulty is lacking which is a surprise for this series. You have lives in this game with death sending you to a checkpoint. On normal and hard they are limited. But you get so many they might as well not matter. Checkpoints are frequent which also makes death feel like a minor setback. Food drops from enemies every few seconds which is overkill since your health does not tick as in prior titles. They try to create a constant sense of tension in the worst way. In previous games all enemies spawn from generators. It was possible to clear a level leaving you free to explore uncontested, health willing. Here not only are generators annoyingly resilient but enemies still spawn infinitely from off-screen. It defeats the point of the generators altogether. The one saving grace is that the levels are not long but that is little comfort.
One of the defining features of Gauntlet was the massive number of levels with branching paths. Although the later arcade games paired this number back they were still far longer than your typical arcade game. Seven Sorrows is very short; there are only sixteen stages and some of those are boss battles. With its easy difficulty you can beat the game in four hours or less. If you play it in multiplayer it might be even shorter! There is no replay value as there is nothing to unlock. With its simplicity, lack of puzzles, brevity and linearity there is no reason to replay value. Using a different class is meaningless as you will see everything in one run. The first time is only mildly interesting, two or more is not an appealing endeavor in my opinion.
In Closing
Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is divisive. If you go in to this expecting a Gauntlet game you will be disappointed. The things that define the series are almost completely absent such as alternate routes, hidden items, and characters and it hurts the overall project. But if you approach it as an action game like Devil May Cry it is decent at best. I would not pay more than $5 or $10 for it; take that as you will.
