Gauntlet Dark Legacy

"Gauntlet MegaMix"

I bought my Gamecube three months ago, with much fear of not owning a not seeing a day when an RPG would come. But, alas, I am awakened to a semi-RPG game entitled Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. Sure, many people would not describe the series as being an RPG. But it's enough RPG to hold me over for the wee months end. The game, itself, is spectacular.
Graphics: 8
To the naked eye, the game's graphics would be mediocre. The creatures were colorful and very small (like the size of action figures). The game hardly has any 'reflective' appearances toward it, and the shadowing in the game is just bland at best. But, then when taking a closer look at the game and found out that it ran many colors, each blending into every polygon to form a beautifully textured game. The game knows how to use colors and where to use them. For instance, in the armory, the game had a brewing cauldron with food inside of it. The game showed the food bubbling, as well as steam rising and different shades of red, orange, and black flowed inside the cauldron. When I threw my axe to kill a creature, the light from my axe illuminated some of the festering broth. That one example is a thousandth of what the game has to offer.
Gameplay 9:
The gameplay itself is fantastic, at first. You begin choosing one out of eight characters (four which were in the previous chapter in the inevitably classic gauntlet series, entitled Gauntlet Legends). All characters are splendid because they all work different from each other. We get so toppled these days with action/adventure games that have about five characters to choose to play with, even though they all work about the same (excluding Donkey Kong 64 and Diablo series). In this game, each character has a roster, and in that particular roster they advance in one thing that all the others perform horribly in and vice versa. For instance, the Jester is the fastest of them all and has the weakest armor, while the infamous dwarf is the strongest, and slowest, of them all. Also, each character achieves different titles while he/she advances to level 99. These titles allow you to achieve different things from the other members in the group. The Jester gets a familiar (a flying pig) and can detect secret burrows, while the Knight gains a winged bat and can alter traps. Also, the characters change wardrobe/weapon appearances each time one advances every ten or twenty levels. This is a superior approach to the underrated Gauntlet: Legends, where no characters advanced in class. But, unfortunately, the more you play Gauntlet:Dark Legacy, the more you feel that the hope of future to save the Gauntlet realm lies on eight nobodies hacking and slashing every mean beast that comes in the way of your goal. Also, if you played Gauntlet:Legends, you would realize that this game works as a remixed version of the predecessor. However, the levels are vast and there are hundreds to thousands of items to collect to help you on the way. No more hacking and slashing to get to the next level, now you must get jewels and dragon claws (from slaying dragons) along the way. All in all. It will keep you busy.
Sound: 6
The sound of the game is like a rehash from the N64. The old nostalgic, muffled sound waves inflict a mucky feeling to the game. Each creature has it's own sounds, which is a plus! The minus, however, exists to the fact that the creatures just grunt and moan. There is voice dialog in this game. Though, it is very repititious. Sumner, the endangered wizard, says about twelve lines throughout the game. Four, in which are compliments, the rest are gratitudes for reaching a newer level or collecting a rune stone, while the other voices are composed of dire news about Skorne and his minions. The music is just plain horrible. Some of the songs, like in the dream realm,just drives you insane. The score in the realm is composed of someone playing an organ very fast and which much frenzy. It boggles the mind and drives the players insane. These are the type of songs that would make dogs whine and people break down into the drink of insanity. The only quality that I appreciate in the sound department is the way the characters speak. It's neat how the eight original (and eight hidden) characters have their own comments. It gives them their own acquired personality, and separates the characters to allow a player to choose a character that he could relate with the most. I also enjoy how the knight gives his one-liners when he eats. It sounds as if Kelsey Grammar talked for the knight in the game when the knight exclaimed ''sweet nutrients!'' from eating a banana.
Storyline: 6
Not original, not great, not of this earth. A demon is risen from the underworld to spread vengeance throughout the land. He calls upon his now eight descendants to conquer the eight realms of the world. Now a survivor from each realm is called upon to not only kill each descendant of skorne to not only collect shards to open the gate to Skornes old shrine, but to as well collect rune stones in an attempt to unlock the portal to the underworld, thereby hunting Skorne for a final showdown to defend the world from his endaunting anarchic reign. But, after Skorne's death, Garm (a worshiper of Skorne) steals Skorne's powers at the end of the game so that one would have experience the ''ultimate'' showdown of the Gauntlet series, even though it isn't. He is weaker than Skorne and does three main moves. He can be beaten (without a point of life knocked from off your character's life meter). The answer is Hammer+Levitate+Growth= Sudden Death. When he dies the creatures of the land die with him and the credits roll. Sounds like B-movie material? I would think so. But it does not hurt the gameplay at all.
Replayability: 10
This is where the game triumphs. The game has an array of characters, seventeen in all, to get. Each which you have to raise from level 1 through 99. Every character has their own attributes that other characters cannot achieve. Each has their own weapons and classes. And each has their own titles. This trait tremendously boosts the games life. I beat the game in twenty hours (using a cheat I learned, while playing the game, of how to gain experience really quickly). So normally, one game would take at least twenty-five hours. Times that by seventeen, and that is over four hundred hours of gameplay. So, far the game has bored me at one pivotal point. The time span when I found out that the game had four of the Gauntlet: Legends worlds. But then, Playing most of the sub-levels, I realized that most were incredible re mixes of the previous levels. But, all-in-all, the game really isn't boring. Sometimes frustrating and sometimes repetitive, but it will always make my hours pass by.
Rent/Buy: If you are an action/adventure fan, or if you have played Gauntlet: Legends, then rent it first. But, if you haven't played Legends, then what is stopping you? Get your tail to the store and put your 50 dollar bill on the service desk demanding, ''I want Gauntlet Dark Legacy, NOW!'' Believe me, you will not regret purchasing it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/02, Updated 04/17/02