Gauntlet Dark Legacy

"Still a timeless classic, just as the original Gauntlet ever was"

What can I say? Gauntlet Dark Legacy is somehow the best, so far. It has a better, and longer, adventure since its previous game, Gauntlet Legends. For those who play Gauntlet Legends and are interested in this hack-and-slash game, I'll take you to its...

Story: This story may be similar to that of Legends, but different, because now Midway has improved it, making it better, and longer, too, like this game. It all starts in the land of the Eight Magical Realms. A great, wise, and powerful wizard named Sumner ruled these Eight Realms. One day, while Sumner was away from his Tower, his little, evil brother Garm gathered 12 of 13 Runestones, and summoned a creature from the Underworld far powerful than Garm himself: the Demon Prince Skorne. However, Garm was unable to control Skorne, and Skorne broke free of Garm's control, then crushed him (with his big hand! OUCH!) and imprisoned his spirit in the Underworld. (As if Garm's death wasn't enough, Skorne then slits the throat of his corpse. Bloody, yet pathetic.) Skorne then summoned his minions into the Eight Realms, then scattered 12 Runestones into each Realm so they would not be assembled and used against him.

Meanwhile, Sumner sensed something wasn't right, so he entered his Tower and was shocked by what happened. In order to prevent the catastrophe, Sumner sealed all the Eight Realms with his power. He then fought back Skorne, who was damaged and fled through the Desecrated Temple window, which was then broken into Eight Magical Shards as a seal.

Weakened by his earlier efforts and unable to break Skorne's seal, Sumner used up his last remaining power to summon eight heroes, one from each Realm. They now have a task: to grab Crystals, Golden Icons, 12 Runestones and 8 Shards from Skorne's minions, then assemble both the Shards and Runestones in order to banish Skorne to the Underworld and destroy him there. Once Skorne is destroyed, Garm's spirit will absorb Skorne's power, and be free to conquer the Tower; at which point you must find the last Runestone in order to enter his Citadel and send him back to oblivion where he belongs.

Well, enough of the long story, let's move on to...
Graphics: A little bad, sure, but even better than PS2 's or XBox's, at which point the game freezes if you collect some scrolls (or enter some codes), which makes me want to turn off the power and restart!

Sound: Now that's better! Good narration, even by Sumner, who tells you if you've gained (or lost) a level. And if you're heavily damaged, he now says, "Green Archer is about to die." Even the characters have voices, and they yell, or chant, when they use their turbo (no longer sounding like they're dying, well, except for the Valkyrie), and they eat, which sounds like it is "Mmm..." or “*Burp*” and even say, "I like food," or, "Food is good." And the music sounds a bit gloomy, but better, even though it sounds a little clunky.

Enemies: They come from generators of all different kinds in the same old way, but shooting them just makes them appear faster, which make me want to use a turbo, or hand-fight my way to the generator in order to destroy it so that no enemies may appear. Even Generals, Golems, and Gargoyles take a lot of hits to get killed in order to drop items, some useful. The Death guy is back, but in two forms: Red can steal your health, while Black can steal your level. And the bosses (except True Skorne and Garm) are weak against the Legend Items used against them in order to destroy them; one of them, Shadow Wraith, is terribly powerful than both forms of Skorne and Garm combined, and can easily kill you (there's no health gauge for bosses), which is a pain, so you need to be at a very high level, like 80, and need a LOT of Invulnerability, Weapon Power-ups and Super Shots in order to beat him.

Control and Playability: The camera is automated, which makes me wish that I could control it, because I can't see what hit me. And as for the playability, well, single-player is good, you can choose different colors for characters, though you can sometimes change hair color or pigment color. The multi-player is kinda so-so, because sometimes it requires all players to hit on one switch in order to advance. Sometimes one character can get stuck while another character advances, which is kind of a glitch, so you may have to restart and try again.

Overall: This game is okay, so I give it an 8 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/17/05