Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers

"a very good game of an old series"

Shadowgate is one of the clan games that started on the NES, after some time it has finally made it's way to the Nintendo 64, It had a gameboy game also but I don't own that. This game is very different, you don't kill anything, you explore and solve puzzles, traps kill you and stupid moves. All that aside it's still very fun to explore a gigantic castle, collecting stuff, and solving puzzles... beleive me it's incredibly hard!!!! The game's lack in violence is not a bad thing, but the fact that in most of the game it is very hard to die is. The game only has two things to choose from, start game and options. wow. variety. (heh heh). Well the game is pretty straight forward, explore.

Graphics: 7
The graphics are varied, some places they look super dull (caves), and others are so amazing you thought you were looking at a picture (church). If the whole game had constantly great graphics this would be better. Overall it's a mixed bag but you know what's what. The game features a decent polygonal count and frames per second count.

Sound: 6
Very plain, there is some classical music, but they are very few and muffled. There is sound effects but they are also very plain. I'm very sad that a game that is so known for it's greatness had so bad sound! I really wish that maybe they could have included some more sound effects or music.. but well, what can you do?

Gameplay: 9
The game has turok controls so it's easier to look around. There is a ton of stuff to pick up (some isn't even used!) There is also a ton of puzzles that you must solve to get somewhere in the game. This game like I said is hard! and it IS! Without looking threw a walkthrough you'll probably never make it anywhere. My only complaint is that it's either extremely easy to die (like by ledges) or down right impossible! (like most of the game!)

Replay Value: 6
The game is extremly long, and it's almost impossible, but after you beat the game (which is in about a month) There is no reason to go back. There is no specials for beating the game, no two player co-op... :( The game is ok w/o it though.

OVERALL: 7
the lack of co-op (which would have been new to the shadow gate series) and muddy graphics really hurt the game.. maybe if they took more time on it..

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/01, Updated 03/06/01