Gauntlet Dark Legacy

"Not fun by yourself, not that much fun with a friend, either."

I played this in the arcade with my buddy and saw a few of the new levels in this game. (The ones that weren't included in Gauntlet Legends) Therefore, I thought this was a completely new game. Boy, was I wrong. It turns out this game is just an extension of Gauntlet Legends. They added 4 new characters and a few new levels.

Graphics: 4/10 I remember when I bought Gauntlet Legends right after it came out and I thought the graphics were bad then. The graphics are about the same. Choppy, cheap, and unimaginative. The close-ups of the characters look better, but that's about it.

Gameplay: 7/10 This is where Gauntlet: Dark Legacy redeems itself...sort of. In one-player mode, you can only stand it for one or two levels. This is because all you're doing is throwing your mace, sword, stick or throwing your potions at enemies. There is no strategy in this game whatsoever. In one level, you mace some skeleton guys, walk around, find potions, and try to find that damn runestone. In every few levels, you must find a hidden runestone. The difficulty of this ranges from dreadfully easy to impossibly hard. I wouldn't mind this except you must find the runestones to beat the game. In two- to four-player mode, you do the same thing, except with a couple of buddies. This is a bit more entertaining.

Control: 10/10 I had no problems with the controls. Simple one-button commands that anyone can understand, even your lame drunken friends. You can rotate the camera with the shoulder buttons, as well.

Story: 2/10 Big evil dude took runestones. Runestones are somehow important. Get runestones, kick his ass. Nothing different from the original game or any game for that matter. I think Ball Breakers for PSX had a better story than this. At least their legs got cut off.

Difficulty: 1/10-10/10 Ranges too much. This would be ok if the first level was the easiest and the last level was the hardest, but no. Also, to beat the boss of each world, you must find a certain weapon to kill them with. Even with this weapon, you still die from the boss. Having to find these weapons and runestones, the game separates itself what the game should be: a simple hack 'n slash. When I want to mindlessly mace a monster, I want to do it without worrying about anything else. If you are not like this, this game may be for you.

Replayability: 6/10 The individual characters aren't different enough to give a completely different experience to want to play through with another. However, I must admit that this game is somewhat fun with a few comrades. I'd rather play Timesplitters or Medal of Honor with them, though.

This game may not be for me. But if you like a hack 'n slash game with searching elements this may be for you. If you are really into mulitiplayer games, this may be for you. If you fall into both of these categories, what are you waiting for? You can find it out there for under $30!
However, if you want a better multiplayer hack 'n slash RPG, I strongly suggest you check out my review of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/02, Updated 07/05/02