Gauntlet Legends

"A good arcade to game port, a bit TOO good"

Often times we hear about people complaining that an arcade game doesn't translate to a console very well. And, granted, this is annoying, but even more annoying is when it translates TOO well.

Let's face it, how much time does someone plan to spend at an arcade? However long those quarters jangling in their pocket allow them to. But with a console game it's much different, as a person has an unlimited amount of time to play. They could play for 5 minutes, 5 hours, or 5 years. It's all a matter of what they think of the game.

The story begins with a cool cut scene of the Demon Skorne, whom you have to defeat, being released by a mage and then the mage's brother (Now, tell me, what does he have to do with anything?) coming upon him and then, I suppose, enlisting the help of a Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard, and Archer. It's really hard to tell, because it only tells about the Mage's relationship with the demon, it doesn't even mention WHY you're there. Out of all these characters, I soon learned, the only ones worth the polygons they were made of were the Warrior and the Valkyrie. It doesn't matter though, as they all act pretty much the same. I enjoyed playing as the Wizard simply because his Turbo Attacks (Special attacks you can do) were somewhat interesting to watch, while the others were basically the same as the other characters with a different color.

If you play Gauntlet Legends in the arcade, you'll probably play it for no more than 5 minutes. Play it at home, I'll guarantee you won't play for more than 5 hours. Besides the insanely easy difficulty level, there's nothing to motivate you to keep going. Each level is basically the same as the last with different scenery. Now that's not to say that you'll go the exact same place each time, often times you'll take a left turn where you last took a right turn ;). Occasionally it varies, with a level that is a different structure. Unfortunately, that usually means LOOONNNGGGGGG. And not long comparatively, as you'd spend much more time on a level like in oh, say, Tomb Raider, but that's OK, because certain items you need are in ridiculous spots and you'll have to start over many times in order to realize where they are. I won't spoil it, but one level is actually in 3 PARTS! I thank God I beat that one the first time through, because if I had to go back I would've ripped my hair out.

Oh, but what about seeing all the new enemies and getting all the secret characters? Well, it doesn't matter, each enemy is the same as the last with a new suit. And this applies to bosses too. Even the last boss, who I'd expect to have some level of difficulty to him, was just a rehashed version of the first one, with a bit more menacing look and cooler death scene. But come on, is that really enough motivation to complete 6 levels of the same thing? As for secret characters, it's really a waste to even attempt to get them. At worst, you won't complete the secret level well enough to earn them and have to repeat another stupid level in order to get back to it, and at best you'll get the same person you chose in a new outfit.

GL is DEFINITELY a 2 player game. I tried starting a 1 player game and about fell asleep. However, there were a few problems with this too. First of all, because of the shoddy top-down view camera angles and constant action (Enemies reappear after a while) you often forget which character you are. This is a nuessance as you run around like a headless chicken waiting for your partner to ''hurry up''. Hopefully if there's ever a sequel they fix this problem. Secondly, and this is more of a design flaw then anything, the game doesn't allow two players to be too far away from eachother at ay given time. Which is good, but often times if you're in a hurry for whatever reason, it causes a glitch in which neither character can move to get closer to eachother.

But I did have SOME fun with this game. The music had me playing along to the beat, with a really awesome mix of techno and medievil music. Particularly cool is one level where they mixed a funeral dirge into some kind of funky, campy 60's Sci-Fi flick space music. Another thing this game has going for it is that it is a refreshing break from the constant back tracking and dull searching in games like Resident Evil, and you'll always have something to fight, and level up. Which also makes it extremely fun in a 2 player, trying to outdo eachother in the experience department. But why no Battle Mode? Personally I would've loved to use my saved character to bring my friend's crappy Archer to school, but oh well. . . I'll continue telling myself ''Sequel, sequel, sequel!''

In conclusion, if you have a friend who wants to play, go ahead and rent it, if not stay away. But under no circumstance should you shell out $30.00+ for this game, so do NOT buy it. Rent it, because by the time it's returned you'll have beaten it twice.

Overall Scores (1-10)

Graphics: 6
Sound: 10
Gameplay: 3
Controls: 5
Replay: 0
Story: 2
Overall: 5

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/17/01, Updated 07/17/01