Gauntlet Dark Legacy – PS2 – Review

For all those that my
tagline struck a nostalgic cord, I am pleased to say that the saga lives on.
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy is the continuation of one of the all time great series of
Arcade fame. 

There is something great about a well-done renovation of
an old game and
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy follows up where Gauntlet Legends left off.  Offering
more characters, more special items, more enemies and more engrossing levels,
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy has done a proud job of continuing the "dark
legacy" of the original Gauntlet game.

There are some areas of the gameplay that can become a bit monotonous at
times.  Hack and slash can only take you so far but luckily the higher
levels tend to make you adapt to using your magic and turbo powers more
efficiently.  The only major problem I had occurred when playing with
multiple people.  The screen will only allow people to wander so far from
each other and sometimes this can result in people getting stuck.  While
this was easily remedied with some fast backtracking, it could be pretty
annoying.  On the positive side, the game contains several new and
interesting features such as changing character appearances as your characters
gain experience and multiple skins based on character color. 

The graphics are nothing special as even the movie sequences could use work
as could the sound track which is about as exciting as brushing your teeth.
But the great thing is that none of this matters.  Instead it is, like
every Gauntlet game, the multi-player action that will keep you coming back for
more.  Gauntlet is in effect, the party game.  A button mashing monster
slashing free for all best played with close friends or as many strangers as it
takes to fill up the four controllers.  Once you have a full party going,
the game takes on a new life and vigor that goes far beyond its programming.
Gauntlet is simply one of the best multi-player console games ever made.

Gauntlet: Dark Legacy continues in a long line of games made great by their
playability with friends.  If you have no friends…get some so that you
can play this game.
Seriously Gauntlet: Dark Legends
will grow old fast if you don’t have friendly competition to egg you on.
I also recommend purchasing a multi tap for this game.
If you’re going to spend the cash to buy the game you should definitely
get the full experience. However
even if you only rent it a multi tap is a valuable investment and well worth
purchasing.

Install: Easy
Console Game…’nuff said.

Gameplay: 7
Easy to learn, difficult to master, unless your on Easy difficulty, in which
case its easy to master…

Graphics: 6
Not bad but nothing impressive.

Sound: 6
Ditto.

Difficulty: 7
Multiple difficulty levels let you put in as much effort as you want, but
the format is straight forward hack and slash all the way.

Concept: 6
Slight improvements over it’s prequel Gauntlet Legends.

Multiplayer: 10
BUY A MULTI TAP!

Overall: 8
It’s all about the multi-player action.