Game #1186: Gauntlet - Seven Sorrows

 Gauntlet gone emo. 

 I've brushed a few times with the Gauntlet franchise. I rented the N64 game once, purchased the PS2 port and played the classic Gauntlet Arcade game a few times over, but Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is the first time I've played one of these games from beginning to end.

 The game is an edgy take on Gauntlet. Gone are all the vivid colors from the N64/PS1/DC/PS2 version, and in its stead we get grittier character designs, as well as darker plot with betrayal and revenge. I didn't mind it, but it's certainly a different look.

 But the game itself plays it a bit closer to what you'd expect. It's a linear adventure in which you must get from one end of the stage to the other, fighting nigh endless waves of enemies and destroying enemy generators. You get four character classes to pick from, the Warrior, the Elf, the Valkyrie and the Wizard. You'll also collect keys to open barriers as well as fighting bosses. You get an unnecessary amount of attack buttons to deal with this: A weak attack, a strong attack, a pop up attack, a projectile attack, five magic attacks, dashing-attacks with the right analog stick and a dodge button.

 It's too much and too little at the same time. You can collect money to purchase more combos and magic attacks... but before half of the game is over you'll have bought pretty much everything available, as it's not a very extensive combo list. The pop-up attack is pretty much useless, it's not like you can jump, and you are rooted to the ground as your attack hits upwards, for whatever reason. Magic is nice, but... Every now and then, while you open chests searching for money, Death will pop up, and it can only be defeat with the R2 magic attack... so I never spent magic, saving my R2 attack to deal with Death. That said, halfway through the game I stopped needing money, so I didn't care that much about death. There are yellow Upgrade chests, that change how your character looks, and I'll be honest, there's a single yellow chest that hides Death inside, they got me good that one time.

 I can't say for sure if the Armor and Weapon upgrades actually do anything besides changing your looks, but you can level up and with every level up you get a single point to spend on Damage, Health or Magic Regeneration, which was pretty neat.

 The game is very short, and I didn't have much trouble with it. That said, it's clearly meant to be played in multiplayer, as sometimes the endless, or almost endless, waves of enemies make it difficult to finish environmental actions, such as closing gates. Having another player dealing with baddies as you deal with gates makes more sense!

 I know the game was poorly received at launch, but I thought it was alright. Not the best game I've ever played, but not the worst either. It's a very shallow affair, but one I enjoyed.

 6.5