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Dom Robinson reviews 
for Sony Playstation 2
Midway
- Price: £39.99
- Players: 1-4
Every gamer in their late 20s and early 30s remembers the arcade classic Gauntlet and now on the PS2 we have the latest incarnation: Gauntlet: Dark Legacy.
The original game was a two-dimensional top-down affair as you made your way round the levels shooting the bad guys down, blowing up their generators to stop them spawning, opening treasure chests and smashing walls to reveal hidden areas.
It’s all the fault of the evil Garm and you can play with up to four players, choosing from characters such as the Wizard or Warrior, each with different attributes and it’s the idea of working together as a team that will get you through.
So, an excellent mid-80s game revived in a 3D environment is bound to impress even further, right? No, not always. The 3D maze map falls halfway been top-down and usual third-person view and as you can walk about in any direction you can’t always see where you’re heading and often walk into the path of the enemy so have to keep shooting most of the time. On the plus side, it is possible to cast spells to clear the area of baddies like a “smart bomb”.
The sound is nothing to write home about as it’s just as repetitive. Originality also goes out of the window because it’s an update of an old game, but doesn’t feel very fresh because it’s like the same mind trapped in a different body – that of scores of 90s consoles three-dimensional third-person hack-n-slash action adventures.
Overall, this is rather a disappointment. While I could play the original 2D arcade version for hours on end, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy brings you endless wandering around which just feels aimless as you easily defeat horde after horde of baddies. The graphics have been seen before and it all looks way too dark. It also feels very linear as the game intentionally sends you on a certain path through the level.
It’s also not a good sign when you play a game that brings on an attack of the yawns and a yearning to go and do something else.
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.