Review: 'Gauntlet: Dark Legacy' needs friends

Platform: GameCube

From...

By Star Dingo

(IDG) -- Sure, it may be old, and sure, it's really just "Diablo Lite" for people without PCs. But get a herd of like-minded people together, and "Gauntlet: Dark Legacy" can be quite the mindless romp. Just don't expect to get too much fulfillment from the single-player game unless you've recently been lobotomized.

This is definitely one of those games that's somehow fun despite itself. "Gauntlet"'s walk/collect treasure/shoot everything a lot gameplay is hardly revolutionary and extremely superficial. Inventory management (even though it's been "updated" for the GameCube version) is a chore. And while there are lots of characters to pick from, their differences are mostly cosmetic aside from a few token RPG-like stats.

The graphics are simple (greetings, giant triangle!), the sound effects seem sampled at bargain basement prices, and the game, even in single-player mode, occasionally runs decidedly unsmoothly. You know your GameCube can do much better than this -- if you can justify it by saying, "Well, the game is old, and it's just a port," well, more power to you.

Admittedly, the game is streamlined for simplicity -- it is an arcade port, after all. Levels are big, but fairly straightforward (switch puzzles are about as erudite as it gets), and designed so that you won't be doing too much boring backtracking or encountering any down-time. You can't control the camera -- a welcome blessing in the heat of battle -- and while it consistently provides you with a good angle, you'll often wish it weren't so close to the festivities.

So if you have some friends, by all means, have 'em over for a quick round of "Gauntlet." If you don't have friends, however, this is certainly no reason to go out and get some.