Gauntlet

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Gauntlet is a polished game that does right by its predecessors. It’s a great mix of both old and new school sensibilities, and despite the fact that the art style isn’t as pronounced as it could have been, the actual core of the game is very sound. With the addition of online play to the series, this one will have legs for quite some time and deserves a spot in the Gauntlet pantheon.

Gauntlet has been around for quite a while now, and my first experience with the series was Gauntlet Legends on N64. I would spend countless hours with my friends and family fighting through the horde to find all the runes and save the day. We yelled at each other when there was only one of us left standing, and there was always a victory cry as we finished each stage and our scores were tallied before us. As I booted up the new iteration from Arrowhead, waves of memories came flooding back as enemies sought out to destroy me and my companions, just as they did so many years ago. One thing was...

“Gauntlet is just as chaotic as its predecessors, but more refined and less haphazard too.”

Nostalgia, it is the warm feeling we get when we look back on the old corpse runs of yesteryear. It is the glow that surrounds us as we remember fondly pumping quarters into machines at the arcade in an attempt to see how long we could get those 25 cents to last. Arrowhead Games Studios attempts to capitalize on this sense of nostalgia with their reboot of the quarter guzzling arcade classic Gauntlet and its manic co-op dungeon crawling shenanigans.

Gauntlet is the classic action RPG. But in the era of Diablo and Trine, is the series' newest installment relevant?

What's old is new again with some new twists

The newest installment in the Gauntlet franchise is a lot of fun, and the gameplay is strongly reminiscent of classic gaming, while taking advantage of some modern conventions. All of the characters handle differently, and each world has a distinct flavor to it. I like how the leveling system works, since it depends on multiple playthroughs- it fits very well with what I expect from a Gauntlet game. Unfortunately, the lack of variety in levels doesn't warrant more than a couple playthroughs. Which really hampers a game that hinges on you and your friends beating it and coming back for more.

Gauntlet can't quite strike the balance between the nostalgic arcade experience and a modern-day replay-friendly adventure. It's cool that there's such a varied experience amongst the iconic quartet of heroes, and four-player co-op is almost always fun with the right crew, but its repetitive structure works against its longevity.

Gauntlet is the perfect party game. It brings people together while tearing them apart. There's fast action that's easy to pick up for more casual players, and a decent selection of relics for players that want to make to experiment with ways to make their character an unstoppable loot grabbing killing machine. The online component could do use some improvement, specifically with the ability to rejoin an ongoing game. Although it isn't as deep as other action role-playing games out there, its simplicity is a big part of its charm. It is the kind of game I find myself trying to talk my friends ...

Placing an explosive barrel next to a suspicious wall and blowing a hole in it, only to sweep in and steal all the gold before the other players can get it!