gauntlet game review
The major problem that must be encountered when tackling the heavy task of paying homage to a legacy almost 30 years old is undoubtedly that of restoring the essence of the ancestor while sufficiently dusting its mechanical to bring young audiences to the new iteration of the game. Can Gauntlet 2014 take up the challenge?
Gauntlet. Here is a name that will leave as much of a mark on the youngest as nostalgic most experienced in the exercise of hack'n slash. Developed and published by Atari on arcade machines in 1985, Gauntlet has managed to mark its world by its strong cooperative dimension, being able to bring together up to 4 players in the exploration of dungeons and the clearing of monsters. The Gauntlet version 2014 is supported by Arrowhead Games, to whom we owe Magicka in particular, and intends to do much more than just paint the legacy of the grandfather.
4 CLASSES, 4 WAYS TO PLAY
Gauntlet takes up in great widths the concept that made the success of its elder, namely to allow 4 classes for as many players to browse dungeons filled to the brim with aggressive critters in excess and collect an ever greater amount of gold . We will not dwell on the embryo of the scenario which acts as a framework for Gauntlet to focus on its mechanics. Before starting hostilities, you have the opportunity to embody one of the 4 proposed classes: Warrior, Valkyrie, Elf and Mage. Each class obviously responds to its specificities. The Warrior will be a powerful hand-to-hand fighter betting everything on the frontal attack, the Valkyrie benefits from powerful attacks and defenses while the Elf and the Mage fulfill the function of DPS distance. While our pointy-eared friend will be naturally lively but fairly average in pure damage, the Mage will play on a combination of different elements to send up to 9 spells.3 WORLDS TO GO THROUGH, ONLY ONE PATTERN TO FOLLOW
Each class is very easy to learn, except for the Mage, whose spell combinations are mostly left to the discretion of the players, making their gameplay more technical and therefore more difficult to master in the heat of the action. Finally, each character benefits from a special action in accordance with the function he occupies in combat. The handling, on the keyboard as on the joystick (the latter is still recommended from the start of the game), is quite intuitive and the fun is immediate. Whether you choose to play solo or in cooperation, you will travel 3 "worlds" being broken down into 4 chapters systematically responding to the same construction. In the first two segments of the chapter, you will obviously be faced with hordes of enemies that will not cease to rise from the ground if you do not overcome the summoning totems that mark out the arenas that you will cross. The third portion of the chapter consists of a large arena in which it will be necessary to destroy a greater number of totems, which implies resisting a larger quantity of adversaries. As an epilogue, the chapters end with a fight against bosses who are not very inspired, not being up to the challenge proposed in the previous segments of the chapter.This is one of the first faults of Gauntlet: by dint of repeating the same formula in only three different environments and with artistic direction all that is most bland, weariness is fairly quickly felt and erodes pleasure however immense taken at the start of the game against this absolute release. Because in essence: Gauntlet is fun. Resolutely cut out for cooperation, the game takes on its full meaning as soon as you play it with others. If individually the classes are quite unbalanced - we will come back to this - they prove to be complementary from two players, and we quickly realize that on Gauntlet, pure cooperation often rubs shoulders with multiple trickery. Indeed, beyond the pitched battles in which hordes of monsters will jump on you, multiple gold coins dot the environment, as well as potions allowing to use special skills, and portions of turkey allowing you to restore your health points. It will not be uncommon to fight hard to collect before your partners the precious gold coins and other potions to make the most of your run, the amount of coins collected will ultimately allow you to acquire up to two artifacts boosting your power.
LOTS OF GOLD, NO LOOT
In Gauntlet, the power of the character does not develop in the way we are used to today. The quickest way to gain performance is therefore to collect gold by skimming the dungeons. Between each chapter, you can reach the hub distributing the different levels in which there is a relic merchant. The latter are quite varied: incantations of vortex coming to fight with you, boots of speed leaving behind your streaks of flame, the items are not lacking and can see their effects be improved with more gold coins. An equipment tab is also available from the merchant, but do not expect to see an interest other than cosmetic. Indeed, and it is quite regrettable, the pieces of equipment will not increase your statistics in any way but will simply add a skin to your avatar without you being able to really benefit from it as the camera of the game is far away . A very strange choice which obviously ignores any concession to modernity.A PROGRESS CONDITIONED BY YOUR EXPLOITS
The progression of your character is done in a rather well thought out way. It is indeed according to your feats of arms that you will gain certain active skills, even if the majority of them will be passive. For example, by killing a certain number of monsters, your damage will be increased while the destruction of a certain number of elements of the decoration will increase the probability of removing pieces from it. The possibilities are numerous and your progress in these feats of arms is cleverly reminded of you at the end of each level. This system of levels to be crossed therefore encourages the most persistent player to start over certain chapters in order to obtain ever more powerful bonuses, or even to complete the progression of the 4 classes of the game which, as we mentioned above, do not offer a frankly well-established balance.Gauntlet, it must be recognized, offers a real challenge from Normal mode. The enemies are particularly numerous and your heroes very fragile. Thus, a second of inattention in the frenzy of combat and you will be in a dead end in front of a horde of enemies who will make you bite the dust with a few strokes of your claws. Add to this that the whole quickly becomes illegible in cooperation due to the profusion of units on the screen and you will understand that it will be above all a question of staying mobile and anticipating your movements so as not to miss your game. eat pebbles. Even if breaking totems brings back pieces allowing to resuscitate the characters, they are limited in number and to be used wisely, under penalty of final death, synonymous with resumption of the chapter from the beginning. However, after several hours spent on the game, one thing is clear: the game is quite ungrateful with the melee classes. While the Elf and the Mage will happily benefit from rather lively journeys, the Valkyrie and especially the Warrior will often be knocked down because easily surrounded by excess opponents. This is mainly true in Solo mode and may frustrate some, as well as many other faults that Gauntlet can not dodge.
AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, Boredom Surges
If you have fun on Gauntlet for the time of a coop part, you have to recognize that boredom is quickly on the cards. In addition to the progression systematically calibrated on the same scheme, the repetitiveness of the bestiary and the environments crossed does not frankly incite to wonder, and once the game finished in 4 or 5 hours in Normal mode, you only have the possibility of redoing a game in higher difficulty modes, which offer a generous dose of challenge. So, despite the fact that it is pleasant to try each class, it is a safe bet that only the most obstinate will manifest the desire to resume a game of Gauntlet to make each character reach its maximum level of mastery . And once again, the total absence of loot, a determining condition for the replayability of this type of game, brings a big blow of old to a Gauntlet which should nevertheless amuse you for a few games.The notes
+ Positive points
The essence of the first opus perfectly captured
A happy release
Immediate handling
4 classes, as many different ways to play
Particularly fun in cooperation
-Negative points
Uninteresting solo
Sometimes imprecise camera
Very short
Bland art direction
Too quickly repetitive
No loot
Too few bestiary and environments
Imbalance between melee and distance classes
Unsurprisingly, Gauntlet pays homage to its ancestor by repeating mechanics that still show a certain old age. Because in spite of the general release that constitutes this very fun and cut game for the coop, the repetition of the chapters, the weak artistic direction and the cruel absence of loot amputate Gauntlet of a large part of its replayability potential. Despite everything, thanks to the handling of the classes, the nervousness of the fights and the rather pleasant character progression system, the title should occupy the least attentive players during many games.
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