Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows

E3 Preview 2005

The axes whirl through the air, leaving the hands of the warrior and moving outward in a spinning circle of death. His partner, a valkyrie, grabs one of the enemies by the throat and throws it, impaling it on a spike sticking out of the rock wall.

Ah well, just another day at the office … check that, just another day adventuring. 

In November of 2002, Midway released Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, a game that emulated the arcade game quite well – perhaps too well. But it was one of the first times that the console systems had seen the type of cooperative multiplayer gaming elements of the sort, and it laid the foundations for other games to follow.

It’s been three years since that title hit retailers and that means time to step up again and toss that multi-team hat into the ring once again. Gauntlet Seven Sorrow is the tale of an emperor lost in his dreams and nightmares. Four heroes have been imprisoned by him and set out on a path to gain their freedom, and that means a lot of enemies must be defeated before that comes true.

Midway showed off the title during a Pre-E3 event held in San Francisco recently, and the first thing noticeable about this title was that it marks a major graphical upgrade for the series. Played briefly on the Xbox, the game offered intuitive gameplay, and a steady stream of targets coupled with minor puzzles.

There were only two playable characters in the demo version, but there will be six (four original and two new classes) in the final version along with 30-plus levels of entertaining levels. Characters can hit glowing key points along the way to recharge health and create save points, and the camera is not locked in position, and allows players to zoom in to view the action close up. In Dark Legacy, one of the drawbacks was that the viewable scope of a level was tied to player movement. In other words, you could not go too far away from your opponents without hitting invisible barriers that halted you from moving further away and off the screen. In Seven Sorrows, that seems to have been addressed as there were several times when one character actually moved off the screen. The camera locked on the view of the main character in the group, and if the other ventured too far away, and “off” the screen, well, it behooved him or her to find their way back very quickly or they will likely be fighting blindly.

The game still has a lot of the elements that marked the previous incarnation. There are enemy spawn areas, called generators, and you must destroy them or you will be treated to a steady stream of enemies.

The game does pay homage to the past franchise titles, but moves forward and is graphically a little more gruesome in some areas. The game also allows players to combo skills together for dynamic and visually impressive results.

During the noise of the event, it was not possible to get a good feel for the audio of the game.  

Gauntlet Seven Sorrows will release on the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC, and is slated for a Winter 2005 shipping date.