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If you loved the older Gauntlet games, you'll HATE this one.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you loved the older Gauntlet games, you'll HATE this one.

If you miss something on a level, you can not go back and replay the level once it is done. There are only limited upgrades to armor and weapons. You can only see what level your character is once you complete a level. You can only purchase attack combinations (and only a few at that) with your gold. We were able to complete the game in 4.5 hours. For $50 I expect a lot more game play.

A message to true gamers: DO NOT BUY!!

Co-Op or No-Op...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

"Gauntlet" is `born anew' in Midway's latest update of its legendary franchise, which tries in vain to add grit and a storyline to attract new players. While the story is mildly interesting, it's still quite simple - an emperor betrays his four immortal heroes (warrior, valkyrie, elf, and wizard) in an attempt to steal their powers, but rescues them in the nick of time while sacrificing his own life. Naturally, as this is a game about dealing death on a massive scale, this event triggers all kinds of beasts to stalk the land, while the emperor's advisors turn into twisted versions of their former selves and must be dealt with one by one (can you say boss battles?). For a "Gauntlet" game, the story is quite complex - but obviously that's not saying much when you consider that "Gauntlet" has rarely had anything that even resembled a storyline playing behind its action.

In its newest format, "Gauntlet" plays like some diabolical concoction of its namesake and Sega's "Golden Axe" series (itself about to be updated), with a dash of the movie-licensed "Lord of the Rings" games thrown into the mix. Surprisingly, this is the first game in the series to remove the overhead, top-down perspective that is a franchise tradition. Admittedly, that does make it feel less like "Gauntlet," which purists may frown upon, but at the same time the perspective works quite well. It provides a good view of you and your surroundings, which is nice indeed because the graphics on display here are quite pleasing to the eye.

Like its storyline, the gameplay in "Seven Sorrows" is simple. Simple in a charming way, but nonetheless mindless. You select one of the four titular heroes, plunge into the game and begin killing everything in sight. This is the very same formula that spawned "Diablo" and countless other variations, and it's still fun after all these years. All of the heroes have their own unique skills and attacks (though they aren't as different as they first appear to be), including unlimited ranged attacks (countless axes for the warrior, countless arrows for the elf, etc., etc.). Though a few new tricks have been thrown in, you'll probably stick to the basics because they prove to be so effective. The heroes do gain new abilities and attributes in between missions, and while this is a nice touch it ultimately stands on the shallow end of roleplaying.

Strange though it may seem, "Seven Sorrows" is actually less cerebral than Midway's last entry in the franchise, "Dark Legacy," which is saying something. Levels are arranged in a linear fashion, and gone are the winding labyrinths that we used to know. What's more, many of the special items and treasures have been plucked out, leaving just the basics - gold to purchase new skills with, and food to replenish health. Fortunately the monster spawners remain in tact, constantly generating foes until they are destroyed, and one improvement to the series is that you no longer need to collect keys to open chests. And yes, Death can still appear when you least expect it to up the ante. Still, there's the inescapable feeling that this isn't exactly "Gauntlet," despite some cool nods to past efforts.

Other problems include monsters completely devoid of personality or challenge (although boss encounters are fairly memorable and much more interesting) and a very short campaign with little replay value. That said, the game maintains that strange addictive quality for its duration, especially if two or more friends are playing it side-by-side. The production values are good, and despite the sometimes tedious gameplay the levels themselves are varied and colorful.

"Seven Sorrows" is interesting, as "Gauntlet" purists may sneer at the changes it has made to the franchise, while other players may just not see what the fuss is about. However, there is a fun game to be had here, particularly if you bring a likeminded friend to the melee. I hope, however, that next time Midway combines the best aspects of "Seven Sorrows" with the much more traditional "Dark Legacy." Until then, "Seven Sorrows" should serve its purpose to arcade starved players with an itch to co-op.

What Happened to Gauntlet???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: July 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is my review to Gauntlet Sev........Wait a minute, this is not Gauntlet, this a mere hack and slash with no potions unlike the originals!This game is not Gauntlet, Original Gauntlet games had potions, keys, and a way to waste death.This one has no way to kill death and instead of only throwing projectiles like the original, you just do this,xxxxxxxxDownxxxxxxxxxxxDownxxxxxx, rinse and repeat.Although I have to say is that the graphics are very well done.It is to bad that this game is no Gauntlet game.Fans and newcomers alike, this is only worth a rental.

Not worth it, but awesome graphics

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Just adding my voice to the many reviewers who have already said it: this game is too short, and the gameplay is too monotonous.

A friend and I completed this in just a few hours. That's not worth $50.

The graphics are fantastic. I enjoyed walking around the levels, just to see the intricate layouts and cool effects in the backgrounds. Curiously, the cut scenes were pretty poor. I guess all of the development went into level design?

It is clear that each level was painstakingly designed by hand. That is almost certainly the problem. Although this leads to beautiful scenery, it meant the developers couldn't afford to make the game bigger or longer. I think most of us playing the game would have given up some of the hand-tuned beauty if the developers could have gone for more of a building-block approach like most other games like this on the market.

Avoid buying this one new. If you can find it used for around $10, take a look at the graphics.

Disgusted!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is by far the most disappointing experience I have had with a video game. I truly feel that I have been ripped off. I have been a diehard Gauntlet fan for many years. I have been looking forward to this particular game for a long time. Just when I was starting to enjoy the game, it was over. I beat the game in 5 hours on the "impossible" level. Midway left out many of the features that made the old games so great. This game is a complete waste of $50.00. It is a $10.00 game at best. This is the last product I will be purchasing from Midway.

Good mindless eye candy- don't expect more and you'll enjoy it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you compare the cost of buying this movie from a Used reseller vs the cost of a bad summer action flick then this game is a bargain. I actually enjoyed this game. Nothing deep to figure out, just pick up the controller and mash buttons with a friend.

Pros:
- Simpler game interface and customizations than previous generation of Gauntlet. I actually prefer this simplification. I found Gauntlet Dark Legacy a bit excessive in the customization department and found myself ignoring most of it.
- Returns Gauntlet to its simpler origins.
- Graphics are quite good, there are some landscape scenes that are really quite well done.
- Musical score is decent, and sets the mood appropriately.
- Shorter game. I think this is a Pro rather than a Con - I found the previous generation a bit too long for my taste, and frankly got tired of it so never finished it.

Cons:
- Game is repetitive- but frankly Gauntlet has always been repetitive.

GAUNTLET NEEDS FOOD, BADLY!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Gauntlet took the traditional dungeon crawl style made popular by the pen-and-paper role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, and amped it up to an insane degree by tossing billions of monsters at four heroes from a top-down perspective. Your heroes, in turn, were armed with medieval weaponry that they hurled at ridiculous speeds, machinegun-style.

I've been a fan of Gauntlet since the game was in the video arcades. Ah, the good old days of the Barbarian, Valkyrie, Elf, and Wizard. Of course, no self-respecting guy wanted to be the Valkyrie, because...well because she was a girl. The Elf was nearly just as bad, especially when he shrieked in his prissy elf voice, "Oh no!" as he neared death.

Gauntlet introduced a lot of fantasy troupes that are routinely mocked today. It rationalized that when you eat food, you heal. Given that I'd prefer just sucking down a shake once a day to actually having to eat, I have difficulty imagining that food actually gives you that kind of recuperative abilities. Sometimes food was just sitting in some chest, waiting to be discovered. Other times monsters dropped it. It always looked delicious; a whole chicken on a plate with potatoes, a leg of pork, or some smelly cheese. It never made any sense and didn't have to.

Gauntlet was also known for the Dungeon Master (again, swiped from D&D) providing some obvious and not so-obvious commentary. My all time favorite is when the other characters accidentally destroyed food. "ELF SHOT THE FOOD!" booms the DM, encouraging every other player to smack them upside the head. About to die? The DM had some advice there too. "WIZARD NEEDS FOOD. BADLY!" When I get really hungry before lunch, sometimes I hear that voice too.

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows, attempts to update the hack-and-slash style of the original Gauntlet while at the same time providing the rationale for the characters' ridiculous "kill `em all, let the DM sort `em out" style of mass murder.

Our heroes are immortals, crucified (!) by some kind of Aztec-looking sun emperor. His seven advisors all turned out to be wretchedly evil. Since the heroes are immortal, they didn't die (and now we know why they keep coming back to life each game...it all makes sense now!). Filled with regret, the emperor (taking the role of the booming DM voice guy) guides our heroes along the path to redemption by encouraging them to kicking the living snot out of his former employees.

A lot of thought went into Seven Sorrows. The generators that spawn dozens of monsters are still there, but they create enemies with a magical flourish. The environment is beautifully rendered in three dimensions, allowing enemies to be knocked right off precipices (my favorite tactic). In addition to all the running and the killing, there are occasional quests where our heroes go and kill more monsters, find a key, then run back to the door and open it. Gauntlet was never a deep game.
Each hero has been updated with a wide variety of moves, including magical powers that replace the potion-bombs from the original Gauntlet. The Elf can stun enemies, the Valkyrie shrieks and tosses bad guys into the air, etc. Each hero has a logical ranged weapon too; the Valkyrie shoots energy lances from her blade, the Elf pulls out his bow and fires, the Barbarian hurls hand axes and the Wizard shoots bolts of energy. All four heroes are highly individualized; the Valkyrie's "jump back" maneuver is actually a series of backflips while the Wizard teleports all over. Overall, the graphics are impressive.

Unfortunately, Seven Sorrows is far, far too short. My wife and I have come to the conclusion that we are now advanced players, so starting a game on normal difficulty no longer suffices. We should have set it on hard but didn't; in retrospect, I'm not sure if that would have helped. We ended up beating the game in the span of just a few hours.

It's ironic that Seven Sorrows is probably most like the original Gauntlet game. That's not a compliment though; in a crowded market of Gauntlet-clones, Seven Sorrows doesn't sufficiently distinguish itself from all the other sword-swinging, axe-hurling, bow-shooting, magic-blasting games out there.

Gaunt-Let DOWN

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is the worse gauntlet ever, they raped the things that made gauntlet so good, Game is short and Story Sucks. This is A Value Bin Title For Sure. Game Over.

Problems in production = Problems in game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I am too disgusted with this game. I cannot believe that they would even call this Gauntlet. I am still in shock, and actually quit playing the game for fear of further disappointment. Warning to all. Go rent. Do not buy unless you have 50 bucks to waste.

disappointing sequel

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is a pathetic sequel to the original that was a lot of fun. There is nothing exciting about this and after the first couple levels there is nothing new to buy with all the gold you get. Zero replay; in fact you're bored silly at the first go around. The graphics do not make up for the poor play-ability. The cost of this "old" technology is outrageous!

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