Story time. This is a game that I haven’t beaten when I first got it as a kid, I mean eventually I got around to it’s “sequel” or rather, an expansion in my eyes, and made a review of it a year or so back. This one is basically a precursor of the game and well, each console had different mechanics and gameplay elements that made it unique to play. Example, N64 is closest to the arcade version you would see in a home port, Dreamcast version is more so an incomplete version of the sequel but has a more arcade feel to it. This version I’m playing, is it better than the two, or worse? Who knows but let’s make a review out of it. This is Gauntlet Legends for the PlayStation. 

Story : 8

An evil wizard Garm has summoned a benevolent demon named Skorn to control its powers but he was too powerful. With his power he took down the wizard and killed him, and scattered all 13 rune stones to different realms so he won’t be imprisoned again. Another wizard, Sumner, summoned four heroes to defeat the evil Skorne and bring peace back to the realms. 

The story has a medieval fantasy setting to it. Going to different realms to face monsters and creatures it’s up to you to defeat the evil demon named Skorne. A good story and it gives the game a bit of an adventurous feel to it. 

It’s an 8 out of 10. 

Graphics : 6

The graphics aren’t bad, but they don’t showcase the power of the PlayStation in the 2000. Very underpowered graphics and the characters are heavily pixelated. 

The FMV intro is pretty good and probably as much power the PlayStation could handle to play the video, after that you get the start intro and it’s very pixelated. The main menu is so lackluster compared to the other ports of the game, like the PlayStation couldn’t handle anymore ram or something after that intro. 

Each character just looks so ugly and the enemies look so jagged. The levels are heavily down sized and feels so jagged. The 3D aspect like going up and down certain heights doesn’t feel like it’s 3D due to some 2D aspects found in the game, power ups for example. What’s a bit worse is that levels just feel so barren at times like the game itself doesn’t have enough obstacles to put in the game. 

The frame rate is a bit lackluster. It’s not choppy or anything to the sense where it’s bad but it just feels so slow playing the game. It’s something that some people will be put off. 

It’s a 6 out of 10 for the lack of area, down sized levels, and character designs. 

Sound : 7 

The sound department is pretty good. The music is one of the best aspects of the game. From a more adventurous feel to some creepy organ music. They used some sound effects like animals or air pressure letting out into some music on the soundtrack. They were pretty creative when it comes to the music. 

For the sound effects, I would say it’s has a compressed feel to it. The sound effects are muffled, the voices (except the narrator) is muffled, it just feels like it was held back even though the game itself looks underpowered. I’m not sure for the reasoning but that’s a complaint I have with the effects.

The other problem is that sometimes the music can be a little too low or the sound effects too loud (especially when on the options menu) but that can be fixed through the settings. Not a big issue. 

It’s a 7 out of 10. The music is so good, but the sound effects drag it so bad. 

Addictive : 7

The game is pretty fun roaming around maze like stages. The issue is you can get easily bored with empty areas at times or the same hack and slash method in the game. It’s fun with multiplayer to some extent, it has drawbacks, more about that later on. The game has potential for hours of play but when exposed to better ports, it definitely loses appeal for hours of gameplay when there are better versions available. 

It’s a 7 out of 10. It’s a good play through if haven’t been exposed to others, but very dull once you see the better versions. 

Depth : 5

The game lacks depth severely. The levels are severely cut down due to the underwhelming power the PlayStation possess. Sure there are more stages compare to the Nintendo 64 but the Nintendo 64 is a lot more fun to play. The quality is just meh with these stages. 

The multiplayer is what makes this more inferior. You can only play with two players at one screen. Other ports can have up to four players at once without much trouble but with the PlayStation I feel like it’s due to the fact of more players are in it, it’ll suffer from frame rate and the game is already somewhat slow. This is a huge negative since the series is known for 4 player co-op. 

Another huge issue is the enemies, or rather how much in these stages. The levels, stated earlier, are barren due to low enemies. The PlayStation can’t handle much so they had to reduce the amount of monsters and creatures that pop out of the screen. This makes the game a bit more boring and just so much weaker. They tried to fix the issue by regeneration of the generators but that’s kind of pathetic. 

For the gameplay aspect, you choose one of four ugly looking characters and choose one of four colors, the next being worse than the last in facial expression (pic). You get summoned in a tower to collect runestones from four different realms. To go to a new realm you must collect all the obelisk that are hidden in different locations in a realm so it’ll grant Sumner powers. Each realm has a boss who once defeated gives you a shard that’ll help you unlock a desecrated temple. Collecting all runestones will give you a chance to enter the underworld and fight the demon Skorne, but wait there’s more but I don’t want to spoil what comes after defeating the demon. That’s for you to find out. 

Power ups are present in the game and what I find as a positive is storing them by pressing the triangle button. May not work for all items but it’s pretty useful. 

I mean the gameplay is similar to its predecessor and sequels with leveling up and health goes to zero you die and return to the tower. Secret characters are also present in the game but they’re more so palette swaps than anything. 

This game lacks so much and is considered one of the worst ports. It’s a 5 out of 10. 

Difficulty : 4 

The game is pretty easy due to it having so many cut backs. Lack of enemies, lack of depth, even storing power ups makes the game a bit easier. What gives it a little bit of a challenge is the bosses, low level in a stage that you need to be leveled up higher (easy). Death can be difficult to avoid at time but easily manageable with a potion to get rid of him (or hit him 100 times). I would say Skorne is the biggest difficulty in the game but that’s if under leveled. 

Game’s hindrance makes it an easy walkthrough most of the way. It’s a 4 out of 10

I grew up with this game and it was fun when I owned it. Sure eventually the disc would be cracked and unplayable but later on in its life I was brought up with “Gauntlet : Dark Legacy” which felt more of an expansion than a sequel. After that I was introduced to the N64 and Dreamcast version, with each having their own unique gameplay and cons. Though one thing is certain, since being exposed to these other versions of the game, it made me realize how weak the PlayStation version was and playing it again was just so frustrating and boring with the easy gameplay. This game can be skipped if exposed to the other iterations, if not it’ll be a nice first time playing the game. Lack of 4 players makes it harder to enjoy though. 

My rating : 7.0 out of 10

Review rating : 6.2 out of 10