Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows [PS2]

When Midway first announced its newest Gauntlet game, the pitch was impressive. Early demos talked about how the game was going to take more of an action-RPG slant, feature multiple character combos, and generally have a lot of depth. Explore the world of the Warrior, Wizard, Elf, and Valkyrie without falling back on a repetitive hack-and-slash formula. But during development, both John Romero and Josh Sawyer left the company, resulting in a drastic scaling back of the project. The end result is a mere shadow of what it could have been and a middling rehash of what we've all seen before.

Interestingly enough, both the visual and audio presentation hint at a much more epic game. Rather than stick with colorful arcade hues, Seven Sorrows uses much more muted tones. Plot twists are revealed in an artistic manner, with a booming voiceover and static image cutscenes that consist of striking concept art. Sound effects can be a bit repetitive, but the music is gorgeous. Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn't live up to the same standards.

At its core, Seven Sorrows is little more than the original hack-and-slash mechanics in a prettier environment. In order to survive you simply mash on the attack button and keep your distance from enemy hordes. Kill enough bad guys and you can clear a path to the enemy generator. Destroy the generator to prevent more bad guys from appearing. Collect the magic key to unlock the door and move on to the next area. Simplicity doesn't have to be a bad thing, but Seven Sorrows tries to mix the basic play with remnants of a RPG-style upgrade engine, and the result is a horribly unbalanced game.

Like many action-RPGs, you gain experience for every enemy killed. Kill enough and you'll level up. Every level allows you to improve your character's stats by a single point. Since Seven Sorrows offers an endless stream of enemies, it's quite possible to stand in one spot and spam the default attack button. Creatures will mindlessly walk into your attack and die, while you rack up the experience points. If you don't want to risk getting hit, simply run around the corner and hide behind a wall -- the AI is too stupid to follow you.