Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is the seventh game in the Gauntlet series, and is a much better attempt to bring the game into the 3D gaming realm than Gauntlet Legends or Gauntlet Dark Legacy, the previous two games in the series. It was developed by Midway Studios San Diego and published by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2 and XBox in 2005. An XBox 360 version was released in 2008.

Up to four players can play Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows simultaneously, or one player can go it alone. The game also had an online play feature (via GameSpy), but that is now dead.

Core gameplay is much the same as the original Gauntlet – hack, blast or shoot your way through a procession of monsters; destroy the generators that enemies pour out of; eat food to keep your health up; find keys to make your way through the maze, and find the exits to subsequent levels. Players can choose between the four classic Gauntlet characters – Warrior, Valkyrie, Elf and Wizard – and there are no unlockable characters, like there are in Legends and Dark Legacy.

New gameplay features include: experience gain and character levelling; combos and special moves; challenging boss battles (that are much more dynamic and interesting than those in Legends and Dark Legacy), and using levers and winches to open doors and drop drawbridges to new areas. Characters can also upgrade their weapons and armour by opening special chests.

Every time a character levels up, they will glow brightly during the game, to indicate the milestone. Every level gained awards you with a point that you can spend in-between levels on either damage, mana regen, or health increases. You can also purchase new moves for your character during these intermissions, using gold collected in previous levels.

The graphics – in particular the 3D models – are a considerable advancement over Legends and Dark Legacy. The game uses Motion Capture, which makes the animation much more realistic. Camera movement is also much better, although you still can’t fully control the camera, which can be a little frustrating at times. You can, however, switch between near and far camera positions.

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows does have a few nice gameplay touches that elevate it above a simple hack-and-slasher, like: tipping over pots of burning oil (which can be useful for burning enemies, but can also burn you and your team members, if you’re not careful), and using scenery objects to clear the way forward (like, for example, using a catapult to destroy a locked door).

The enemies in the game seem to be mostly new, but the behaviour of some of them is recognisable from the original Gauntlet. Some enemies, like archers, require tactical thinking, and deft uses of the controls, to defeat efficiently. Death still appears, and can only be killed using magic potions. When there are a lot of enemies attacking you, it can get very hectic – especially multiplayer – but that’s what Gauntlet‘s all about. Battling against seemingly insurmountable odds…

The route through Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows seems to be completely linear. A few alternative routes wouldn’t have gone amiss, and would’ve helped replayability, but – unless I’m wrong – I didn’t see any alternative exits or split paths.

Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows didn’t review particularly well at the time of its original release, but I have to say that I enjoyed playing it. I only played as the warrior, but his varied moves and dynamic axe-swinging I found to be very satisfying to execute (and watch).

Seven Sorrows isn’t perfect, and was maybe the victim of a few feature cuts, but overall it is a successful fantasy action game with decent gameplay and good presentation, that is still worth playing today.

More: Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows on Wikipedia