Gauntlet, widely considered one of the greatest classics out there, Xbox live recently released gauntlet for subscribers to download. I spent a good portion of my youth playing Rampart with my father. It stands to reason therefore, that I would be overjoyed about this game. For the most part, I am. The main failure and achievement of these games is that the gameplay is exactly the same as the original. The controls function just as they did, which can make for the challenge of the old days, but also the frustration. The problem is that hindsight is always 20/20. We tend to imagine 'the good old days' of times with games that were flawless, however, when actually experiencing these games (there are some exceptions), they are not as good as we remember. A good example of this is that, frequently, when we went out, or to sleep, you could leave your Nintendo or Sega Genesis on, and think nothing of it, now, if you wanted to beat the game, you need to find a good chunk of time, or leave your GBA on while you go elsewhere, neither is very probable.
This takes us to the next issue: saving. While updating too much of an old game will ruin the nostalgia value, the addition of a save feature would have been much appreciated. Especially these days when bragging rights are at a premium: gamerscore, phat lewt, etc, people work hard for accomplishments, and would like to keep them. The lack of a save feature coupled with the elimination of multiplayer, is really just unacceptable
There are minimal issues with the sound and graphics, they are the same as the original, and updating them would have ruined the nostalgia of the game.
All in all, these games are just as good as the originals; they still have the same control issues, and the same great gameplay. If you lost your original copy, and would like to play these titles again, by all means go for it, however, if you still have your original copies, there is no reason to purchase this title.
DSI Games has a good range of combo packs for the GBA composed of classic games, with titles such as Klax, Rampage, Spy Hunter, Pong and Millipede. The one that called my attention was the Gauntlet/Rampart double pack. ... Read Full Review
I personally bought this version for Rampart. I loved the arcade game and used to rule it for hours as 3 other poor souls wasted their quarters trying to beat me. This is a POOR translation of that arcade game and I wi... Read Full Review
