Gauntlet E3 Previews
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Arrowhead Game Studios and their upcoming action RPG reboot Gauntlet made an appearance at this year's E3, and that means that we have some new previews to read through.
GameSpot:
Where the game takes a departure from its established roots is in the addition of ability-enhancing relics and new abilities for every character class. Each character can equip two items, and the E3 demo provided access to boots that temporarily increase your character's speed and an orb that causes a freezing area of effect attack. However, the extra power these abilities give you is balanced by the fact that they have cooldown timers. So it requires strategy to decide exactly when you need to fire up the extra boost of speed to get out of an overwhelming wall of enemies, because you won't be able to use it again for up to a minute afterward.
I spent some time in the demo as both a Wizard (my regular choice) and Warrior. The Wizard offers a choice between three different ranged attacks: fire, ice, and lightning. But it takes a moment to switch between abilities and requires that you stop moving, so you can't just swap out skills on the fly while engaging with the enemy hoards. Planning ahead is absolutely necessary -- generally you choose between either weaker attacks that damage large groups or a more powerful attack that hits a single enemy hard. It's a tough class to play solo (though not impossible), but Wizard works best as a support class: dealing massive damage to mobs of foes while staying well out of the way of attacks. Aiming the Wizard's attacks feels slightly unbalanced and inaccurate currently, but the game still has plenty of time to optimize that before the September 3 release.
They have made a minor alteration to the top down view of the original to that of a slightly angled view, but as it's only really a few degrees off true top-down it retained that feeling while allowing for a proper three-dimensional effect to the dungeons and corridors our embattled heroes find themselves in.
Those heroes could well be the descendants of the originals too, with the Barbarian, Valkyrie, Elf, and Sorcerer all returning to where their forefathers found fame and fortune, each with their own unique approach to battling the hordes. The Barbarian is the tank figure, best deployed up close and personal with devastating spin attacks and an axe ready to inflict massive damage. The Valkyrie, a slightly more balanced approach with spear and shield, equally at home in close, or at a moderate distance slinging her shield and sending her enemies reeling. The Elf, a master bowman able to bring enemies down from a distance with his arrows, and also able to fire a bomb shot that will devastate the massed ranks of undead. Finally, we have The Sorcerer master of magic and mayhem, able to deal elemental damage and magical death from afar. All of these are true to the original game, yet updated and applied in such a way that they don't feel out of date or under powered and with a four-player co-op system in place it will offer the opportunity to get together with friends online.
Hearing "Elf needs food badly" over the din of the crowd certainly brought a smile to my face, but little else electrified the experience in a meaningful way. In a way, the game comes across as a checklist of very old ideas with a few contemporary conveniences to keep it feeling somewhat fresh.
Taking a few notes from modern game design, Gauntlet controls like a twin-stick shooter with separate control over movement and targeting. Being able to run around the dungeon while targeting monsters certainly allows for a much more mobile experience. Long range attacks and monster closets are the bread and butter of this series. Enemy hordes can quickly overcome less skilled players, and there's always the chance that you'll accidentally shoot life-giving food and leave yourself the butt of party ridicule and spite. One interesting addition to the proven formula are relics which allow the player to activate a cooldown-based skill for devastating effect.
I liken it to a blend between the original 1985 Gauntlet and the Diablo series. In my playthrough, I used the Elf, who relies solely on ranged damage. The game uses a twin-stick input with basic attacks mapped to the right stick. Like I mentioned earlier, dungeon layout is far more open than previously, so staying on the move while firing off a flourish of arrows at a distance is easy to do. Aside from each character's standard attack, there's also special attacks used for additional offense and defense. With the Elf, this gave you access to special moves like a fast dodge roll, an area-of-effect blast, or a high damage, single shot arrow that penetrates through multiple enemies.
In the level we played, there was a bit of light puzzle solving. When I say light, I mean simply grabbing an item and carrying it over to another spot in order to access another room. It's too early to say how involved the final game will be as far as critical thinking is concerned, but judging solely on the content shown, puzzles are merely there to break up the battle sequences.
