Nintendo 64

Shadowgate 64: The Trials of the Four Towers

Huruvida Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers kommer att bli någon succé eller inte återstår att se men mycket talar för att så inte blir fallet. Visst, det saknas rollspel till Nintendo 64, men frågan är om inte den här typen av spel tilltalar datorspelare mer än konsolägare.

Shadowgate64 is quite simply Shadowgate for the N64. It stays very true to the concepts behind the original games which in this case may be bad thing because of the breadth of today's videogame marketplace. Extreme puzzle fans and diehard Shadowgate fans will love the N64 version of the classic braintwister, but for the rest of us, RPGs have developed so much in the last few years that there's no reason to sacrifice action for great problem solving elements. We can't tell you how frustrating it was having neither the @ss kicking guns nor worthless bad guys to blow away as we patrolled the hallways of castle Shadowgate with our controllers set on Turok-style, perfect for destruction. With the addition of Shadowgate64 to the library, the Big N is still very short on its quota for RPGs.

When I say of Shadowgate 64, "the magic is gone", I mean it literally. There are no spells to learn, none of those goofy, but oh-so-clever "poems" that gave SG1 much of its character. As if things could not get worse, the most disappointing moment of the entire game is the final conflict. It is resolved in such a ridiculous way that it makes the entire "build-up" of your character as Lakmir's "chosen one" seem irrelevant. It comes nowhere close to touching the thrill of SG1's tremendous climax.

The lack of any prolonged contact with other characters in the game and the repetitive musical score doesn't only make the game feel boring but lonely as well.