Granny Vinnie Reviews

7800 Rank: 37th Genre Rank: (Action/ Adventure) 15th Awards: 6th Best Gameplay That's a lot of Pink for an Evil Dungeon Pros: Tons of varied levels/ Easy to control characters Cons: The enemies are weenies/ Game gets boring fast Looks Like You Can Step on Them, Huh?

Overview: You are a sassy treasure hunter who can kick some serious butt for a guy wearing leotards. So when you heard about this creepy dungeon place with wizards, walking skeletons and zombies that was full of loot, you and your business associate jumped at the chance to explore the evil place in hopes to be filthy rich. Even though man-eating grim reapers and ghosts may be a little scary, you are not a weenie yourself. You have the ability to wander mindless, boring levels for hours and the ability to toss fire in an infinite line. Pretty nifty trick. In fact, you may be too tough, because the evil you are facing in Dark Chambers is unarmed and it looks like they learned to fight in the mean streets of Burbank, California. Playing for an hour or two without the threat of dying can be and is a real possibility. The original idea was probably great in this Gauntlet predecessor, but after an hour of wandering the caverns and wasting occult butt it will suddenly dawn on you: "What's the point?" And I'm afraid, sports fans...I don't know.

Graphics: Everything looks real small in this game. It's like peering into your kid sister's medieval doll house (if she has one). The bird's eye view is a must because it helps you with the exploration of the level you are in. Everything be so tiny doesn't really bother me, but it makes the visual display of the game kinda under whelming. Throughout the levels, the backgrounds change, and this helps keep the game from getting visually boring as fast as it could have. Barriers and walls can be thickets of brush, red brick, stone, or any number of other things. The color scheme in this game is not as tacky as some 7800 games, which is another plus. The two heroes, or one, if you are playing alone, look like Robin Hood and his cousin Little Red Riding Hood. They are a little green guy and a little brownish red guy, who are too tiny to distinguish gender, age, race, or whether or not their faces were blown off in a grease fire. Again, this really isn't all that bad, but the characters in the game are just really small...even the bad guys. Speaking of which, when a bad guy is hit with your fireball, he reduces in rank. If he was a skeleton, he turns into a zombie...if he was a grim reaper, he turns into a wizard. Therefore, different monsters have different levels of resistance. This is pretty weird, but the explosions are nice.

Sound: Absolutely nothing outstanding, but nothing really to poo-poo. Again, lack of music and effects reign supreme in an 7800 game, but no noise is irritating.

Gameplay: Gameplay is smooth. You have pretty good control over your little pee wee guy, and he shoots his fireballs in 8 different directions. Since bad guys are really harmless unless they are in large quantities, cutting down hordes of evil baddies gives you a real satisfying feeling. It makes me want to say, "Bring It!" really loud when I have extinguished all of the vermin. Basically, your only other duties besides killing the devil's children is wandering around and gathering objects. Some objects are power-ups, like the shield, the gun(!), and the sword. The gun is a funny addition, because the look of the game and the box art gives you a feeling of an adventurer in King Arthur's time, so a pistol may be a little out of place. A shield powers up your defenses, a sword adds strength to your fireball, and a gun increases the rate of your fireballs. The bad thing about this is, once you obtain these items, there are no more power-ups to increase the weapons and shields more. So once you are maxed out, that's it....no more. You are as close to Rambo as you will ever be. Other items include food that will restore lost health, a bomb that will lovingly blow up everything on the screen, and a heart that can be used to resurrect your fallen partner. If this heart is accidentally shot, it turns into a ladder that the evil morons can climb to annoy you some more. Also, you must find keys to unlock doors in your search to find the ladder to the next lower level.

Originality: This was the game that fueled the brainstorming behind Gauntlet, so it can't be all that bad. Dark Chambers has a Dungeons and Dragons feel to it, and people who like that type of thing might enjoy this game more than the rest of the population. Basically, it's two guys (or two flat-chested girls) wandering around level after level in search of treasure. Nothing really thrilling. Nothing too ground breaking. It's definitely the only game like this on the system...but it still doesn't feel fresh.

Value: The sad thing is, this game is just boring. Initially, this game is fun. You have to find your way through the maze after maze, and some of them can be mildly tricky and enjoyable. The bad guys are easily killed, and this can give you a rush, early on. But, as the game wears on, something suddenly comes over you: "What's the point? Won't somebody please do something cool to try to kill me?" You almost wish a big guy with a machine gun would step around the next corner and start giving you some heck...but he never does. Because they believe solely in hand to hand combat, the bad guys' strategy is to overwhelm you in numbers. But honestly, I have been in some mosh pits that were scarier than this. If you do get into a pickle, you can use a bomb to blow everyone up, and you will be able to pass the area before they start rejuvenating again. Level Y is pretty cool though, because there are so many devils and demons in the opening tunnel. It's hard to make it through, but it's honestly one of the few fun parts of the game. My main complaint is the game needs a mission. The underlying plot is that the two protagonists are treasure hunters. Well, I can buy that, but after wandering around for 3 levels and finding only two golden goblets, I would think one would say to the other, "This places reeks...we could find better deals at Goodwill." And then they would haul booty back up the ladder. Yes, treasure is a hard find, and when you do collect some, it's for minimal points. I think it would have been cool if the levels had bosses, the treasures paid huge bonuses, or the game had a final boss. Some sort of goal...because after awhile, I get really tired of descending level after level. The game is just too easy, and you could really play non-stop for hours. To be fair, there is an advanced difficulty level, but it isn't that tough either. Besides, I think the standard difficulty on a video game should be challenging itself. Also, two players playing simultaneously adds to the fun, especially when you both are close to death and there is a dead sprint between you two for the sole piece of life giving bread on that level. But sadly, two players make the game that much easier.

Overall: Dark Chambers isn't by any means a bad idea, but the lack of challenge and motivation destroy this game in my eyes...well, my eye and then in my glass eye. Anyway, this game is fun for a laugh or two, and you should at least play it to get to level Y and Z...that is a pretty cool experience. But when the level name goes from Z to AA... a sinking feeling hits me like I cannot explain. I feel about as small as a Who in Whoville...(remember 'The Grinch that Stole Christmas?'...they were all on a snowflake). Anyway, you just realize that you haven't accomplished a darn thing. So, again I'll say..."What's the point?"



Other Reviews:
The Atari Times: 8 out of 10
CV's Atari 7800 Panoramic Froo-Froo: 3.0 out of 5.0 (Fair)
Video Game Critic: D
Atari Gaming Headquarters: 2 out of 10


Additional Info: I would like to take this time to thank Mitch Orman, owner of The Atari 7800 Page for allowing the use of his screenshots for this review.

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