Ah, promo material.. It takes so long to put together, sometimes. Such is the case with my myspace page for my dj profile. Took about six hours yesterday to get the thing sorted out, the whole process consisting of compiling promo mixes on my harddrive, to uploading them to a variety of distribution sites, to creating new artwork to be used as album covers, to uploading varius phots to the photobucket, then linking them into the myspace profile, to creating blogs to link to with each promo album, etc. etc.. Such a long, drawn-out process, but maybe it's something I should have done right from the start when I started my music page nearly two years ago. Oh well, I'm not exactly known for thinking that far ahead.. Ya live and learn, I suppose.

Anyways, to add a shameless plug on to this, I have a new promo DJ mix available on my MySpace music page (http://www.myspace.com/djaustinmusic). I spin breaks/breakbeats--music that goes excellent with gaming--so if anyone is interested in a free promo CD, PM me and I will gladly mail one to you. Otherwise my mixes are available to download on the myspace. Even more details (or just me essentially saying this in person) can be seen at my YouTube video I just uploaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGZMPcK1nA4

Now since that's done, I can relax a bit and get back to playing Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows on the original XBOX. I'm actually borrowing my brother's copy, and it's been sitting in my collection for about eight months now, waiting to be played. I've actually been a little hesitant on playing it, for one reason or another.. Honestly, I don't even know the reason. Lack of motivation, I suppose. Sometimes that happens with games and I. I think one thing that kicked-start me into finally popping it in is that I read John Romero had a hand in making it. I don't usually play games based on names associated with them, and Romero especially has had a rocky career since he left ID, but there's that little bit of hope that I suppose sits in my mind sub-consciously--DOOM and Quake are still some of my favorite and absolutely most-played games of all time, after all. Also, asides from that, I was a huge fan of Gauntlet Legends and Dark Legacy. I probably spent hundreds of dollars perfecting Legends in the arcade.. There was a point where I managed to get each character up to level 99 and finished it the most amount of times, solidifying my place on the number one leader board slots for each type of character on the machine (Man, I wish that arcade was still open and didn't get rid of that unit).. So needless to say, I think it was about time I finally gave it a shot. I went into it not expecting anything, but I was pleasantly surprised that it is actually more similar to Legends/Dark Legacy than not. It uses a similar form of 3D visuals for the environments, there are still the usual projectile shots, and hoards of enemies come at you via the spawners. Overall, I'm satisfied *enough* with it, but I think it fell short of the greatness (or at least addicting factor that Legends had). I have many reasons for this. For one, the requirement of projectile shots being a vital part of a successful gameplay run are zilch in this one. In the original Legends, it was really necessary to use them as much as possible, using them to take out frequent bomb throwers or kamikaze enemies, or to destroy bosses. In this one, the projectile shots are so weak there is no point in using them, and with the multiple melee attack modes and moves that always put you in a defensively sound position (for instance, the purchased A then X button attack with the Warrior), projectile attacks are ONLY used when there is an archer perched on a ledge you can't physically get to. Second, the boss battles don't feel like boss battles, compared to the arcade games, anyway. Many of the bosses are roughly the same size as the mid-level golems in Legends, so needless to say, it's not quite the same as fighting the nearly full-screen bosses of Legends and Dark Legacy. Third, the sizes of the stages seem quite small compared to Legends. This is probably either due to easily being able to smash through spawners and hordes of enemies quickly, or the fact that the world is quite detailed, going far, far into the visible distance, leaving the XBOX not much to do in actually expanding the size of the playable levels. There are a few other details that I think could have been worked on or changed, but overall the game is still an enjoyable mash-fest. There's not much technique involved like there was in Legends (in order to survive on the one quarter), but I think it's entertaining. I haven't finished it yet nor do I have the ability to play it in multiplayer, but I've gotten a kick out of it so far (I'm up to the fifth sorrow right now--each "sorrow" being a boss--out of seven, so provided there's not anything after that, then I'm close to the end of the game already, having only played it for a couple of hours). I may recommend checking it out if you're a fan of Gauntlet Legends or Dark Legacy. I don't think it's going to have the replay value of the prior, as the max level cap for your character is 20, but nonetheless, it seems like it's enjoyable for a playthrough or two.

**EDIT: After writing this, I popped in Gauntlet to continue playing, and guess what? All of my special attacks, items, etc. were wiped off of my character. Autosave was on when I was playing last, so I know I've just experienced a very, VERY piss-poor design choice.. It's damn near-impossible to finish the stage I am on (apparently 68% through the game) with all of my abilities stripped from me. Who's crackhead decision was this?? With this in mind, my verdict on this game has changed: If you don't plan on playing it straight through in one go, then you're best off passing on this one.