Dark Chambers
Switching from "turbo" down to "park"
By Darryl BrundageOctober 27, 2004
Yep, one thing about 7800 Dark Chambers
is that it's slow, slow, slow. Not that there's much you can do about
it, I'm just pointing out the obvious.
Once someone asked if there was a way to speed up the processor of their
Sega Genesis, since they felt that one of his games ran too slow. People
remarked that it would make a lot of his other games unplayable, since
they would run TOO fast, so they should only do it if they REALLY knew
what they were doing.
Still, even with the slowness factor aside, Chambers is still a
bit of a mixed game.
The predecessor to the severe arcade classic of Gauntlet, this
rough draft involves you, as an elf-like character, making his way
through mazes A through Z while avoiding/shooting monsters, gathering
treasures and power-ups, and ultimately staying alive. A lot stands in
your way, though, which involves Zombies, Skeletons, Wraiths, Wizards
("...is about to die!" says the Dungeonmaster...sorry, I couldn't
resist, that's a little Gauntlet reference there) and Grim
Reapers.
Now, that's the weird thing there: those monsters are listed in order
from least to most powerful, although when you shoot a Grim Reaper, it
morphs/changes into a Wizard...shoot that, then it changes into a
Wraith...and so forth. And, likewise, if you shoot a less powerful
monster (like a Skeleton), after only an additional shot or two, it will
also change into a lower creature, except for the lowest on the monster
rung, which is a Zombie, which will just explode when shot.
Ok, what the heck now? That's just silly. Why was the game designed this
way? I don't know; I mean, it's no big deal, but it's just a tad goofy
to me. I don't recall the instructions saying anything about creatures
morphing into others, or this game being called Weird Chambers
instead, but there you have it. What...ev...er!
Anyway, if you haven't laughed yourself into a puddle of drool over the
weird monster absurdity (if you're not already familiar with this game),
the monsters come out of pyramid-shaped spawners that you can shoot, but
in the later levels, there are spawners that you can't destroy, which
monsters keep coming out at a constant rate, so it's best to slip by
them as fast as possible (I almost said "RUN by them", but since the
game's so slow, that's just not in your slowpoke of a character's will
[maybe he has a thyroid or metabolism condition?]). There are also
poisons marked with an X, so avoid those too, or else they'll take off a
bit of your health reserve.
On the other hand, though, helping you out along your snail-paced
journey are several power-ups, such as guns, which can increase your
shooting speed, daggers will make your shots more powerful (which help
in getting rid of creatures a little quicker), and shields will reduce
the damage that will be inflicted on your player, should a monster run
into you. There are also bombs that appear here and there throughout the
game that will blow up everything on the screen, food also helps
replenish your energy, and if you die and you've got a second player
with you, some levels have hearts that you can shoot to bring the player
back (unless they've fallen asleep due to the slow nature of this game).
Oh yeah, there's also various treasures to reward you in the points
department as you go about your journey; whee.
The controls respond decently, although the graphics are a bit of a
mixed bag: I thought the treasures, like the chalices especially, were
drawn pretty decently, but then, on the flip side, I thought the
graphics for everything else (like the monsters) could have been a bit
crisper- and clearer-looking. Also, the sound effects do the job, but
they're a bit boring too; it's almost like Atari didn't really care what
went into this game, although a neat little effect happens when you
reach the exit in a level, and you climb down to the next one...no
biggie, but I thought it was kind of neat.
However...that TITLE SCREEN! Spooky, with real good graphics, and an
eerie soundtrack; very cool! I recorded it with my mom's digital camera
and I taped the opening tune (her camera doesn't have sound) before I
was able to trade it with someone for the 2600 game Frostbite. So
that was pretty cool.
If you've never played Gauntlet before, you might like this a bit
better then, but to me, spending $30 on a game (back then, that was a
bit expensive for a new game where I live, here in Houston) and getting
bored of it within a week is a bit of a drag, thanks to my experience
with Gauntlet before trying Chambers. I tried it out once
with a second player to see if that would add any dimension to the game,
which it didn't, unfortunately. The gameplay is slowed down even MORE,
too, by having several levels where a key to open a door was at one end,
and then you had to backtrack a ways to get to the exit, since you
couldn't get out of those locked doors without a blasted key(s) first.
So, if you run across this somewhere, you still might want to pick it up
to try it out, even though it sounds like I'm really slamming it here;
I'm not, really. It's just slow, and I've seen some posts where people
have proclaimed to liking their "Gauntlet Junior!" So, with that kind of
praise, you might want to chalk this one up as to having a bit of a cult
following (especially since it was released for the Atari XE computer
and the 2600 as well), rather than listing it as another one in the long
line of mistakes that Atari made over the years.
However, if you want something with a bit more speed and all, then you
might want to check out something more along the lines of 2600 Kaboom
or Jr. Pac-Man, the Game That Knows No Brakes. Wheeee!
Game Data |
Scores
|
| Title |
Dark Chambers |
Graphics |
70% |
| Publisher |
Atari |
Sound/Music |
70% |
| Genre |
Adventure |
Gameplay |
80% |
| System |
7800 |
Control |
85% |
|
|
Overall |
65% |
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