Death Gate

Review

by Michael L. House

There's good news and there's bad news regarding the graphic adventure game Death Gate. Fortunately, the good news outweighs the bad and even the bad isn't a result of quality but of quantity. The true strength of Death Gate lies in the marvelous original story based on the richly evolved Drangonlance series written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It's a compelling, enchanting story about a young hero faced with the daunting prospect of saving his world and people from imprisonment caused by the nasty Sartan race. By journeying throughout the land on a perilous quest of discovery, your character's ultimate goal is to find five pieces of the World Seal which have been scattered throughout the realm by the Sartan's and by reuniting them, destroy the wicked Death Gate that keeps the kingdom separated and restore peace and tranquillity to the land. The major weakness is simply that the adventure is too short. Considering that to be the main flaw speaks well of the rest of the game.

As in most adventure games, Death Gate relies on puzzles and plot twists to tell the story. A refreshing aspect of the puzzles here is the logic behind them (and there are plenty to deal with). You'll have to reach solutions by paying attention to everything happening in the game and then organize your observations into a meaningful conclusion. The minor downside to this is that a few of the puzzles may actually seem easy because they are so logical and thus don't require inordinate amounts of wasted time clicking on everything in sight hoping to luck into the solution. Any fan of the genre knows this is not the usual way. Why? Because it doesn't add length to the game. Death Gate is relatively short (for most novice gamers probably not much more than 40-50 hours tops) compared to many graphic adventures but, again, that's a product of efficiency and design that eliminates the ploy of prolonging a game artificially. In this case, quality surpasses quantity.

The interface in Death Gate is a seamless point and click affair. The game, as might be expected considering the subject and influences, uses a great deal of text to move the story along (and you'll have to read every bit of it to make sure you get all the ammunition you need to solve the puzzles). In fact, very little in the way of arcade action or animations occurs on the screen other than object manipulation. However, the relatively few animation cut scenes that are included are exceptionally well done. Death Gate is mostly a cerebral exercise, designed to involve the gamer in a solid story with logical interaction of objects and it's large cast of interesting and appealing characters. The gorgeous graphical background art and 3-D effects are complemented extremely well by excellent voice acting and a befitting musical score that enhances game play and atmosphere. This shouldn't be news to fans of most Legend Entertainment games. Death Gate is a worthwhile and satisfying gaming adventure.