Why the hell do I like Dark
Chambers for the Atari 7800? I’m
sure if I played it now, I’d be asking myself that every step of the way. But back in the day … man, I played this for
far too long and got far too much enjoyment from it.
The sole reason I played it so much was because I couldn’t
find many games for the Atari 7800, I was a Dungeons
and Dragons fan, and I loved Gauntlet. Pretty much any one of those reasons would be
enough for me to purchase the game, though.
Yes, it did rip off Gauntlet,
but the draw for me was having a game like Gauntlet
at home. No creepy voice was telling me
I needed food or a potion or something, and there weren’t 800 ghosts choking up
the screen, but it was fun nonetheless.
The game is usually correctly criticized for being slow and
kind of pointless. Sort of like that one
uncle nobody wants at the picnic. I can
agree with that, but back in the late ‘80s a lot of games were kind of slow and
pointless, and to the best of my knowledge there were no other Gauntlet rip-offs for the system. How could you go wrong? If you liked Gauntlet, chances were that you would like Dark Chambers, too. That
said, I don’t know of anyone who likes this game more than Gauntlet.
This game gave you a taste of an arcade hit at home. That’s what made it cool. That’s what made it fun. These days it would be maddening. Back then I couldn’t get enough of it … and I
wasn’t on drugs. And while fond memories
put it on this list, I can safely say if it showed up on some greatest hits
collection it is highly unlikely I would factor that into my decision on
whether or not I would buy it … maybe.
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