Dark Rift

Do any Nintendo 64 owners want a 3-D fighter on their system? More than likely a unanimous "yes" comes from the thousands of N64 players who have been able to only play Mortal Trilogy and Killer Instinct Gold. Does Dark Rift have what it takes to please them?

Originally slated for the PlayStation. Dark Rift is soon to be released for the Nintendo 64. The weapon-based fighter, that plays similar to Soul Blade, has graphics and sound that are par for the N64 course-which is just fine with us.

There has been a strange event that caused an entire galaxy to explode. Its remnants (particles from the planets that once were there) orbit around the explosion. The cause of the explosion is known as the "Dark Rift"-hence the name of the game. Gamers need to gather the keys to unlock this Rift and obtain its special powers.

Dark Rift features 10 characters-two of which are secret. Each of them has his/her own weapon whether it's a spiked axe. a light saber-esque weapon or others. The Gamer's Edge takes a look at each of the characters and their respective weapons.

The characters in the game are polygonal with detailed textures giving each his/her own unique feel. One character in particular, Morphix. has an animated texture that brings him to life even more.

The lighting effects of the weapons and some of the special attacks have the same result as Star Gladiator on the PlayStation-one of serious power or at least the look of serious power.

The backgrounds vary, but all have an eerie mood. Of course. Dark Rift's characters each has his/her own arena.

The animation in the game was done by Ted Warnock and his team. Warnock has worked in traditional animation (like Ren & Stimpy) before coming to the gaming industry. This may account for the fluid, realistic movement of the characters.

Dark Rift, like Soul Blade, lends itself to two-player action. This may be attributed to the use of weapons. After all. when gamers use a giant plasma gun or a large sword to clobber a friend, things tend to be more fun.

In One-player Mode, if gamers can finish the game in either Normal or Hard Mode, they will get to play as one of two hidden characters Cone is shown to the right).

Check the Review Crew this month to see what the editors thought of the game.

IT'S HARD WORK, ATTAINING excellence. Especially if you've got a time limit that will cut you off at a certain point whether you've got there or not. 64 Magazine manages it every month, of course, but unfortunately a lot of the software that hits our doors was clearly caught out by the ticking of the clock. It's not a problem that seems to affect Nintendo, but then they do own the factory that makes N64 cartridges, and it's not much skin off their corporate nose if a game is held back by a few days. Or weeks. Or months. Besides, they've got a reputation to protect, a reputation for producing games that are as near-perfect as it's humanly possible to get, and that reputation is more important than keeping some watch-tapping jobsworth down at the cartridge plant happy. If it takes another month before Miyamoto's happy with the game, so what?

Unfortunately, other software houses don't have this luxury – they have to book a slot for production of their N64 cartridges in advance, and if they miss it, it could be months before another is free, by which time their once cool-looking game will seem about as with-it as deeley boppers. Hence the preponderance of very large clocks in development houses. Time is money, and penalties for lateness can be severe, so the game needs to be finished no matter what. Since nobody's going to buy it if it looks like a crock, the graphics are first to be finished, then the sound, then the gameplay itself. If there's time, this latter can be polished to perfection – but oh no, there goes that clock. Ship it off for approval – so long as it looks okay and it doesn't crash every five minutes, Nintendo'll pass it. No problem.

Actually, it is a problem. It's this kind of thinking which has already given us War Gods and Doom 64 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, bland games which pass muster at a cursory glance but are as instantly forgettable as, oh, that film with wassname in it, you know the one. The further bad news for anyone who bought an N64 with the vague hope that there might be a really good beat-'em-up appearing on it some day is that Dark Rift falls right into the middle of this category. It's the kind of game that would fit in perfectly at the Guildford house of Mr and Mrs Average and their 2.4 children, because it's just so utterly ordinary that it's, ironically, extraordinary.

NICE LEGS, SHAME ABOUT THE PACE

There's certainly nothing to complain about when you first look at Dark Rift. The use of graphics makes War Gods, the only other 3-D fighter on the N64 to date, look as blocky as the Legoland cubism exhibition. The fighters are smoothed, light-sourced and silkily animated at 60 frames per second, in contrast to the St Vitus victims in leg-irons hobbling around in War Gods, and there's none of the focus group-approved design imbecility that gave the world Kabuki Jo. Dark Rift instead has, er... let me think about that for a minute...

The first problem with Dark Rift is that its characters are vanilla bland, with nary a spark of imagination put into their design or background. There's a couple of D-cup girls with not a lot on, one of whom is some sort of princess slumming it. There's a soldier. There's a big fat ugly bloke. There's a sinister dude in armour. There's a cyborg. There's the obligatory weird beast, in this case a demon. There's not a single one of these stereotypes who hasn't been pummelled to death in half-a-dozen other beat-'em-ups. The only one with even the slightest trace of originality is Morphix, and that's purely because of the way he's been portrayed, as a shimmering, glass-like being. That aside, he's no different from KI Gold's Glacius or any number of oddball alien characters. Not even the fact that each character has two different outfits adds much excitement.

What do these disparate desperados want? Why are they fighting? They're all after the Core Prime Element, a substance which grants the holder enormous powers for good or evil... just like the Ore in War Gods, in fact. Just think, somebody was actually paid to come up with a plot for this game in order to give the characters some background and hence create opportunities for merchandising, comics and TV shows (hell, it worked for Street Fighter II), but for all the difference it makes he might as well have said that they all bullied each other at school and now want to get even. There's a certain irony in that the characters from Street Fighter II and Virtua Fighter, who had no real reason for fighting beyond the fact that some of them didn't like each other very much, are the ones who have the biggest worldwide followings.

That and the fact that the games played superbly, of course. Dark Rift plays averagely, which probably won't surprise you by now. The use of weapons brings to mind Soul Edge, and the button allocation is reminiscent of Tekken, but in both cases the end result is a pale copy of the originals. Tekken had a different button controlling each limb of a character, but Dark Rift only goes so far as to have 'vertical attacks' and 'horizontal attacks', slashing either down or across the opponent's body, and a fairly feeble kick button. There are the inevitable special attacks, but the combinations of moves needed to use these are almost identical no matter which character you use. Even these moves are straight out of the Beat-'em-up Play Book – fireballs, teleports, flying kicks, ground shaking punches... aaaargh! Show me something I haven't seen ten million times already!

KINGDOM OF THE BLAND

The lack of moves makes play a simplistic affair. Hack hack block, hack hack kick, special move. Repeat. On one occasion I managed to defeat an opponent without even looking at the screen! The glowing trail in the air that the weapons leave as they are swung is a nice touch, but again it's straight out of Soul Edge, while the use of the shoulder buttons to dodge left and right was recently unearthed by archaeologists exploring the tomb of Toshinden. On the offchance that you can be bothered to fight through to the end of the game and defeat Sonork and Demitron, the two bosses, the endings that greet you are almost criminally dull – a couple of screens of text, a brief and sluggish flyby of the winner claiming the Core Prime Element (which bears no resemblance to the exciting tale the story tells) and a static 'The End' shot which reveals a cheat code. Well golly gee! I know the N64 can't handle FMV, but it would have been nice to see the characters actually celebrating their victory instead of just standing there as if they're waiting for a bus! If Namco's Soul Edge on the PlayStation can manage animated and interactive endings, why the hell can't Vic Tokai do the same here?

Dark Rift was a game which had a lot of potential – because it wasn't shackled by having to follow the play mechanics of an existing arcade game, like War Gods, it could have gone all the way to produce an exciting and original combat experience. Instead, the designers have taken the easy way out, piling in over-familiar elements from every other successful beat-'em-up in history in the hope that they'll synergise and make something better than the sum of its parts. Inevitably they failed, because the gameplay wasn't tuned up to make sure that all these elements work together. The final result is a nice-looking but unspeakably average game which gives the player no feeling of involvement with the action and will be left to gather dust after just a couple of days when its unlucky buyer remembers just how entertaining Mario Kart 64 is. In fact, I've forgotten it already. Forgotten what? I dunno.

The Nintendo 64 gets another fighting game to fill the rift for action-hungry fighting fans.

Future Fighters

Dark Rift is a fighting-fan's fighter with a fighting-fan's list of features. Choose among eight fierce-looking warriors, then face off against two formidable end bosses, or go head-to-head against a friend. The deep gameplay features multiple grab moves, 10-hit chain combos, projectiles, sidestepping block moves, and combo breakers.

Strange New Worlds

If these screens are any indication, then Dark Rift should take full advantage of the N64's impressive graphics engine. Cutting-edge motion-capture technology enables these realistic-looking fighters to move seamlessly through their environments. Ultrafast frame rates will render impressive, real-time scaling with lush 3D backgrounds. Additional special effects, such as fog and ambient lighting, should complete the overall visual impact of the game.

If Looks Could Kill

There will always be a receptive audience for a well-programmed fighting game, especially on the new N64 platform. Dark Rift already merits attention based on its look and list of features. We look forward to putting the fighters through their paces firsthand to see if the programming matches the appearance.

Forget Vic Tokai's dismal reputation with the 32-bit Criti-com fighting games. Dark Rift (which uses Criticom-style fighters) is a fast, fun, polygon-based 3D fighting game that's imaginative with its use of graphics, and may break ground for other poly-fighters like Tekken 3 on the N64.

Although the graphics shine, the silly story could use a little tweaking. When the universe formed, a key called the Core Prime Element, broke into pieces and scattered throughout the galaxy. A tyrannical being called Sonork Nezom finds a piece of the key and becomes so powerful that he sponsors tournaments to see who can bring him down.

The only beating that gamers will receive, however, will be on the thumbs. The game requires fast button-pressing and brutally exact timing to execute combos. In fact, the combos are the game's Achilles' heel--they're just too hard to perform.

Although Dark Rift may not be in the elite class of fighters, Nintendo 64 owners starving for a slaying may find themselves satiated by a weekend with Dark Rift.

Graphics

Razor-sharp polygons and colorful special moves really help this game. The backgrounds are also clean, imaginative, and detailed. Dark Rift's a good graphical outing that shows off what the N64 can do with polygon-based fighters, but some slowdown really mars its performance.

Sound

The sound effects are right on target, with small nuances like the clink of falling grenades to excite the ears. Weak voice effects, however, take away some of the game's personality.

Control

Although most of the standard moves and special moves are easy to execute, the combo system is too unwieldy. You're lucky if you can string three moves together.

Fun Factor

The game is more fun to play than War Gods, but slightly less exciting than MK Trilogy or Killer Instinct Gold. Fight fans will have fun taking this one apart in a weekend.

More shots of this game show that it could be something that stands out in an over-populated genre. Dark Rift has 3-D polygon fighters with gigantic weapons that let gamers really feel the hits. Various holds, throws and weapon attacks add depth and variety to the game. The graphics are similar to games like Toshinden. The main difference is character size and weaponry. Keep an eye out for this one.

If there's one genre that has run rampant. it's 3-D fighting games. This, however, is not stopping Vic Tokai from releasing another contender in the fight to win gamers over. Dark Rift is the latest brawler to hit home. It takes place in a future world where you take control of one of 10 different characters in an attempt to prove yourself the top fighter. The game features full motion-capture animation that is shown at a high frame rate, resulting in incredibly realistic movement. To make the game engine as realistic as possible, you can look forward to such features as side-stepping block moves, a counter attack system that targets both the upper and lower body and a variety of grab moves. For your combo freaks, there are chain combos and combo breakers to escape from a barrage of hits. Adding a new element of strategy is the variable gravity on different planets. This will make jumping and attacking trickier. At the end of the game, you will encounter two Bosses, who will hopefully be hidden playable characters. Dark Rift looks to be a unique fighter.

Blah blah blah dimensional rift. Blah blah blah fighters from all time zones brought together. Blah blah blah battle for ultimate power. A tedious scenario that is perfectly suited to this tedious game. It might have attractive and quite smooth visuals, but the gameplay is both tedious and derivative of other, far superior, games. As bland as a meal of Cream Crackers.

With only two N64 fighters on the shelves so far, and no 3D brawlers available at all, Dark Rift could feed the hungry gaming public its necessary fighting food.

Ironically enough for a beat-'em-up, Dark Rift has a remarkably familiar backstory which we won't get into here. But, with a liking for the fighting system in Tekken, Kronos have stepped into a fantastical sci-fi world with human and alien creatures who fight to the finish for the Core Element.

With eight players and two bosses, a slew of combinations, get-up combos and chain combos, players already have decent learning curve to climb. Each character also possesses projectile attacks, and most are armed with weapons. A good thing in our book. Players can also use the left and right shoulder buttons to side-step into and out of the foreground to dodge atacks and can easily throw opponents by pressing B.

Running at 60 frames per second, character movement is quick and reactive, though possibly a little jumpy. Character design is truly fantastical. Evil-looking demons like Demonica and eye-candy contestants like Morphix are matched up with six more regular fighters with styles that range from fencing, to primal animal attacks (chewing at your enemies heart for instance), to Japanese style ring fighting.

Kronos aren't renowned for their fighting games, but Dark Rift could be the title to change all that. If it's as good as the game it's based on, it'll be a sure hit.

Uninspiring special moves and similar characters. Nicely animated, potentially solid but. ultimately, really rather dull.

Enter this code at the title screen to play as the game's two secret bosses: A, B, R, L, Bottom-C and Top-C.

Can the N64's first 3D beat-'em-up trash Tekken?

The current generation of 32-bit bone-crunchers have made much of their Gouraud-shaded, motion-captured, eyeball-swivelling, fully 3-D polygon fighters without, actually, bothering to exploit 3-D in their gameplay. Tekken 2 and Virtua Fighter 2 are both entirely happy to look 3-D and play 2-D. More ambitious games, such as Toshlnden or Iron 6 Blood, have generally lost more than they've gained and been judged second-rate. So far, 3-D movement seems to enhance realism at the cost of intuitive controls.

In the arcades, Virtua Fighter 3 and Tekken 3 are offering a modest step into that tricky third dimension with side-steps Into or out of the screen. Neither of these games will be converted until year's end and, even then, Sega has confirmed and Sony hinted that the host machines will have to be upgraded to cope. Step forward, with an impressive side-ways sweep, Dork Rift from Vic Tokai. Developed by Kronos In the US, it promises to not only leapfrog 32-bit systems with superior graphics, but also by implementing an intuitive 3-D control system. Side-stepping offensive/defensive moves are very much part of the control system, together with the usual projectile attacks, combo moves, throws etc. More unusually, the game will also feature variable gravity depending on the chosen arena - Moonwalking combo-attacks should be something to see! There will be eight fighters to choose from, plus two bosses, all of whom will be animated using sophisticated motion capture. The beat-'em-up field is currently as competitive in development terms as gameplay and Vic Tokai aren't known for their expertise. Then again, who can remember a Namco beat-'em-up before Tekken...?

Prospects: A great idea and the graphics look impressive - can vk Tokai pull off a Capcom-esque super move? Probably.