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DEVELOPER
Kronos Digital Entertainment
PUBLISHER
Vic Tokai
AVAILABLE
Now
MEDIUM
Cartridge
PLAYERS
Two
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the universe was created, a Master Key was forged in order to lock away
all the secrets and power the cosmos had to offer. After which time, the
key was separated and placed into separate dimensions, connected only by
one-way portals, called Dark Rifts. Only the ones who possess a piece of
the Master Key may enter these portals, which will then seal themselves
and disappear. Once all the pieces come together, the true center of the
universe will appear, and can be entered by the one who holds the entire
key. In order to consolidate his power as the 'chosen one', Sonork, a Hyperion,
has created The Tournament, in the hopes of acquiring another piece of
the Master Key. After he accomplishes this, he will then attempt to get
the third piece from the head of Demitron, the Lord Demon.
Sound
confusing? Well, it's really neither here nor there, for this is just a
convenient background for yet another 3D fighter. As of yet, the power-house
known as the N64 still lacks any really high quality games in this genre.
Fairly, the only game that falls into this category thus far is Wargods.
Yet, with the release of Dark Rift, I can honestly say that this situation
has gotten no closer to being rectified. That's not to say that DR is necessarily
bad, just that it's simply no competition to the stellar lineup on the
other two home systems. It can, however, claim 3D fighting supremacy on
the N64, for now.
 As the second game of it's kind I've played on this system, the suspicions
I had during Wargods have been confirmed, this controller really isn't
designed very well. At least, not for fighters, as the C-group of buttons
are so small, it's hard to even know which one you're pressing until your
on-screen persona does something completely different from what you had
planned. My advice, get a third party controller, it makes all the difference
in the world.
Dark Rift consists of nine slightly un-inspired characters. There's
just something about them, they don't seem to convey much personality at
all. I chalk this up to the lack of almost any voice samples. You don't
have things like Sarah mocking you or Sakura doing a victory dance. These
characters are just stiff and lifeless. Although they're animated at a
smooth framerate, it can't hide the fact that the animation is bad, since
they move more like robots that organic entities.
In all fairness, the graphics are well done, although they still have
that same generic, 'N64' quality to them,  almost
cartoon like. The backgrounds are 2D, a la VF2, with floors that don't
seem to stretch too far into the horizon. One thing that deserves mention
is the character Morphix, who's made up of opaque, shifting polygons that
really offer a trippy effect. The music... well, all I can say is, what
music? Seriously, there is music, but it's so boring that it's not even
worth mentioning. Fighting games need exciting, up-beat tracks to complement
the action, whereas Dark Rift contains moody, atmospheric tunes. I can
understand what was supposed to be accomplished here, but it didn't work.
As for sound effects, as I said before, voice samples are almost non-existent,
and DR comes with the regular collection of contact and fall effects.
While Dark Rift is easily better than it's only competition, Wargods,
it still fails to deliver a satisfactory game experience. The real tragedy
here is the fact that the N64 is a 3D monster, yet I still use a Saturn
and PlayStation for all my fighting needs. Dark Rift comes off as an attempt
to cash in on the current 3D fighting craze, and nothing more.
-- Greg Sewart
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