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Cyberplay: Dark Rift a winner among fighting games
September 4, 1997
Web posted at: 10:47 p.m. EDT (0247 GMT)By Steven L. Kent
Like it or not, the fighting game is one of the most popular forms of electronic games. This works out well for owners of the Sega Saturn, a 32-bit game console manufactured by the biggest arcade game company in the world.
The popularity of fighting games also works well for people who own the 32-bit Sony PlayStation. Sony's exclusive relationships with Namco and Squaresoft have resulted in a fistful of great fighting games.
As the second-largest arcade company in the world and the creator of such hits as Pac-Man, Galaga and Alpine Racer, Namco knows a thing or two about making great games. In recent years, Namco has emerged as a great company for fighting games, releasing such impressive hits as Tekken 2 and Soul Blade, both of which translated into wonderful games on the PlayStation.
In a surprising twist, Squaresoft, a well-respected maker of fantasy role-playing games, has created three marvelous fighting games for the PlayStation. Both Tobal No. 1 and Tobal No. 2 (a game that unfortunately will not be released in the United States) have smooth animation, interesting characters, pleasant graphics and some of the most dependable controls found in any fighting game. If there's one thing that ruins a fighting game, it's controls that don't always work.
A company called Vic Tokai Inc. has just released another fighting game for the N64. It is clearly the best fighting game for the N64, but that's not saying much. The game is called Dark Rift, and it's an armed-combat game, meaning that the fighters have spears, swords, laser guns, axes and something that looks like a spiked tambourine.
The only unarmed contestants in this tournament are Demonica, a scaly, vicious, two-legged creature with long claws, glowing yellow eyes and a bikini top; and Morphix, a fairly benevolent, sentient life form composed of light energy who can transform his hands into bladed weapons. Needless to say, you wouldn't want to run into these two in a dark alley. (Of course, the alley would not be dark if Morphix was in it.)
There are several reasons to like Dark Rift. It has a good, albeit, stock, crew of interesting fighters, all of whom have unique moves and fighting styles. There's the typical powerful and aggressive but slow fighter, the jolly green gigantic lizard-man, Eve the cyber robot fencer, and the insane animal, played nicely by Demonica; but Morphix is a nice surprise.
What makes Dark Rift work is sheer dependability and balance. A fighting game is a balancing act. If the special, extra-gory super moves are too easy to access, the game turns into a button-pressing fest and gets dull in a hurry. If they're too hard, you can't depend on them. Do you have any idea how irritating it is to have a 1,200-pound lizard-man hit you with his battle-ax simply because your spinning kick didn't work that time?
Visually, Dark Rift takes advantage of the N64's superior graphics engine. There are some terrific special effects, such as Morphix' translucent body and Demonica's fire breath.
Dark Rift may lack the substance to compete against such classics as Virtua Fighter 2 and Soul Blade, but it is a fun game and the best of its kind for the N64.
(c) 1997, Steven L. Kent Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate
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