Vic Tokai champions a winner in Dark Rift, a 3-D tournament fighter that's one of the best-looking licensee games to hit the N64 yet.

Dark Rift marks the video-game debut of Kronos Digital Entertainment, a Hollywood special effects house whose illustrious credits include Batman Forever and the VR cult classic Lawnmower Man. For the most part the animation whisks along at a buttery-smooth 60 frames per second, slowing only for spectacular explosions of 3-D sprites when rivals collide.

Lushly detailed backgrounds and a subtly roving camera that always draws you into the action add to the cinematic feel. Kronos has even created a fighter, the shimmering Morphix, composed entirely of animated texture maps!

The fully 3-D fighting engine features both horizontal and vertical combos. Because blocking straightforward attacks proves surprisingly easy, Dark Rift puts a premium on preattack maneuvering. In the default setting the analog Control Stick and the Control Pad function identically, but players familiar with 16-bit fighters might find the Control Pad more precise.

The A and B buttons control specials and distance or projectile attacks while the C buttons control punches and kicks. Uneven play control makes launching some specials a matter of hit or miss. Advanced AI means that your opponents will anticipate repeated moves and react intelligently to counter them. You'll have to mix things up if you're going to advance far in Tournament mode.

The hopelessly convoluted backstory has eight rivals battling for mysterious Prime Elements, possession of which allows one to leap through Dark Rifts into other dimensions and eventually become master of the universe.

Dark Rift features eight fighters plus two hidden bosses, which appear after you whack your way through the single-player Tournament mode. The Practice mode displays the moves you've made. Matches can last from one to nine rounds, with individual rounds lasting as long as a minute and a half. There are three difficulty levels in Tournament mode.

Source:

www.nintendo.com – Nintendo 64

Eve Be Nimble, Eve Be Quick,Or Eve Be Sliced by Gore's Big Stick

Dark Rift brings out the best in people. Eve works her butt off to turn Gore into a meaty pin cushion. Gore busts his gut to move Eve into the path of his axe. And you'll need your best, because Dark Rift gives it up. Dark Rift delivers more fight, more often with more speed than you have ever seen before. Check out Dark Rift for N64 or Win 95 and get flesh scorching projectiles, hyper quick ten hit combos, blazing frame rates and some very unpleasant surprises for the competition.

Available 1997

Product Information Number 343

Source:

PC Gamer magazine Vol 4. No. 7 - July 1997, p.60