John Romero's Daikatana

Three years ago, when N64 fans were grumbling about the delay of Rare's GoldenEye 007, hotshot PC game designer (Doom, Quake) John Romero set up shop as ION Storm and promised to lead gamers into uncharted first-person territory with Daikatana. Now, N 64 players can see what all the hullabaloo is about.

Though far from the groundbreaker that Romero's Wolfenstein 3D was, Daikatana N64 comes across best as a cheeky blend of tried-and-true first-person action with a zillion and one pop-culture references.

Having obviously passed many a Saturday afternoon in their youths watching old movies on TV, Romero and friends have concocted a hopelessly convoluted storyline that bristles with blatant borrowings from Conan the Barbarian, Clint Eastwood's Escape from Alcatraz, Blade Runner and much, much more. Romero even had the effrontery to swipe the name of '70s blaxploitation classic Superfly for one his characters!

To begin at the beginning, "daikatana" means "big sword" in Japanese. Given that a "katana" is already pretty gargantuan, measuring upwards of three feet, the addition of the superlative speaks volumes of Romero's over-the-top ambitions.

You assay the role of Hiro Miyamoto, a young martial-arts instructor in 25th century Japan whose ancestor forged the daikatana. Late one night, an unexpected visitor knocks on his apartment door. The old man, named Toshiro Ebihara, claims to be a direct descendent of the Ebihara clan, sworn enemies of the evil Mishima clan, and tells the dreadful saga of the daikatana.

It's not just any piece of stainless steel, this daikatana. Anyone wielding the jumbo bodkin can time travel. Crafted centuries ago in the midst of a particularly vicious shogunate war by a naive swordsmith, the daikatana has been recently swiped by the odious Kage Mishima, big cheese at globe-straddling Mishima Industries.

Here the backstory veers unexpectedly into Outbreak territory, as we're told that a horrendous plague nearly wiped out all humanity in the early 21st century. Kage has built his ill-gotten fortune by going back into time, filching the plague vaccine, then convincing everyone in the 25th century that he created it. Scoundrel!

Toshiro has spent his fortune to recover the daikatana, only to have Kage steal it. Adding kidnapping to injury, Kage has captured Toshiro's comely daughter, Mikiko, and is holding her deep in the bowels of the heavily fortified Mishima Industries HQ.

Toshiro beseeches Hiro (pronounced "hero," get it?) to retrieve the sword, save the world from Kage's evil plans and, oh yeah, save Mikiko.

The subsequent adventure takes Hiro to four time-periods:

2455 A.D. Kyoto
1200 B.C. Greece
560 A.D. Norway
2030 A.D. San Francisco

In another time-traveling N64 adventure, Body Harvest, the developers clearly had lots of fun researching vintage vehicles and slang. In Daikatana, though, the time periods feel as if they were chosen just to look different, with oddball weapons like the Poseidon Trident (your basic rifle) tacked on.

Play mechanics involve finding weapons, ammo, armor and health recovery. Starting from scratch in each time-period, you must also locate power-ups that improve your armor, skill and other attributes. You also improve your "speed skill" with sharpshooting.

As you might expect from the guy behind Doom, the levels feel almost claustrophobic, as you're compelled to probe bewildering labyrinths of corridors and tunnels. Caution is the byword here, as enemies and drone guns seemingly wait behind every twist and turn.

Mikiko and the aforesaid Superfly Johnson make extensive appearances in the lengthy cut-scenes between each level, but in the one-player game you only control Hiro.

For the N64 version, Kemco Japan has built all-new art and stripped out a few of the levels, but in terms of maps and gameplay, this promises to be a pretty faithful port of the PC version. The Multiplayer mode offers two versions: Deathmatch and Jewel Quest, a variant of capture the flag.

Source: www.nintendo.com – Nintendo 64