Rifts

Long ago I used to play a little pen and paper RPG known as Rifts. It was pretty cool, so needless to say when I got the chance to write a preview of this in its electronic form I leapt at it. So how does Rifts transfer from the pages of classic RPG to the Nokia N-Gage handheld gaming device? Well it is completely different to the pen and paper RPG obviously given this is turn based strategy / adventure but it really does what it does quite well. I noticed a few glitches so it would be interesting to review a finished version to see if these were ironed out, it also crashed my N-Gage on more than one occasion, as I say though I would assume this to be fixed in the final release and I’m sure we’ll cover that as soon as we can.

The story is set in the future where magic has severely messed things up a bit and rifts in time and space are opened from which various creatures appear and obviously it’s not all friendly. This is where you come in. As this is turn based it’s essentially a case of deciding on your course of action when it’s your turn, options include movement, weapons fire and specials. Like in many RPGs you have a set number of action points and once they’re spent you’re at the mercy of the enemy as they spend theres. It’s a neat way of realising combat and works well.

The sound in Rifts is pretty good, though it’s not on par with other N-Gage titles such as the brilliant Pathway to Glory series.

Graphically it’s one of those diagonal facing isometric titles that most RTS fans will be more than at home with. Everything is pretty neat and easy to see and the movement indicators work a treat. You can also rotate the map which is handy if you’re stuck in a corner. The creators have included various character classes from the RPG and they’re all animated well given the minute size of them.

Overall given this is an exclusive to the N-Gage platform at present it’s given additional kudos as you won’t be playing this anywhere else soon. It’s well suited to the N-gage and doesn’t appear to lose out on anything it’s bigger console cousins may offer. Mapping is done well, graphics work well and the sound is play. As mentioned I do wonder if the glitches I encountered with this preview copy will be ironed out in the retail release. I certainly hope so because that being the case I think this could be something special.