Rifts: Promise of Power

Get a first look at the genre-defying handheld RPG.

September 17, 2004 - Based on the popular pen-and-paper RPG of the same name from Palladium Publishing, Rifts: Promise of Power is the first ever videogame entry for the series. Developed by hardcore fans of the game at Nokia and Backbone, the game was overseen by RIFTS creator Kevin Siembieda.

As in the original games, Rifts: PoP is unique in that it' s a genre-defying RPG. Rifts of energy are pulling creatures into a post-apocalyptic world and because they pull from everywhere, the world is soon populated by wizards, robots and everything in between. The game has been adapted into an isometric tactical RPG (visually, think Final Fantasy Tactics) but at the same time retaining all of the rules and ideas of the original.

Settings include: Germany, the Coalition States, Lazlo, Scotland, Old Bones, China and more. The original books featured 500 character classes, and from those the N-Gage edition makes available - Glitterboy, Juicer, Headhunter, Mind Melter, Ley Line walker, Burster, Cyborg, Cyber Knight, Battle Magus, Crazy and Mystic. There are over 50 enemies and NPCs, 80+ hours of gameplay and the world is actually fully 3D so that you can rotate the map at any moment for a better view of the action. The camera is also free-moving and will zoom in and out during battles as needed.

The developers balanced the character stats out a bit from the original game to make every character equally desirable. During battles, you can select and direct which units will attack and how. Additionally, the player can decide which stats will increase, which spells will be learned, etc. Online and Bluetooth multiplayer combat is available, as well as Bluetooth co-op mode.

This title looks very promising. It seems like it would be an odd mix to incorporate faithful pen & paper rules into a videogame RPG, but the developers have done just that and at the same time, the game is incredibly visual with impressive sprites and backgrounds. The perspective is solid and gameplay is a breeze. Anyone who' s remotely a fan of the original games will be in Heaven over this title, but it will likely become one of the N-Gage' s biggest crossover titles as well.

-- Adam Tierney