Daikatana Preview

Daikatana is a title John Romero announced four years ago, shortly after he had left id Software and created Ion Storm. Since then, the game has suffered multiple delays, and people often questioned whether it would ever see a release. Although we didn't receive the PC version first, Daikatana 64, which is being ported by Kemco, is proof that Ion Storm is still dedicated to finishing the game.

The plot goes a bit like this: The year is 2455. The Daikatana, a legendary sword that is capable of sending anyone to any place at any time, has been stolen by the evil Kage Mishima. You, Hiro Miyamoto, must stop Kage and recapture the sword to restore order to the world.

Daikatana on the N64 involves a good deal of puzzle-solving, as well as a lion's share of annihilating your enemies (about 80 distinct ones) with an assortment of around 25 different weapons. What's most interesting perhaps is that the collection of weapons available to you at any given time will reflect the age in which you're "traveling" in search of the Daikatana. If you're in medieval times, expect medieval tools. If you're in contemporary times, expect more advanced - but not necessarily more effective - weapons. There will be about 32 levels across four main time periods and locations: a slightly more modern San Francisco, a futuristic 25th century Japan, and then the ancients ones, including Viking Norway and Greece.

As an added twist, the game will also mix in RPG elements, letting you advance your skills and defensive maneuvers as well as attack with large artillery. Ironically, Kemco and Ion Storm haven't said peep about a multiplayer mode, although four-player deathmatches are obviously a must, with CPU opponents a strong request from any self-respecting console FPS fan.

Daikatana 64 starts off rather slow. The game begins by showing a real-time cinema sequence that has a low frame rate, which immediately made us fear that the in-game frame rate could even be worse. Once the gameplay began, while using low resolution, we were relieved to see that the frame rate was smooth, without much slowdown. As we traveled through the first level, it became apparent exactly why the frame rate is smooth: Enemies were scarce and moved slowly.

At many points, it was easy to see an enemy far off in the horizon where we could aim, shoot, and kill it without any trouble. And when we got close to an enemy, it was easy to avoid attacks before making the kill. Hopefully the final version will see a little improvement in the AI department.

Multiplayer at this point is a tad boring. You have the option of playing straight-up deathmatches, or you can have a Jewel Quest, where the first person to obtain five jewels is the winner. What hurts the game in this area is that the level designs have no flare to them, and they are by no means John Romero-caliber.

The game's graphics leave a bit to be desired, but there is still plenty of time for Kemco to spice them up. With the RAM pack, the game runs at medium resolution, but, as it seems to be the case with a lot of N64 games that make use of it, the frame rate weakens. On the good side, rain and snow effects have been thrown in, and they add a nice aura to the overall experience. We were surprised to see some complex lighting already implemented in certain areas.

The music during the real-time sequences sets the mood, but it is somewhat simple and boring. Also, the in-game sound might need to be paid a little more attention to - the background music is slow and simple, while the effects from the weapons and enemies feel sound as though they were made for toys.

Overall, Daikatana 64 is currently an average first-person shooter, but hopefully with some tweaks here and there it will dramatically improve (this was only a 60 percent complete version). In order to compete, this game will need to be good - other titles, such as Perfect Dark, are currently a lot better and have a lot more hype surrounding them.

Daikatana will support the Expansion Pak and the Rumble Pak. It is expected to ship by summer 2000, although PC gamers have been anticipating the game's arrival for far too long to consider that information official. We'll have more on Daikatana in the coming weeks.