Chasm: The Rift

Chasm: The Rift
Cover art
Developer(s)	Action Forms,
Publisher(s)	GT Interactive Software, WizardWorks Software, Megamedia Corp.
Platform(s)	MS-DOS
Release date(s)	09/30/1997
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer 1-8 Players
Media/distribution	Compact Disc
System requirements 486DX4/100 mHz processor, 16 MB ram, VGA/SVGA video card, 75mb Hard Drive Space

Chasm: The Rift (A.K.A Chasm: The Shadow Zone) is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Action Forms and published in 1997 by WizardWorks Software, GT Interactive Software and Megamedia Corp. Action Forms would later develop the Carnivores series. During the game you can actually hear a character misspronouce the word "Chasm", he pronounced it "Shass'mh".

Gameplay

The player takes on the role of an unnamed Marine whose mission is to stop the so-called Time Strikers, mutant beings invading different time epochs, from taking over the earth. On this mission, he visits places ranging from military bases in the present to Pharaonic tombs in ancient Egypt. All of the levels involve dark corridors, often like that of catacombs and crypts.

One of the most notable features of the game was the ability to remove limbs from enemies. Still of interest are the bosses which can't be killed by mere firepower but instead have to be brought down using special tactics.

The Timestrikers

The Timestrikers are an alien Faction attempting to over take Earth. Using military technology and energy leaks, they can invade different time epochs.

The Military had already known about the existence it seems of the Timestrikers, and had been monitoring them. However, they then believed that it was the Timestrikers causing massive energy leaks throughout the military bases causing rifts, allowing the Timestrikers to flood into our dimension. First attempting to take out a military installation, they mutated guards and soldiers, and added in their own forces as well. However they were pushed back by a Marine, who then followed them back to Ancient Egypt, where it seemed that they would take over the world from the past. Failing again, they escaped to Medieval times, and after that, left again to come back to the present. There, the last of the Timestrikers were defeated, and the world saved.

Weapons

Rifle - The No-Ammo weapon accessed by pressing 1 is a low damage rifle. It has an unlimited amount of ammunition.

Super Shotgun - The shell ammunition is readily available and is dropped by most enemies within the first level set. Boxes of shells (coming in sets of 10 or 20) are also very common throughout the game.

Volcano - A chaingun type weapon with, initially, limited ammo.

BladeGun - Shoots out blades.

Laser Crossbow - A crossbow that shoots out laser fire.

Grenader - The Grenader is a weapon that shoots out rocket propelled grenades. It is capable of harming the player's character.

Land Mines - The Land Mines have more power than the Grenader, but the Land Mines can only be placed on the ground. It can harm the player along with the enemies.

Mega Destroyer - The projectile is shot out like a long-ranged grenade throw. Each ammo pickup for this weapon is worth 2 points of ammo.

Enemies

The enemies in Chasm are known as Timestrikers. They are monsters that travel through time rifts.

Scorpion - They are golden monsters, about two feet long, with three stingers.

Mong - Mongs are mutated soldiers wearing gas masks, and use rifles.

Stratos - Stratos are flying soldiers which shoot projectiles from the bottom of their legs.

Faust - Fausts are highly-armored soldiers that is armed with a bazooka.

Turret - The Turrets were used by the Platoon, but now they have gone berserk and will shoot anything on sight.

Gross - Gross' are monstrous-looking cavemen which attack with a spiked club and throw rocks at the player.

Zombie - They are the walking undead, and must be decapitated.

Punisher - The Punisher is a large beer-bellied and muscled man wearing a red hood over his head.

Lionman - The Lionman is a humanoid with the body of a warrior and the head of a lion. They run pretty fast and wield a shield and a mace.

Joker - Jokers are humanoid monsters wearing Jester attire. They attack using their unique Blade Guns.

Viking - These Vikings are mutants armed with a shield and an axe, and will attack with either, and also with their spiked helmets on top of their heads.

Werehog - Werehogs are mutated Warthogs that charge towards the player to gore him/her with their tusks.

Technology

The game uses an original engine capable of weather effects and ambient sounds. Though the engine is capable of rendering 3D graphics, the gameplay itself is actually 2.5D as it's not possible to place one sector over another.

Additional content

An official addon adds three new levels along with new monsters and is available as a free download from the developer's website. Though the retail CD contains a level editor, no user-created levels are known to have been published on the net.

Editing

The retail CD includes a level editor for the creation of custom maps.

Chasm can also be edited using the Doom WAD editor XWE.

Reception

Chasm received mixed reviews from critics. While they noted that Chasm had better animation and greater amounts of enemy detail when compared to Quake, the lack of a true 3D environment left much to be desired. However, because of its less advanced technology, critics found that those with older hardware could still have fun with a very Quake-like game.

Chasm: The Redux

There is currently a Half-Life 2 mod in development based on Chasm: The Rift. According to the website it will be a total conversion mod, entirely based on Chasm: The Rift, it will include all the original levels as well as a bonus level.

Credits

Character Design - Alexey Serhiy

Development Support - Lamberto M. Alvaro

Graphics/Artwork - Yaroslav Kravchenko, Oleg Naprasniy, Alexey Pivtorak

Level Design - Alexey Pechenkin, Andrey Sharanevitch, Denis Vereschagin

Level Editor - Maxim Novikov

Programming - Oleg Slusar

Sound FX/Music - Alex Kot

Voice Actor - Robert Sallade, Sean Spitzer

Packaging/Advertising/Manual Layout - Michael Tang , Jamie Young

Packaging/Advertisement Illustration - Shawn Bryan

External links

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived October 20, 2004)
• Chasm: The Rift at MobyGames
• Website of XWE
• Chasm: The Redux
• Chasm: The Rift Review at Gamespot.