Genre: Action, FPS
Perspective: 1st-person
Gameplay: Shooter
Setting: Sci-fi / futuristic
Published by: GT Interactive Software Corp., Megamedia Corp., WizardWorks Group, Inc.
Developed by: Action Forms Ltd.
Released: 1997
Platform: DOS
The plot in the game, unlike the eminent id-predecessors, now takes as many as several sentences, making up an almost full-fledged paragraph. Some creatures, called timestrikers and "written" in the future, got to the secrets of time travel and now create "chaos" at once in different areas of our common time arrow: in the distant past (Egypt), the near past (Middle Ages) and in the present. You, as, of course, the nameless Marine will deal with all this disgrace. Needless to say, such unauthorized changes in the past can lead to a complete rupture of the space-time continuum in the present. In general, our world is again in grave danger. Such a plot approach gives off freshness, since the gamer already had to anticipate the constant change of the game environment in advance, and this technique is very motivating to play the game. The shooter was initially aimed more at a Western audience, so there was no reason to expect any special "Slavophile" features from the general surroundings in Chasm: The Rift, but this is not the main thing ...
The level maps in the game are made in a flat 2.5D architecture, but I confess that when I first played this game a few years ago, I did not even notice such a feature, I was so carried away by the rest of the gameplay elements. By pressing the Tab key, you can see the map of the level, just like in good old sprite shooters. It is the flat architecture of levels that fundamentally distinguishes Chasm: The Rift from Quake. Some cards are made in a frankly periodic large-block architecture (like the connections of the cells of a school notebook), which is not very pleasant for the gaming perception. Another characteristic feature of the game cards is the constant presence of traps and enemy ambushes after pressing any no matter how little switches or switches. This is an effective way to raise adrenaline for the player, who will now have to gather courage for a long time to press any button, which is the key to completing the entire level ...
The physical effects on the cards are also beautifully modeled. In the first level of the game, as a "demonstration of strength", there are implemented: pouring rain, a draft, a window opening from the wind and waving pieces of paper on the table. A lot of the environment has become very, very interactive. Any light bulb on the level is shot. This speaks of the detail of the approach and the desire of the developers to immerse the user in the game as deeply as possible. The menu interface, the game panel in style and sounds are quite reminiscent of Quake, which once again completely confused the players then in terms of revealing a false relationship between this famous game and the shooter Chasm: The Rift.
But the characters in the game are not sprites, they are truly three-dimensional, which already claims to be a daring answer to Quake. Although the models do not have a very large number of polygons, they are all beautifully textured and made with well-designed animation. There will be mutants, all kinds of fauna and even intermediate "samples" of humanoid monsters. The bestiary is very, very colorful, namely: infantrymen in gas masks, giant scorpions, wild boars, toothy jokers - throwing a circular saw, Vikings, human lions with a club and other specimens. Also in the briefings you will be instructed "face to face" by beautifully animated 3D models: a military representative (most likely your commander) and one "junior researcher" from the research sector. This adds another significant point to the overall assessment of the game. Previously, such honest and lively briefings in the eminent "classic" shooters were not observed. Each group of characters will appear strictly in their own time location: Egypt, Middle Ages, present and future. There are 16 levels in the game, 4 in each of the locations. Speaking about the characters, it is necessary to mention one more important novelty. As many have guessed, we will talk about the basic elements of the "dismemberment" in the game. Yes, earlier in the Quake game, the unfortunate enemy, of course, was effectively torn to bloody pieces by the hit of powerful ammunition, but the possibility of high-precision shooting of various limbs and heads, according to the authoritative majority of experts, was first implemented in the game Chasm: The Rift. Unfortunately, such humorous innovations are not always reflected in the balance of weapons in the game in the best way. As I remember, I did not experience much hunger with ammunition in this game precisely because of the constant opportunity to use the shooting of all kinds of vital "members" from the enemy's carcass. The bosses deserve a special description in the game - there are four of them, according to the number of "historical" locations. You can't take every boss with a regular gun. You can't take them also with the wearable super-bazookas. This requires out-of-the-box thinking, cunning, as well as an individual approach to each boss individually.