Review by: Neilie Johnson

When thinking about reviewing Trion World's new massively multiplayer game, a low, rumbly voice echoed through my head like a melodramatic action movie trailer: “In a world where the odds of creating a successful massively multiplayer online game are just about nil, Rift comes forth like a downloadable David against a video game Goliath.” Without doubt, on a planet dominated by a game that begins (and ends) with “W”—otherwise known as “the game which shall not be named”—it takes nerve, ambition and talent to shoulder such a massive undertaking. Fortunately, the Trion team has plenty of all three, all of which is on admirable display in what could well become the celebrated successor to that other MMO.

The story of Rift revolves around the war-torn land of Telara, which has been repeatedly assaulted via tears or “rifts” among the planes of existence by Regulos, the Dragon God of Extinction. Attempting to ward off this demonic entity and his seemingly endless army of evil are two mains factions: the Guardians and the Defiant. The former are literally the “keepers of the faith”; they pray to the old Gods, defend tradition and believe themselves to be the saviors of Telara. The Defiant are (this is so awesome) “technomagicians”, a much more practical bunch who couldn't care less about the Gods and plan on winning the war by inventing the best, most powerful weapons. The two factions are naturally opposed to one another, and their nonstop face-off, along with the fight against Regulos make for a dynamic triangle of conflict.

When creating a character, players start by choosing among four “callings”, which are known in other games as classes. The choices consist of Warrior, Rogue, Cleric and Mage, common enough classes and ones most of us have come to expect from an MMO. What's new about these is the way they're customized through the game's unique Soul system. Within each calling you can choose among eight different Souls (well, nine, counting each class's special PvP Soul), which are more or less equal to skill trees/specializations. For instance, a Mage might choose for her three Souls, Warlock, Necromancer and Pyromancer. Rift varies slightly from other MMOs in that skill progression isn't so much tied to leveling as to the number of points spent within a particular Soul tree. While you do have to reach certain levels to be allowed to spend points on the higher skills of an individual tree, progression overall is skill-point dependent.

This take on skills/specialization is an obvious variance from other MMOs but you'll notice upon jumping into the world of Rift that for the most part, the game's mechanics are very familiar. In fact, if you're a die-hard MMO enthusiast, playing it will feel a lot like slipping on a very comfortable pair of well-worn shoes. Truth be told, the game has so many things in common with the game which must not be named that it's probably easier to talk about what the two don't have in common.