Chasm: The Rift

Have any of you DOS gamers played this? It is basically a Quake 1 clone - the setting and art looks very similar. Well, it actually has a 2.5D engine, like Doom, but 3D models are used for enemies and some of the surrounding stuff. There are many nice touches that were absent in Quake, like the ability to shoot the limbs off the enemies, some interactivity elements, some nice (by 1997 standard) graphical details.

Also I dare to say the monsters look much better than Quake's :)

If you like DOS shooters and Quake 1 artstyle, try this out.

2.5d engine? That explains why I was able to run it and not Quake at the time..

It's more like a Wolf 3D engine from what I understand - the only height variations are from models stuck in the level that you can walk on. I also don't remember seeing many non-90 degree walls - the few ones that do exist probably use the same trick (make a square nook and fill it with an angled model).

The enemies are fairly random and some of the designs were a little too lame (jesters? come on).

I played it but never finished the thing. I don't remember a lot, other than some weird military looking dudes, some sort of scorpion and some parts of the first levels. I certainly prefer Quake over Chasm.

It's too bad Chasm didn't come out before Quake as I feel it would have had a better start.

Despite the simplicity of the maps, I found the game entertaining. The weapons and monsters stood out and the limb amputation is awesome.

I loved this game. It was what I was playing when Quake was popular. I remember getting stuck in the medieval episode though. It wasn't until recently that I actually went back and beat the game. If you own the game I recommend downloading the free addon pack that the designers made for it. It fits really well as a last episode.

I like Chasm more than Quake to be honest. Its more colorful, shooting limbs off of guys is plainly entertaining, and the artstyle I found to be a hell of a lot better than Quake. Some of the monsters were kinda cool too. I actually think the Jester was pretty neat.

Funny thing is though, the only reason I bought it about a year and ahalf ago was becuase it came with an editor, which I now know is shit. But the game is great. Action Forms was a pretty good company, and their budget games were always rather good (Like the Carnivores series.)

EDIT: Hey, we should play some multiplayer matches...

Multiplayer? Yeah, I'm in.

Clonehunter said:

...and the artstyle I found to be a hell of a lot better than Quake. Some of the monsters were kinda cool too. I actually think the Jester was pretty neat.
EDIT: Hey, we should play some multiplayer matches...

I actually really liked Quake's artstyle, it was just the lack of variety in Quake that bothered me. You basically only got the brown rusted tech-base levels and then the lovecraftian gothic setting. The time travel idea in Chasm was great, because each episode had its own identity with unique environments and enemies reflecting the period.

Also, I would totally be down for multiplayer.

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lupinx-Kassman said:

Also, I would totally be down for multiplayer.

Technician said:

Multiplayer? Yeah, I'm in.

Lets start some servers :)

(Even though I can't start CHASMUDP on Vista goddamn it.)

I'll get the necessary files needed and get it running. We should wait until sat when everyone mets for Quake Night.

I played it back in the 90's via one of those "1000 games" CD's. I loved severing limbs as it was like nothing I had done in video games before. Sadly, my friend broke the CD and I forgot the name of the game until I found a saw a WAD which used weapons that I traced back to Chasm about a year ago. I watched some LP videos of it on YouTube and I don't want to go back and play the game, as it looks really dated and I'm pretty sure it will destroy my nostalgia goggles.

the art design looks fairly decent actually. Nice textures and mad psycho axe dwarves.

That's all I need.

I tried this game out about a year ago. It seemed pretty cool for it's time period, but the level design was just super confusing and I didn't have the patience to navigate those crazy mazes.

What's up with the sound effects of this game? Is it just pure coincidence that it's using shitloads of sounds from id games? All using the same sound effect library?

[edit] There are even some Alien sound effects.

The only sound effects that were "familiar" were the Chasm Marine's jumping sounds, and maybe the Ammo Pickup sounds (Doom and Quake respectivily). Buts that's it as far as I can tell.

All I remember about this game is how horrible the voice acting at the beginning is.

Yeah, I played it ages ago and I still remember how lame the 'cutscenes' were.

It had some nice gimmicks like enemies losing limbs and the whole time travel angle that reminded me of Waxworks, but in the end it's a crappy old fps.

Yeah, I have played it and own a copy. It's been a while since I played it though and don't remember too much about it. I'll have to dig out my copy and fire it up. :)

I played it some years ago... it was very similar to Quake, but without the same athmosphere; but it was about time travel so you had many settings: tech bases, ancient egypt, medieval...

Mike.Reiner said:

I tried this game out about a year ago. It seemed pretty cool for it's time period, but the level design was just super confusing and I didn't have the patience to navigate those crazy mazes.

It's interesting because Wolf 3D suffers the same problem. When the engine is so limited, all the map designers can do is make mazes.

The only levels I found 'maze-like' were the Eqypt levels. Otherwise they were pretty straightforward.