Around fifteen years or so ago, the folks at Palladium Books put together a pen-and-paper role-playing game (this was back in the old days when Final Fantasy was getting its feet wet and pen-and-paper RPG's were all the rage) called Rifts: Promise of Power, and it seemed to be quite popular, with millions of gamers jumping on board to see what all the chaos was about. Now, many years later, we're finally seeing the game make a transition to a gaming plaform- the Nokia N-Gage. OK, so those expecting a high-end PSP translation are in for mega-disappointment. But hold on, the video game's actually got some merit to it.

Basically, to sum up the point rather clearly, the game takes place in the future, where the apocalypse has set in and a number of different classes of people and beings are trying to settle in to the new Earth. But then a vortex opens up, spreading evil spirits about and settling in all sorts of evil creatures who are out to wipe out the remnants of the human race. Seriously, can't we all just get along? I guess not, and this will lead to a number of tactical battles that the game offers.

The game clearly works on a role-playing front, with tactical battles taking the place of in-your-face encounters and all sorts of upper classing and powering up taking place. During your battles, you'll be able to hide and then go out into the open for all-out power attacks or well-timed single attacks, two at a time. However, keep in mind that you're bound to take some damage, and once your armor is gone, it's only going to take one or two strikes before you succumb to your opponent. It's pretty strict and straightforward, but for fans of this sort of game, it truly delivers in terms of battle systems and the type of classes you can work with.

The graphics could've been touched up a little better, I think. While the settings for each of the battles play out well enough, the world map is a little hard to navigate, and the fights themselves don't seem to offer that much visual luster. Maybe this was the intention of Backbone, the developer charged with the task of bringing this format of a game to a video game medium, who wanted to keep things on a simple level. But you'd think that the slowdown would be done away with, and some more detail would come into play, like with the close-up looks at members of each of the armies. I suppose it could've been worse.

The game is open ended, and does manage to draw the right kind of crowd in with its ability to really go anywhere on the map and try to retake your Earth. There's also a wide variety of weapons, cybernetics, and armors to use, as well as different classes to try out if you ever get tired of just being the same old type of person. If that's not enough, the game has massive potential in its multiplayer, with up to four people being able to jump in for a match (if they all own copies of the game, of course). The different modes available come in handy, including the likes of Defender and Capture the Flag (interesting for an RPG game, huh?), and you can even check out global rankings to see where you stack up against the world.

I admit it, the game didn't mesh with me like it normally would a hardcore RPG dweller, but it was built more likely for that crowd, as well as those players who grew up playing Rifts in the old days with their friends in the basement. The game interface is suitable if not revolutionary, and the visuals and simple sounds do make decent work for the N-Gage while not tremendously messing things up. With all sorts of classes, weapons, and battles to uncover, Rifts: Promise of Power certainly lives up to that promise, and should make a fine addition to your N-Gage library, for those who have one.