Cheat Index - Daikatana Nintendo 64 Review

When John Romero, the inventor of Quake, brazenly claimed that his upcoming RPG/shooter Daikatana would revolutionize the first-person shooter genre, people stood up and took notice. Almost half a decade later, Daikatana finally hit the PC, and now it's been ported to the Nintendo 64 and released at a budget cost of $19.99 - and with good reason. Daikatana is one game that doesn't live up to its hype.

Set in four different locations in time (25th-century Japan, ancient Greece, medieval Norway, and near-future Alcatraz), the game centers on the struggle between the forces of good and the evil dictator Kage Mishima over possession of a mythical sword, the Daikatana. In the hands of the right man, the Daikatana is capable of mass destruction and, oddly enough, time travel. Enter Hiro Miyamoto, a distant relative of the Daikatana's creator. Called upon by an old man whose daughter, Mikiko, is being held captive by Mishima, Hiro must rescue both Mikiko and prisoner Superfly Johnson, find the Daikatana, and put an end to the time-traveling escapades of Mishima.

What could have been a workable plot is made moot by inconsistencies at every turn. In one cinema, after witnessing events that would turn most people's hair white, Hiro instead seems overly concerned about a ghost. In another, an enemy appears with his own Daikatana, stating that he went back in time and took it. How, then, would Hiro also have one? When Hiro rescues Mikiko and Superfly in the PC version of the game, they then become sidekicks that Hiro has to defend for the remainder of the game. In the Nintendo 64 version, Mikiko and Superfly never appear onscreen during gameplay, yet they miraculously appear for the level-ending cinemas.

Full Review