RIFT!

The hype is growing as the new highly anticipated shiny MMO Rift inches closer to its North American release date of March 1st 2011. If you have not heard of Rift because you either live under a rock or you just are not into the MMO genre, you need to check this game out. I have seen the commercials and even the guild chat is buzzing about it. Will this new game on the block stop me from raiding Cataclysm Hardmodes?! Probably not. But I will definitely check it out... here is some info.

The visuals look awesome, and it plays alot like most MMO's. If you play WoW then you should have no problem stepping into Telara, but you might need to buy a new video card... but that's probably long over due. Lets start with what makes Rift different from lets say WoW. First like I mentioned the graphics are far beyond WoW, to me its a mix of Elder scrolls and Guild Wars, all effects seem very fluid, and over all the game looks awesome.

The actual Rifts....So while your questing and doing the usual leveling grind most of us are familiar with...Rifts happen. A Rift is like a random spawn of TONS of NPC bad guys that are just going to kill anything around you! This kind of random stuff is what WoW has needed for a long time. It makes the game feel less staged and more organic. It also adds a level of excitement that boring fetch quests lack to provide. You also gain XP and a form of currency for doing these rifts. I hope that this mechanic is well tuned and polished for release because after all, it is what the game is named after...

The big thing that separates Rift is its character customization. Basically there are four classes to choose from you have the Warrior, Cleric, Mage, and Rogue each with 6 talent trees (with roots) that you can customize yourself. This means if you want to change up your character to your play style you can, this is awesome, I know I am making a warrior that can stealth, heal, cast cc and maybe throw fireballs? Lol. Rift seems ambitious which I like, but I hope they know how to swim in the deep end...

Keep an eye out for Rift coming March 1st, and in the mean time check out this video from BFF over at ZAM.com.

Game On