Rise of the Triad: Dark War

This game originated as a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, going to be named Wolfenstein 3D Part 2. The team at Apogee quickly decided that it would be better as a stand alone game. They were right, ROTT is the furthest thing from Wolf3D! Its faster, bloodier, and has way more enhancements. It was one of the first FPS's (or only FPS) to incorporate Jump pads and I believe it was the first to incorporate a flight mode (powerup). Its the only FPS game to date where drugs are powerups!

I remember playing this years ago and having a lot of fun with it. Although Doom kind of eclipsed it in success I believe that ROTT was actually a more enjoyable game. I admit the nostalgia wore off quickly after I bought it, and the low resolution makes this game fun in very small doses. I enjoy it but rarely play it because of the low resolution really bothers me. ROTT unlike DOOM never seemed to have any source ports worth noting. It's really too bad.

What could you expect to find in a computer game made by Quentin Tarantino (the director of films like Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill)? Why, stylized gun fights to groovy latinojazz music, of course. And lots and lots of gore. And a sadistic sense of humour. And a bunch of obscure pop culture references on top of that. But even though this FPS game makes you feel like you're the main character of a Tarantino film, it is very, very original. In fact, Quentin Tarantino had only just released Pulp Fiction when the ROTT came out, so the stylistic similarities between the shooting game of Apogee and the trademark shooting style of Tarantino are probably coincidental. Oh, except for having style, ROTT was also did a lot of things for the first time in FPS history. Most importantly, this was the game that came up with a CTF multiplayer (named Capture the TRIAD) mode. It also has a lot of other nice things, such as multiple playable characters with different stats, personalities and even races/sexes (even today, in 2012, non-caucasian heroes are very rare in FPS games, as are women - though heroines tend to pop up a lot more in THIRD person shooters for some strange reason!). ROTT also had something as unusual for an FPS game as a random level generator! The only other FPS game I can recell having that feature is Soldier of Fortune 2. ROTT also allows you to look up and down, fly and jump. Was those things also firsts in the genre? Well, the game was released on the very same day as Heretic, which had looking up/down and flying too. Jumping was probably something that ROTT introduced, though, but to do it you'll have to step on a jump pad. Or get the hillarious Dog Mode powerup. Or a very big gun called Firebomb, as well as an Asbestos Armour to keep protect you from the deadly explosion when you do your rocket jump. Rocket jumps, launch pads and CTF. The very components that make up newer multiplayer stalwarts like Q3 Arena/Quake Live were first introduced in the "Quentin Tarantino" game! Oh, and don't listen to people nagging about the game engine being dated compared to that of Doom! Sure, the Doom engine gives the level designers the possibilty to making smoother horizontal edges, but that's the one and only thing that's more modern with Doom! On every other account, ROTT is the more advanded game. You can shoot out light sources to make the room go dark, mark walls with bullet holes and you can blow up a whole bunch of furniture except for just exploding barrels! You can watch weather effects like fog and lightning - and the room taking a turn for the greener when you unleash the poisonous gas on your enemies - as well as yourself, if you don't find a gas mask soon! Except for gas there are a huge number of different traps, by the way. Probably five different ones that burn, five more that cut and yet five more "misc" traps. And there are a lot of different enemies, maybe not more than in Doom 2 but certainly more than in Doom 1. Just like in Blake Stone 3D, the foes of ROTT are baby steps towards more advanced AI for FPS enemies. For example, one foe tries to throw himself to the side like a goalkeeper in soccerfootball and another one can play dead. Some of the bosses are rather advanced, most famously the Nasty Metallic Enforcer, a though boss that's actually quite adept at avoiding your missiles by strafing! And no less impressive than the collection of foes and traps is your arsenal of weapons! - At your disposal are akimbo pistols, a vintage WW2 MP40 machine gun and six different missile weapons that do things like homing in on your enemies or burning them to crisp. On top of that you can wield powerful magic like the Darkstaff, the Hand of God, the Biting, Barking Nose of Dog and the mysterious Excalibat (that's right, an Arthurian baseball bat!). Finally, the graphics are very good for 1994. While the resolution is no sharper than that of Doom the artwork is just plainly better looking, both the painted stuff and the digitalized photographs (the enemies are scanned in pictures of the devteam dressed up in uniforms). And should the graphics still be too mid 90s for your taste you can always download GLROTT - a source port in the vein of ZDoom and FuhQuake that adds Windows nativity, computer controlled multiplayer opponents, mouse aim, hi-res graphics with 3D accelerator support, TCP/IP network protocols among other things!

I used to play the demo of ROTT over and over when I first got it. It had that slightly different feel to other FPS games of the time. Overall level design is rather dull and boring, however, the game throws out some interesting stuff to change it from a simple shooter. Various traps of spinning blades, and fire balls & Weapons, that create an enormous amount of gibs and damage. Enemies that play dead, and plead for their life. Other new things were DOG mode. In single player at least, getting the dog power up, would shrink you down into a little dog. You could still attack, but there were extra hidden areas only normally accessable while changed. The GOD power up would have you making long considering "Hmmmnnn" noises, while launching an attack that would seek out and vaporise all it touched. Shrooms, would make the game slightly psychedelic and uncontrollable. Jump Pads: There's no real way to describe these to those who have been jumping in games since year dot, but when ROTT was released, running high speed around a level onto these things and bouncing over the place was unusually fun. In multiplayer, it changed game tactics, as targets became more or less difficult to hit , depending on if you were in the air or not. Also, there is a slight old style platformer feel, where you have to collect glyph-credit/coin-things. Grab 100, get an extra life. While it is a load of fun, a lot of it is probably the nostalgia aspect for me. It might not hold up for others, unless you are really into the older FPS genre.

Average shooter. Levels are really abstract, meaning they don't feel like actual locations that could exist. They merely feel like video game maps put together for the sake of creating a FPS game. You never feel any emotional connection with the world, unlike with Doom, Heretic, Blood, etc. Enemies are boring and take too many hits to die. Bosses are cheap as hell. After some time, levels tend to blend together and become repetitive due to their maze like and uninspired designs. Graphics are decent enough but can't compare to doom. All in all...a very mediocre shooter.