Rise of the Triad: Dark War

Rise of The Triad (ROTT) was a beautiful showcase for what could be done within the limitations of the first pseudo-3D game engine. While most were simply riffing on Doom and making mods or whole games that followed that same motif, ROTT was seeing what else could be done with the tools given. If you've ever played a game that had stairs, thank ROTT and their use of elevated discs to separate a level. If you've ever had interactive or moving obstacles (aside from color keyed doors) once again ROTT is the source of your joy. Have you had more than one character choice and each had different abilities? Thank you ROTT. Destructible environments, digitized characters, fog, working lights (that can be shot out), the ability to jump (via jump pads), all came from this one game. Hell, it even supported player speech via headsets or pre-recorded taunts! It has a story, not Hemingway level but still an actual story, it has varied levels often with multiple ways to solve them, and it had more than just the basic deathmatch multiplayer mode available in the modem era! For it's technical feats alone this game is a classic, and yet it is also a fun game as well. It follows the then-standard of having multiple levels spit into episodes, with a boss at the end of each one, gathering more weapons and powerups as you go. The environmental puzzles are simplistic, but seeing an enemy lured into a spinning post covered in blades or squashed by a descending post makes you appreciate it all over. Finding secret routes through levels, or getting the god mode powerup and hearing John Romero moan as you vaporize everyone with a glowing hand is a blast. The story and history of this game are well chronicled, this was a labor of love for these guys and they collected a lot of the information into a FAQ that is a joy for an FPS lover to read. http://archive.kontek.net/rott.classicgaming.gamespy.com/hell/index.html

Many years ago I only had my I386 (think it was a 333 not even a dual-core, this beast even had a 'turbo' button that slowed it down.. I know right?) Win3.1 and DOS with GUI (think I also had win95 but I didn't use it a lot other than for CDs) I had just completed a game called 'kens labrynth' that I was given and remember finding the floppy disk of the 'shareware' version of this in my dad's desk and wondering to myself what on earth 'ROTT' meant & why was it spelt wrong?!.. After booting it up.. I was instantly hooked, the music, the gore, the silly sounds "Hay!" "AA AA UGGH" and good music..sadly shareware meant 'demo' so it had a lot of levels missing and other bits, after pestering my dad (he was not to impressed) it turned-out he had the original CD and full set of floppy disks for it (which included pictures of the Dev team, and other nifty bits I think) and so.. I was finally able to complete the full game. I did try playing online (excalibat or dog mode anyone?).. but dial-up was not really fun especially when someone needed the phone lol. I remember the good days of trying to mod the game art to add my own stuff and sounds & finding the woman sound clips I intended on using.. but never really got far as my pc died. There were also extra levels on the cd I think called 'Rejected' or something but I never tried them as I couldn't read well. To me this is the ONLY version worthy of still being played, the 2013 version was a sad, watered-down, imitation that was just not as fun or even as well thought-out. Graphics may not now-days be seen as amazing and people may complain.. but I still like the gameplay despite the graphics and there are mods out there. This maybe a rehash/mod/alternative version of wolf3D but it is still a great game and despite the level tools restrictions the Devs did do a great job making the rooms. This is how we like our games Apogee (3D Realms, Ken Silverman etc), games that shatter teeth with more than just a name!

it is great to get to replay my childhood videogames. this one was the first shooter i ever played simple but entretaining and challenging. a must have

I remember when I tried this game for the first time...naturally I was way too young for it at the time. One of the first comments I made was "OH MY GOD, WAS THAT AN EYE FLYING AROUND??!!". I was hooked. The brilliant graphics, with the dark color-scheme of browns and grays, sets the mood perfectly. The player is launched straight into the action, with only about ten meters of dead space before you can start blasting people to smithereens. Seriously; you receive a bazooka within the first 30 seconds of the game! How sweet is that?! The only thing that bothered me now and then was the difficulty, which would often lead me to get chopped up, squashed, blown up, fried, or all of the above. This would usually prompt me to get lazy and use the good ol' "dipstick" and "chojin" cheatcodes, followed by a plethora of gibs and explosions at the hands of the drunken missile. Good times. This is the perfect type of game to play with your impressionable younger brother on dark winter nights - aaah...memories.

Rise of the Triad began its development as a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, but I'm very glad it didn't end that way, because what we have here is the definition of fun and one of my favourite games of all time. It definitely doesn't take itself seriously, but the funny thing is that you quickly get absorbed in the gameplay, and at that point you might as well be playing the most gritty, modern FPS you can think of. Missile weapons, magical weapons, all kinds of traps, cool opponents with different abilities, massive levels, countless secrets, a points and lives system, and amazing music make this a game I still love to play even now. What always made ROTT stand out are the sheer number of cool features like warming food up to get more health from it, making your enemies beg for mercy, them stealing your weapons and using them against you, launchpads... just too many to name. I love this game more than words can articulate. It truly is one of a kind.