This game has some flaws but it is the most moving game I ever played, and I have played thousands of videogames. There are some wonderfully sad moments. Play it for its ambiance and its magnificent soundtrack... There are a few annoying passages but if you find the courage to go on up to the end of the game, believe me you will be rewarded.
In the 90s, developers made a few sprites and textures that they used again and again ad nauseam, which sometimes resulted in repetitive and boring games. TC was the opposite: it was very generous with the player as it featured a wide variety of settings, awesome weapons and unique enemies each of which you met only once. It is a short yet intense adventure with a good plot, a great soundtrack, a great final level and very funny credits. As a French, I must confess I was rather proud to see such a good game made in France. At the time, it was graphically fantastic, even on modest computers. It looked like no other game and it still does. If you think it did not age well, remember the 90s context. Players who do not know it should try it for their videogame knowledge; those and know it will play it for nostalgia.
David Cage said this game would revolution the videogame industry. Characters are the worse clichés you will ever find: the female cop who has no social life and evolves in a world of men, the funky black cop who plays basketball, the gay bestfriend who lives nextdoor... The whole plot is ridiculous and uninteresting. As regards the gameplay, you wonder what they intended to do. Quicktime events are boring. Everything is so directive, you find yourself on tiny sets, you cannot explore freely. Two things are incredibly well-made yet: the ambiance of New York under a snowstorm with some wonderful scenes like the one in the park. The second is Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack.
The sad thing about this game is that it could have been far far better with some tunings of the playability. It's incredebly very well made, it looks magnificent and that's what kept me playing it, but it is not THAT fun and definitely not as fun as an arcade game should be. The game is hard and annoying. Opponents are difficult to beat. Upgrades are expensive. Using nitro will often end up in a crash. I often quit the game furiously after losing a race because of the obstacles that loom up so suddenly that they are almost impossible to avoid. You want to play it because it looks so great, you want to love it, but after a few races you leave the game dissapointed. Worth the try... with cheat codes, I'd say. One star for the intro sequence.
When Rise of the Triad was released, the first thing I noticed was its graphical realism. Enemies are humans made after digitized actors, which makes the game look closer to our universe than Doom and its monsters, for instance. Sprites are much detailed. The game's second and correlative quality is its extreme violence. Deaths are painful and very bloody. ROTT is the archetypal politically incorrect game that you want to play if you wish to shock those watching your screen above your shoulder. Foes look like nazis, which makes the game look even more controversial. Sounds are fantastic, too. A stress is laid on powerful missile weapons with devastating effects. Unfortunately, in spite of undeniable qualities, a charm of its own and some great ambiance, I find this game rapidly boring because of its repetitive level design. The engine does not allow floors nor stairs, a shortcoming that is not satisfactorily compensated by those weird flying platforms. I did not feel exploring a universe with its logic. I felt roaming square rooms lacking variety in shapes and textures. Finding one's way through this flatness can be as hard as annoying. ROTT could have rivaled Doom but its level design dooms it to remain a somehow enhanced version of Wolfenstein 3D. For me, it offers a great experience as a shareware but not enough to keep a player entertained any longer.
