Rise of the Triad (the original)
Mar 25, 2021 15:59:03 GMT -5
Post by dr_st on Mar 25, 2021 15:59:03 GMT -5
Growing up with Wolf3D, Doom, Duke3D, Descent, Quake... Rise of the Triad was always somewhere in my peripheral view, but I never actually played it. When it was chosen as "Game of the Month" on a DOS game forum I sometimes visit, I've decided to finally give it a shot. I knew I would not have the time or patience to get through the full registered version, so I played through the shareware instead. Interestingly, it is a game where the shareware episode is completely unique and not part of the full version. I played on Hard, but with mid-level saves (and quite a few retries on the last level, which is brutal with all the Triad Enforcers). Did not look for the secret level, and did not try the warp-only levels.
Here's what I felt and also posted on the other forum:
Overall my impression of the game is good for the time. Yes, it used an outdated engine for the time, but the engine was really pushed to its limits. The moving geometry, the GADs (gravitational anomaly discs) – all contribute to enriching the environments, and create some iconic rooms that give you a feel of freedom that is sorely lacking in the claustrophobic mazes characteristic of most Wolf3D engine games.
What impressed me most of all, now that I’ve learned a bit about RoTT – was the sheer amount of content the game had. 4 episodes in the registered version, a completely different (prequel) episode for the shareware, warp-only levels, tons of CommBat levels, deluxe editions, and the Extreme RoTT addon – they had more levels than all of the official Doom games put together. I guess mapping is somewhat easier when the engine is limited to square tiles + special effects.
The enemy roster is not as diverse as that of Doom II, but gets more impressive towards the end, and 4 different bosses. There is also a good amount of power-ups, weapons and secrets in the levels.
The infinite ammo for bullet-based weapons is a nice touch and is counter balanced well by the fact that you can only carry one special weapon at the time. You never feel weak and vulnerable due to lack of ammo, nor overpowered; use too much of the good stuff on easy targets, and you will find yourself hard pressed by the bullet sponges (learned it the hard way in the last level).
And the music is just great. Much "brighter" and more upbeat than most FPS games of that time, and quite a few "iconic" tunes that made it into various DOOM community projects. In fact, that's where I know those tunes from.
Alas, despite my overall good impression of the game, I don’t expect to find the level of perseverance needed to play through the full thing any time soon. Maybe not at all.
Anyone else here played it? And what did you think?
Here's what I felt and also posted on the other forum:
Overall my impression of the game is good for the time. Yes, it used an outdated engine for the time, but the engine was really pushed to its limits. The moving geometry, the GADs (gravitational anomaly discs) – all contribute to enriching the environments, and create some iconic rooms that give you a feel of freedom that is sorely lacking in the claustrophobic mazes characteristic of most Wolf3D engine games.
What impressed me most of all, now that I’ve learned a bit about RoTT – was the sheer amount of content the game had. 4 episodes in the registered version, a completely different (prequel) episode for the shareware, warp-only levels, tons of CommBat levels, deluxe editions, and the Extreme RoTT addon – they had more levels than all of the official Doom games put together. I guess mapping is somewhat easier when the engine is limited to square tiles + special effects.
The enemy roster is not as diverse as that of Doom II, but gets more impressive towards the end, and 4 different bosses. There is also a good amount of power-ups, weapons and secrets in the levels.
The infinite ammo for bullet-based weapons is a nice touch and is counter balanced well by the fact that you can only carry one special weapon at the time. You never feel weak and vulnerable due to lack of ammo, nor overpowered; use too much of the good stuff on easy targets, and you will find yourself hard pressed by the bullet sponges (learned it the hard way in the last level).
And the music is just great. Much "brighter" and more upbeat than most FPS games of that time, and quite a few "iconic" tunes that made it into various DOOM community projects. In fact, that's where I know those tunes from.
Alas, despite my overall good impression of the game, I don’t expect to find the level of perseverance needed to play through the full thing any time soon. Maybe not at all.
Anyone else here played it? And what did you think?
