Rise of the Triad: Dark War

The Good
Rise of the Triad was originally being made by Apogee(now more well-known as 3d Realms) as a followup to the game that really began the FPS genre(though itself wasn't the first), Wolfenstein 3d. However, the development soon changed and Rise of the Triad was changed to become it's own game...and that was a great thing!...where as today, Wolfenstein 3d simply isn't really much fun anymore, being far too repetitive, Rise of the Triad is done with just the right amount of imagination, surreal atmosphere and lack of seriousness that it still is a fun game even today, if you don't mind the dated graphics.

One of ROTT's more "popular" features was an un-equaled amount of gore for it's time. However, the gore is done in a delightfully cheesy way, with such features as blowing an enemy up causing blood 'n an eyeball to fly at the screen followed by a comment at the top such as..."Ludicrous gibs!" However, if anyone is disturbed by this cartoonish by today's standards violence, they can easily turn it down.

Despite the fact that this game is too old for actual jumping to be a possibility, Rise of the Triad could almost be considered by me as a first-person shooter that doubles as something of a platform game. This is because of a variety of circular pads that jumped you up, floated or acted as either elevators or "trains", referred to as "gads". Fun features from this are splattering enemies(who can use the gads too) by falling on them, and the fairly unknown REAL origin of "rocket-jumping".

As said before, Rott's humorous and surreal atmosphere really adds to the game, and you can just see the fun the designers had, even using their voices and likenesses for some of the game's enemies, yelling strangely funny things such as "Eat lead!" But seriously, what other computer game can you not only fire a variety of guns, but also use a baseball bat, and not only have a power-up for GOD-mode, but also DOG-mode?...Any it is a very...different...god-mode, where you become 10 ft. tall and emit entity-like groans as you throw power-balls!

The Bad
Rise of the Triad actually uses the same, but much more advanced, technology as Wolfenstein 3d. This means that while there is now many areas where you are under the sky instead of the same old ceiling height all through, a larger "pallet" of colors, and some more interaction with the environment...there is NOOOO tilted or angled walls. This is the only really major thing that kept ROTT from the fame it deserved. Damn...

The Bottom Line
Even with limited technology, Rise of the Triad is still a very unique and fun game that should be highly suggested to fans of the classic older first person shooters...if they haven't played it already...