When I was younger I was a fan of some of the Apogee Shareware titles. I had brief memories of blake stone aliens of gold, operation body count and Rise of the Triad's demo version title 'Rise of the Triad: The Hunt Begins' which like doom, had it's own taste of the full game by having one 'episode.' I remember it being very violent and having amazing action. But for whatever reason did not have much more recollection than that. I remember seeing the reboot released a few years ago, (along with Shadow Warrior) I sat down to play the game finally.

Gee I was really let down. while this game gives The Fortress of Dr Radiaki a serious beat down, There was just not much in this game that was engaging. The levels are confusing mazes with an added vertical element. However, it really does impress at launch, you get a great scrolling effect of the title 'Rise of the Triad' with the same impressive bold font typeface on the box that has that weird dimensional look because of the embossing of the text. You also get a nice menu with funny 'are you sure you want to quit' messages joking about committing suicide in various ways with a really nice chiptune main music menu. Some humor in the difficulty selection. I figured that in admitting i was not complete sure where the trigger was was probably for me..

Unfortunately that's where my amusement started to roll downhill from. RotT has a few very serious buzzkill's and drawbacks that are also present in the 2013 reboot. you can only carry ONE secondary weapon at a time. They also dont really vary much, until further on in the game. That means you are limited to two pistols (which is kinda cool, like some akimbo wielding tokarev type dude as you blast what look like North Korean henchman away) and a heat seeking rocket which has somewhat underwhelming blast radius and not as good at taking out groups as one might hope. You also have wolf3d like mazes but they are a bit more tedius in the sense that not only is there a vertical dimension added to these mazes (i didnt like this) but that vertical dimension is presented with the task of various jumping puzzles. timing, location, switches, the whole nine yards. Couple that with the fact there are these weird 'score' power ups littered around that can be shot to be destroyed, and various 'weird and funky' power ups that are kind of annoying (like something shaking your screen around as if to emulate being on drugs, and something that makes you bounce off walls like a rubber ball) and you have a whole lot of different things in this game that just dont really mesh quite right. The score bit is something i dont quite understand, if I'm not mistaken it grants you lives, sort of like 100 rings in Sonic the Hedgehog or 100 coins in Super mario bros. But this is a damn FPS. who needs lives in a shooter? You quick save and quick load if you screw up. That's infinite lives! the challenge is pretty good, slicing the pie like a disgruntled swat cop as you can plug these NK scum tactically lining them them up and Tokarevving them away as you hop across jump pads.. (This isn't quite what comes to mind in a FPS experience, however.)

The game came with a rather good soundtrack including a few gems by Bobby Prince (he did some on Doom) But other than that, this doesnt seem to age well at all and just wasn't fun (for me) to play. The multiplayer has many different modes and looks like it might actually be where the game excels, but i didnt try it... I just do not like these vertical jumping puzzles and the nature of some of these mazes/maps. with a limited carrying capacity for toys for boys. give me all the IDKFA and a backpack full of nukalaunchers. Oh also, watching some let's plays of the RotT reboot on Youtube, the reboot looks very authentic to the original. So I think i'll pass on it.

Bottom line: A shooter needs guns. Lots of guns. Not one, or two, or two and a half. A full fledged shooter needs a gun for every number on your keyboard, and then some. That's why the shooters that know what's what figured out you can be able to push one of those number keys again to bring out an alternative weapon 'Oooh yeah that's cool.' IoW: Real Shooters spinal tap it up to 11! You can be as nostalgic as you want with the ludicrous gibs gimmick but this game just does NOT go to 11. it goes to 2.5! TWO POINT FIVE WTFOMBBQ.... Perhaps if it went up to at least FIVE or maybe EIGHT i could have spent some time churning through these maps. but the 2.5 which really is 90% your tokarves as there is NO ammo, is by all means unbearable to deal with beyond the scope of a few maps. Picking up an MP40 didnt cut it.

Maybe someday we will have shooters that have a weapon slot or attack mode function to EVERY key on the keyboard not ASDF. That will be the granddaddy of them all... It will even put STRAFE to shame! XD

Also, I looked it up on youtube the ending of this. I was just curious how something like this might end. It might be one of the worst endings ever, especially if you took the time to get to the end.