Let's Talk... Rise of the Triad

If you miss the retro style of shooters that encouraged exploration, didn't care about who could have the grittiest storyline, and didn't limit you to a two weapon system, then Interceptor Entertainment's reboot of the 1994 classic Rise of the Triad may well be what you've been searching for. The days of rocket jumping through interesting level design seem to have, at the very least, stagnated in recent years, making this title really stand out from the modern way of doing things. Apogee Software's original Rise of the Triad: Dark War has a reputation for its insane weapons, crazy power-ups, and wacky level design. Unfortunately, the reboot has numerous issues that prevent it from living up to name of the original.

About an hour into the single-player I started to feel sick, not from how boring the campaign was but from the ridiculous speed at which the game plays. The insane movement speed that you move at makes combat feel extremely fast-paced and dizzying, which is fun for a bit but soon gets tiresome when all you're fighting is the same bland goons with clunky animations and dreadful voice acting. The game would be a lot more enjoyable if the game would just stick to its fast-paced madness, but the pacing is screwed over by the overused environmental puzzles. These puzzles are needlessly complicated, they take too long to figure out and take away significantly from the over-the-top brutal action that is supposed to be the whole point of the game. Most of the puzzles are platforming sections tauntingly placed over a leering pit of lava and death, which the game's punishing checkpoint system and inability to quicksave make all the more frustrating.

This has to be a joke, right?

ROTT replaces some conventions of modern shooters in favour of a retro approach. Instead of regenerating health you must walk over food to give you health, you aren't limited to a two weapon system, and firearms have unlimited ammo. You are given the ability to aim down your iron sights, but this is pretty redundant considering precision isn't really necessary in this game. These mechanics open the door to a really fun game, its just a shame that the game itself is extremely boring and frustratingly punishing. As you'd expect, there are plenty of bosses that offer a decent challenge that isn't particularly unfair and provide a nice break from the endless puzzle segments. The best way to play ROTT seems to be on one of the easier difficulties, simply because the game's stupidly over-the-top madness has flames flying at you from all directions, spike traps, collapsible floors and all manner of unfair ways to kill you that, which with the punishing checkpoint system makes the game near impossible on the higher difficulties. I guess the developers were aiming to capture the difficult nature of 90's shooters, but the poor execution makes ROTT feel frustrating and unfair.

The combat in ROTT doesn't feel all that great, whilst the game does have a nice variety of really fun heavy weapons, the basic firearms feel boring to use and have to no real kick. The firearms don't sound particularly great and the game makes no effort to make them appealing, with obvious favour towards the heavier side of your arsenal. I understand that Interceptor Entertainment wanted to keep faithful to the original game, and they did a great job of that, but they could've included more than just two firearms, maybe a shotgun or a some sort of sniper rifle? However, heavy weapons are pretty common and not too hard to find so long as you explore the map a bit and keep an eye out for secrets. You can actually use a dual wielded knife attack as melee in this game, but when you go to stab an enemy it lunges you forward in a horribly clunky way that often completely misses the enemy you were aiming for. If you do manage to connect your knives then you're rewarded with the enemy literally splitting apart, but the game makes an odd metallic sound when you hit enemies with your melee strike for some strange reason. I mean, are the enemies secretly robots? Overall, the combat feels clunky and the enemies suffer from a sheer lack of variety, robust animations, and some truly horrible voice acting.

There's a nice variety of wacky weapons to keep gameplay from
getting stale, just a shame that enemies aren't as varied...

The game has a good sense of humour and can be quite funny at times. ROTT is all too aware of how ridiculous it is and never takes itself too seriously, which is a refreshing break from the recent line of all too serious games. Although sometimes the game can get a little too tongue and cheek for it's own good. As a mocking narrator suggests that you should "go back to console gaming" or "switch to a controller", making the entire experience all the more frustrating. However, the game can be genuinely funny, with mission briefings basically telling you that "Lava is bad, avoid it", and the game's ludicrous levels of gore can be pretty hilariously over-the-top. The game's soundtrack is actually pretty badass, and can make the boring combat almost feel pretty epic at times.

Multiplayer is just as chaotic and brutal as the single-player and much more enjoyable. Multiplayer is likely going to be the main attraction for most players, and may justify the $15 price tag if you're looking for a retro experience reminiscent of Quake or Unreal Tournament. There are enough jump pads and secret rooms to keep you entertained for a while, but the limited pool of three game modes and five maps at launch (with the promise of community maps coming soon.) may be somewhat of a turn off. Frankly, this was a disappointing title let down by its repetitive puzzles, lack of enemy variety, punishing checkpoint system, and just plain boring single-player.

Strengths:
       -Nice variety of insane weapons
       -Nostalgic throwback to 90's shooters, and very faithful to the original ROTT
       -Pretty fun multiplayer, reminiscent of Quake and Unreal Tournament
        
Weaknesses:
       -Heavily over-used environmental puzzles
       -Lack of enemy variety quickly makes gameplay boring
       -Few multiplayer maps and modes
       -Frustratingly punishing checkpoint system
       -Poor optimisation makes the game run terribly even on decent PCs