A ludicrously oldschool FPS, an actual boomer shooter for one thing. I was actually a kid when this game came out, but it sort of passed under the radar when I was experiencing Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, and Duke Nukem 3D for the first time.

Rise of the Triad is sort of like if you took Wolfenstein 3D then added some more advanced things such as transparent textures, floors, ceilings, and moving platforms. After that, in the boomer shooter pot, you mix in some Ultimate Doom for good measure... then you just GO WILD and add spices! Traps, so many traps, and other assorted stage hazards, or objects like hundreds of floating platforms, in some of the most eccentric, arcade-style levels I've seen in a retro game. The levels are fun, but do suffer from some esoteric moments where you'll get stuck and have to look around a level for awhile to find what you need to find. This is, of course, a classic affair of finding keys to open the right doors, or finding the right button to open the right objects. There are even hidden floor plates to step on to open things, and there are tons of secret walls to wall-hump till your heart's content! The level design isn't exactly the best and is quite primitive, but it's also way more wacky than its peers back in the day.

There used to be "extra lives", but they are basically useless. I don't know if it's the difficulty level, Medium, that I'm playing on. But as you collect Ankhs, the main collectible, you can get extra lives. But I don't see an extra life counter anywhere currently. In fact, when you die you just start the level all over again and have only your pistol, score intact. You can quick save and quick load, or do saved games, making the pistol start after death sort of pointless. It would've been neat to have limited quick saves as a challenge mode TIED to extra lives, where you'll start the whole episode all over again if you run out. It's possible that this mode already exists, and it's one of the hard or harder modes. The game is very oldschool from a bygone era, and quite arcade-like as a result. I do enjoy scoring points in these games... but it doesn't look like there's a high score system or leaderboard? I'd like the game to save my high scores and best times!

One of the more interesting aspects of the game is the limited weapon loadout. You can hold four weapons only. Pistol, dual pistols, MP40, and a launcher. The small arms have infinite ammo once you pick them up, but launchers have limited ammo tied to the weapon itself, and you can't pick up more ammo until you find another launcher or replace your currently held low ammo launcher with another one. The launchers are honestly really fun, and kind of nuts for the time. The Fire Wall is my favorite, basically shooting a bomb that will explode and unleash a huge wall of flames that quickly moves forward, searing enemies into goofy charred skeletons! The Split Missile kind of sucks, but satisfying if you can hit two enemies at once with the two missiles that fire out in a DNA helix pattern. There's also a classic Bazooka to keep things "grounded". The launchers are the star of this game, and offer some variety despite the limited enemy types.

The other star of this game, however, is the crazy "powerups" and "powerdowns" you'll find. Want to turn into a dog? Yes! Wanna be God and smite hordes of enemies? Yes! Wanna trip on mushrooms? Very yes! These are all really fun, and either help you, such as Flight, or hinder you, such as tripping balls on mushrooms.

The story is nothing at all but 90s as hell, basically. You're a member of an ELITE 'MURICA TEAM, your job: DEFEAT THE TRIAD AND THEIR BASICALLY NAZI-ESQUE SOLDIERS! Explosions, gibs, freedom! Heck yeah, brother! The story and the way it is told is very much of its time, simple and to the point like Doom and Doom 2.

The music is actually really awesome, and it's funny because I was wondering where YouTuber Civvie got his ending card song from, and it's actually from this game after beating a level and it's the result screen. We have some delightful and remastered MIDIs that truly make me feel nostalgic. I feel like I'm playing Doom again for some reason, but it's a bizarre amalgamation of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom with tons of stage hazards or bounce pads and platforms.

Rise of the Triad is probably one of the more wackier shooters from many years ago. I'm glad I get to experience it again after sort of just not wanting to bother with the version in the Apogee Throwback Pack, which still uses DOS Box and isn't a very good version of the game unless you really like how painful it was to play PC games back in the day. Thanks, Nightdive, for giving this game a good remaster and better controls!

A ludicrously oldschool FPS, an actual boomer shooter for one thing. I was actually a kid when this game came out, but it sort of passed under the radar when I was experiencing Ultimate Doom, Doom 2, and Duke Nukem 3D for the first time. Rise of the Triad is sort of like if you took Wolfenstein 3D then added some more advanced things such as transparent textures, floors, ceilings, and moving platforms. After that, in the boomer shooter pot, you mix in some Ultimate Doom for good measure... then you just GO WILD and add spices! Traps, so many traps, and other assorted stage hazards, or objects like hundreds of floating platforms, in some of the most eccentric, arcade-style levels I've seen in a retro game. The levels are fun, but do suffer from some esoteric moments where you'll get stuck and have to look around a level for awhile to find what you need to find. This is, of course, a classic affair of finding keys to open the right doors, or finding the right button to open the right objects. There are even hidden floor plates to step on to open things, and there are tons of secret walls to wall-hump till your heart's content! The level design isn't exactly the best and is quite primitive, but it's also way more wacky than its peers back in the day. There used to be "extra lives", but they are basically useless. I don't know if it's the difficulty level, Medium, that I'm playing on. But as you collect Ankhs, the main collectible, you can get extra lives. But I don't see an extra life counter anywhere currently. In fact, when you die you just start the level all over again and have only your pistol, score intact. You can quick save and quick load, or do saved games, making the pistol start after death sort of pointless. It would've been neat to have limited quick saves as a challenge mode TIED to extra lives, where you'll start the whole episode all over again if you run out. It's possible that this mode already exists, and it's one of the hard or harder modes. The game is very oldschool from a bygone era, and quite arcade-like as a result. I do enjoy scoring points in these games... but it doesn't look like there's a high score system or leaderboard? I'd like the game to save my high scores and best times! One of the more interesting aspects of the game is the limited weapon loadout. You can hold four weapons only. Pistol, dual pistols, MP40, and a launcher. The small arms have infinite ammo once you pick them up, but launchers have limited ammo tied to the weapon itself, and you can't pick up more ammo until you find another launcher or replace your currently held low ammo launcher with another one. The launchers are honestly really fun, and kind of nuts for the time. The Fire Wall is my favorite, basically shooting a bomb that will explode and unleash a huge wall of flames that quickly moves forward, searing enemies into goofy charred skeletons! The Split Missile kind of sucks, but satisfying if you can hit two enemies at once with the two missiles that fire out in a DNA helix pattern. There's also a classic Bazooka to keep things "grounded". The launchers are the star of this game, and offer some variety despite the limited enemy types. The other star of this game, however, is the crazy "powerups" and "powerdowns" you'll find. Want to turn into a dog? Yes! Wanna be God and smite hordes of enemies? Yes! Wanna trip on mushrooms? Very yes! These are all really fun, and either help you, such as Flight, or hinder you, such as tripping balls on mushrooms. The story is nothing at all but 90s as hell, basically. You're a member of an ELITE 'MURICA TEAM, your job: DEFEAT THE TRIAD AND THEIR BASICALLY NAZI-ESQUE SOLDIERS! Explosions, gibs, freedom! Heck yeah, brother! The story and the way it is told is very much of its time, simple and to the point like Doom and Doom 2. The music is actually really awesome, and it's funny because I was wondering where YouTuber Civvie got his ending card song from, and it's actually from this game after beating a level and it's the result screen. We have some delightful and remastered MIDIs that truly make me feel nostalgic. I feel like I'm playing Doom again for some reason, but it's a bizarre amalgamation of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom with tons of stage hazards or bounce pads and platforms. Rise of the Triad is probably one of the more wackier shooters from many years ago. I'm glad I get to experience it again after sort of just not wanting to bother with the version in the Apogee Throwback Pack, which still uses DOS Box and isn't a very good version of the game unless you really like how painful it was to play PC games back in the day. Thanks, Nightdive, for giving this game a good remaster and better controls!