Rise of the Triad

 PC
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 238 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 126 out of 238
  2. Mixed: 49 out of 238
  3. Negative: 63 out of 238

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. oldschoolgam
    Aug 2, 2013
    1
    So, where to start... How about with the FPS issues?
    Unreal Engine 3 is a very powerful engine, however it does have its issues. Rise of the Triads has had it rough when it comes to optermiseations from both an effects and level design stand point. Many of the weapons have very resource expensive effects that are guaranteed to bring even the most powerful of systems to its knees. I    So, where to start... How about with the FPS issues?
    Unreal Engine 3 is a very powerful engine, however it does have its issues. Rise of the Triads has had it rough when it comes to optermiseations from both an effects and level design stand point. Many of the weapons have very resource expensive effects that are guaranteed to bring even the most powerful of systems to its knees. I suppose what makes this even worse is the simple fact that the majorty of weapon effects do not even look that impressive... When it comes to level design the mass overuse of high tri static meshes is unforgivable and really seems to point to inexperiance as the main culprit to this games optimisation issues...

    Its the simple things, like opting to have a bridge made out of 100+ resource expensive "Gravity Pads" rather then opting for a simple 12 tri block that could do the exact same job... Please do not take my comments out of context. Like most other people I believe that sometimes graphical improvements are worth the cost of a few frames... However in this circumstance having 12 Tri and 1 collision box replaced by 100,000 Tri bridges with 100s of colision boxes is simply not excusable in a game where even the developers in early press releases and interviews claim the game should be "120 frames or bust.."

    When it comes down to the MP balance... Wow... This could take a while...
    Rise of the Triad was designed to be more of a HD Remake of an oldschool arena shooter then a modenisation. I totally understand that but you cannot upgrade certain aspects and expect the game to feel the same. A good example is the Hit Scan weapons. Even ignoring the poor Unreal Engine Netcode and just focusing on the pure basics we will notice a huge difference. By changing the way projectiles are traced in 3d space and increasing the resolution we now have bullets the size of pin pricks. When compared to the 1994 original where you had bullets the size of cannon balls and less objects in the level to obstruct movement and aiming. The result is a feeling that is very much different from the original that was the goal.

    One of the biggest issues with the Multiplayer is not actually the developers fault... Well it kinda is for using the engine in the first place... The Unreal Engine 3 has many issues when it comes to its base Netcode, Optimisation and Input. The lack of native demo recording, first person spectator and many other small issues are going to prevent this game from being the game we all wish it was... Personally I have no idea why the developers would have used UE3 with a game that is supposed to be this fast pace without making huge changes to the core systems. This game would be much better suited to Source or even the old school engines from Quake and CoD. Its a shame because as someone that also maps and mods useing the unreal engine I just wish the current build was better. Hopefully UE4 will make some vast improvements but as it stands this was the time bomb that was always going to limit the potential for Rise of the Triads.

    Finally on the side of the multiplayer... Overall balance is off... Full hp Full fire armour, no problem just hit them with one of many explosives that will still blow their socks off. I was hoping for a skill based experiance but it turns out due to STUPID choices by the developers the game just ends up being a clunky spam fest filled with childish humor and poor movement.

    I could continue... But this is getting very long and even though I do not want to...    … Expand
  2. gamejudge
    Aug 1, 2013
    2
    This game is just...ugh. I thought it was going to be awesome and its really not. Online has serious clipping and pathing issues and you get caught on every other thing on the ground. When you reload your pistol you cannot fire anymore until you die, and there are some serious texture issues. The single player feels thrown together and I really am curious if they actually had people testThis game is just...ugh. I thought it was going to be awesome and its really not. Online has serious clipping and pathing issues and you get caught on every other thing on the ground. When you reload your pistol you cannot fire anymore until you die, and there are some serious texture issues. The single player feels thrown together and I really am curious if they actually had people test this game or if they just threw it out the door. In the first level alone I got caught in terrain/walls and had to blow myself up to get out. This isn't acceptable anymore, and just because we are going for a retro remake doesn't mean the same sort of bugs and lack of polish are acceptable.… Expand
  3. CriticalStrike
    Aug 1, 2013
    0
    People giving this game a 10/10 are either paid stooges or out of their minds. This game has so many faults it would take all day to list. The controls are sloppy, the graphics are outdated by a decade, the levels are small and uninspired, the movement speed is absurd, the auto-save is broken, the A.I. is stupid, and those are just the things that are working as intended. There are also aPeople giving this game a 10/10 are either paid stooges or out of their minds. This game has so many faults it would take all day to list. The controls are sloppy, the graphics are outdated by a decade, the levels are small and uninspired, the movement speed is absurd, the auto-save is broken, the A.I. is stupid, and those are just the things that are working as intended. There are also a multitude of bugs causing graphic glitches, clipping, frame rate drops, and downright crashes. Yes, it is a bargain bin $15 title, but that is no excuse for releasing a piece of software that clearly still belongs in alpha testing. I gave this 2/10 only out of nostalgia, and it's a shame because this classic franchise deserved a better developer.… Expand
  4. jenole781
    Aug 2, 2013
    0
    The devs promised a patch to fix the performance... 1.0.1 was patched to remove the developer debug commands (yes) and getting LAN (a selling point, according to them) to actually work. This is what we get for forking out our money. Now they are saying it might be another 5 weeks to patch it in. Sorry, but I'm not going to waste my time with your piss poor game. Don't lie to us and tell usThe devs promised a patch to fix the performance... 1.0.1 was patched to remove the developer debug commands (yes) and getting LAN (a selling point, according to them) to actually work. This is what we get for forking out our money. Now they are saying it might be another 5 weeks to patch it in. Sorry, but I'm not going to waste my time with your piss poor game. Don't lie to us and tell us the game runs 120fps, dont lie and say you can make your own weapons, don't lie and say weapon fov can be adjusted, don't lie and say your first patch will fix our major problems, when all you did was remove the debug commands. I mean REALLY? they claimed to be optimising the game and polishing it for months, this is the result of all their hard work? Boy, I can't wait to see what they have left in store! /sarcasm Even one of the developers commented on forum 'WE'RE SORRY GUYS, WE THOUGHT YOU WOULD LOVE IT!" meaning this is their best work. Nope, cash grab, cash grab, cash grab. You have my money, you're probably laughing, but I hope you choke on it, because I'm never buying one of your games ever again. Even if it's free, I don't want your stinking trash on my computer. Game died in 1 day, not even 500 people playing compared to 2000 on day one. R.I.P. ROTT IN PIECES. OH THE PUNS… Expand
  5. BluePhoenix666
    Aug 8, 2013
    4
    ROTT is a mixed bag. It's fast. It's frantic. It's fun. At first. Then you start dying a lot. In the beginning you'll experience wanting to play "just one more section", but an hour or two later you'll start hating it. Why? One reason, it's really crappy game saving system. No F5, no F9, only automatic save checkpoints which are torturously far apart. So, you'll be replaying the sameROTT is a mixed bag. It's fast. It's frantic. It's fun. At first. Then you start dying a lot. In the beginning you'll experience wanting to play "just one more section", but an hour or two later you'll start hating it. Why? One reason, it's really crappy game saving system. No F5, no F9, only automatic save checkpoints which are torturously far apart. So, you'll be replaying the same levels and sections again and again. And again. Finding the same secrets, same enemies, same puzzles, same coins over and over again. That isn't fun, it's frustrating and the lack of being able to save your game spoils what could otherwise be a fun game. You have been warned.… Expand
  6. EKS666
    Oct 3, 2013
    2
    This single player of this game is frustrating more than anything, and mostly because of the checkpoint system. It is also very hard to tell where you are getting shot from, and the damage indicator is not always pointed in the right direction. This is basic stuff that should have been fixed in testing. This game is nearly impossible and one of the most frustrating games I've ever playedThis single player of this game is frustrating more than anything, and mostly because of the checkpoint system. It is also very hard to tell where you are getting shot from, and the damage indicator is not always pointed in the right direction. This is basic stuff that should have been fixed in testing. This game is nearly impossible and one of the most frustrating games I've ever played on the hardest difficulty, not because of the fps skill that it involves, but because of the memorization involved in learning the positions of enemies and traps in the huge areas between checkpoints.

    This game definitely does have style, and the gameplay is similar to Serious Sam, but without the balance. Stuff like mowing down enemies with the smg and having their body parts go all over the floor is something I would love to see in more games. It's too bad this game could not fix the easily-fixable major problems it has that make it nearly unplayable.

    Also, the multiplayer seems fun, with Unreal Tournament style arena shooter gameplay, but too bad there's no one online, ever.    … Expand
  7. metalmat
    Aug 4, 2013
    3
    Runs poorly on a computer that can run Black Ops 2 and Crysis 3 at high settings with no problem? Check. Constant clipping issues? Check. Bugs? Check. Graphics circa 2003 first person shooters? Check. Floaty controls? Check. Please ignore those 10/10 reviews as those people are either insane or have never played a decent fps, this game is BAD. I liked the original game but this feels likeRuns poorly on a computer that can run Black Ops 2 and Crysis 3 at high settings with no problem? Check. Constant clipping issues? Check. Bugs? Check. Graphics circa 2003 first person shooters? Check. Floaty controls? Check. Please ignore those 10/10 reviews as those people are either insane or have never played a decent fps, this game is BAD. I liked the original game but this feels like a cheap attempt at a revival of the franchise. If you are looking to play an fps that will give you that "classic" feel go play "Painkiller" or "Serious Sam" and avoid this..… Expand
  8. squarepower
    Aug 17, 2013
    0
    Game is unplayable and unenjoyable. Multiplayer is a complete waste of time. Level design is insipid and uninspired. Developers appear to be 15 year olds. Save your money.
  9. lonewolf75
    Aug 9, 2013
    2
    I put many hours into the original Rise of the Triad during the mid 1990's. This was one of my favorite games of that era. I was excited to see a remake on the horizon. The trailers looked great. It looked like everything one could want in a remake of the classic Rise of the Triad. That was until you loaded the game. Many people had game-breaking frame rate isses, I luckily did not haveI put many hours into the original Rise of the Triad during the mid 1990's. This was one of my favorite games of that era. I was excited to see a remake on the horizon. The trailers looked great. It looked like everything one could want in a remake of the classic Rise of the Triad. That was until you loaded the game. Many people had game-breaking frame rate isses, I luckily did not have *much* issue. The fps are rather unstable, even on an extremely powerful system. This first issue that I encountered, was the inability to map the entire keyboard, this is a PC game allegedly made by PC gamers...they should have known better. The game relies heavily on poorly placed checkpoints and there is no option to manually save. This is a large departure from the original. It is rather lame to have to repeat large portions of a map from a previous checkpoint because some sort of insta-kill trap or poorly designed jump puzzle resulted in you dying just short of the next checkpoint. Additionally, and even more damningly, the map locks behind you after each checkpoint, so if you happen to mistakenly bumble through one of the invisible checkpoint triggers with 5% health, there is no going back. Absolutely terrible design for a PC game, and it is absolutely inexcusable to close the map behind the player. Parts of the maps are very glitchy and clipping issues are commonplace. Overall, the gameplay itself could be fun and the game has to potential to be fun, but the poorly designed platforming puzzles coupled with the terribly done checkpoints move what had potential to be a good game faithful to its original to the fail category. The developers are allegedly working on patches for performance and perhaps the save game system. If they address those issues the game is quite possibly 8 out of 10, but, in absence of those fixes the game stands at a paltry 2 out of 10.… Expand
  10. KingB123
    Sep 13, 2013
    4
    I really wanted to like this game, I really did. I played the original many years ago when it used the Build engine and loved it. However, this remake is just downright disappointing at best. AI? what AI? Graphics are average and poorly optimized. How about game play? lets begin with controls: sloppy, movement is absolutely appalling, hit detection from enemies is nothing but confusing.I really wanted to like this game, I really did. I played the original many years ago when it used the Build engine and loved it. However, this remake is just downright disappointing at best. AI? what AI? Graphics are average and poorly optimized. How about game play? lets begin with controls: sloppy, movement is absolutely appalling, hit detection from enemies is nothing but confusing. Level design: thoughtless, generic and plain boring. I like the trend of bringing back old school classics with updated graphics but this one is a total miss and mess.… Expand
  11. Etocholes
    Aug 2, 2013
    4
    I don't right reviews often, but games like this ROTT remake really piss me off. Especially when I see dozens of 10/10 and 9/10 reviews. It smells funny. First let me just say that I grew up original ROTT as well as many other oldschool FPS (wolfenstein, doom, doom 2, quake) so I get what they were going for. I gave the game 4 not a 0, virtually no game deserves a 0. The gore is prettyI don't right reviews often, but games like this ROTT remake really piss me off. Especially when I see dozens of 10/10 and 9/10 reviews. It smells funny. First let me just say that I grew up original ROTT as well as many other oldschool FPS (wolfenstein, doom, doom 2, quake) so I get what they were going for. I gave the game 4 not a 0, virtually no game deserves a 0. The gore is pretty entertaining and levels have lots of secrets which is nice. However, the game, as it stands, is unplayable. You constantly get caught on the map in both singleplayer and multipalyer, lots of clipping, just downright poor graphics (dont gimme that oldschool crap, it can still look polished, I mean honestly the game is UGLY). Also, it crashes constantly, at least for me (others report this as well) and stutters, skips and lags (do you really have to ask? I'm a gamer writing reviews on metacritic, of course I have a kickass rig). The game feels lazy, like it was thrown together by a bunch of stoners who may have had a few good ideas but were too unmotivated to put the time or work into the game. I'd say this was just a cash grab for people of my generation who had fond memories of the shocking brutality of the first game.… Expand
  12. hhinsley
    Aug 19, 2013
    3
    The producers claim they remained true to the original ROTT. I think they used that as an excuse to be lazy in parts of the development. This is especially true in the sound effects and voice overs. The sounds do not carry from a distance like they should. And the voiceovers sound like they were recorded when the actors were sleepy phoned in. Plus the volume of the voiceovers is all theThe producers claim they remained true to the original ROTT. I think they used that as an excuse to be lazy in parts of the development. This is especially true in the sound effects and voice overs. The sounds do not carry from a distance like they should. And the voiceovers sound like they were recorded when the actors were sleepy phoned in. Plus the volume of the voiceovers is all the way up and still impossible to hear. I know, just turn them off. Well it's still a game that feels like a bunch of high schoolers got together and threw in anything that the ninth graders among them laughed at. SAD!… Expand
  13. GregerousRez
    Sep 1, 2013
    1
    I've been playing PC games for some 20+ years now, and I have played through the entire gamut of old school games, so you could probably imagine how overjoyed I was when I saw ROTT was being rebooted... But this feeling of ecstasy and excitement were soon dashed as soon as I started playing this miserable of a game.

    It seems the common thing to do these days is to reboot an old school    I've been playing PC games for some 20+ years now, and I have played through the entire gamut of old school games, so you could probably imagine how overjoyed I was when I saw ROTT was being rebooted... But this feeling of ecstasy and excitement were soon dashed as soon as I started playing this miserable of a game.

    It seems the common thing to do these days is to reboot an old school franchise, like the did with Duke3D. What a travesty that was... and the reboot of ROTT is no different. In fact, I dare say it is worse.

    Where to begin?... The graphics are utterly foul. It feels like my graphics card is throwing up on me, and its insulting my monitor. I get that they wanted the whole "nostalgia" feel, but the game genuinely looks god awful and has a seriously unfinished feel to it. It is also plagued with clipping problems. In many instances my character became stuck in a wall or part of the map and I had to reset the level. But that's just the beginning.

    The game play is an affront to what brain cells I have left after playing this piece of as the graphics are to my poor eyes. I don't think I have experienced such mind-numbingly boring game-play in the last fifteen years of my life. You literally go through the levels with no sense of purpose at all, travel in uninspired environments, shoot at uninspired enemies and avoid uninspired pitfalls, all while running at approximately mach 4.

    Maybe the weapons, then, will save ROTT? Unfortunately not I'm afraid. The weapons are also dreadfully boring and took little to no imagination at all to come up with. You have 4 choices: (1) a pistol, (2) two pistols, (3) a machine gun or (4) some form of a rocket launcher. The pistols and machine gun have infinite ammo, but for some reason have a reload option that serves no purpose, to my knowledge anyhow.

    Lastly, the challenges one will face in this game have 2 levels of difficulty. Either the challenge will be easy as or hard as There is no middle ground. And the frustration level is through the roof in many situations, especially when a player is expected to perform tedious platform maneuvering all while dashing around like a rabid squirrel on cocaine.

    It simply staggering how bad this game is. They had a great idea to work from, but someone they ****ed it up. The bottom line is this: it seems the developers of this game were just a bunch of lazy windowlickers that thought they could try their hand at making a game.

    If this is the result of resurrecting Apogee as a company, I say put it back in the ground and let it rest in piece. And, on a personal note to the developers of this travesty of a game, shame on you.    … Expand
  14. Oktanas
    Aug 18, 2013
    3
    This game is old school shooter. So if you like current shooters don't expect all current stuff that are put in games (skills, hacking, sneaking, complex story). All game you gonna run and shoot that's all well maybe jump sometimes.

    The game looks like it was made for 2009 year market. The graphics are bad and texture quality are even worse. The game runs bad, because it was poorly    This game is old school shooter. So if you like current shooters don't expect all current stuff that are put in games (skills, hacking, sneaking, complex story). All game you gonna run and shoot that's all well maybe jump sometimes.

    The game looks like it was made for 2009 year market. The graphics are bad and texture quality are even worse. The game runs bad, because it was poorly optimized.

    If you want fast paced shooter this game is for you if you want complex shooter go play Call Of Duty.    … Expand
  15. quakke
    Jul 3, 2014
    0
    I would not do this ever but i have to do it.

    It's been almost a year now and they still have not patched this HORRIBLE performance issue. I re-installed this game to see if it finally would work without me having to manually mess with the .ini files to get good performance but no. I dropped everything to Low on that game launcher and it did just as terribly as if i had the settings on    I would not do this ever but i have to do it.

    It's been almost a year now and they still have not patched this HORRIBLE performance issue. I re-installed this game to see if it finally would work without me having to manually mess with the .ini files to get good performance but no. I dropped everything to Low on that game launcher and it did just as terribly as if i had the settings on Ludicrious. I cannot beleive this and that is why i quit and uninstalled it. Rise of the Triad is exaclty the kind of game i would want, but i cannot beleive how they don't bother to freakin fix the game. it's great how we have lierally zero Arcade FPS nowadays, and this one that is actually Arcade FPS, wont be fixed. I cannot do anything else but give a zero to this game because i am so furious right now.    … Expand
  16. MaxwellDirac
    Aug 25, 2013
    4
    I would give the game 4 as the game delivers a rott remake experience, but the amount of bugs, and clearly rushed /incompetent work put into the game unfortunately make the game a bad experience.
    if it was completely bugfree i would rate it a 8
  17. joefresco
    Aug 17, 2013
    0
    Terrible game. Bad performance issues, poor English grammar, unmemorable maps, terrible multi-player. Not even worth the $15. Avoid this steaming pile of cow manure. There are better games out there.
  18. Thanatos4x
    Oct 14, 2013
    0
    This is a game for masochists only. It is so frustrating because of the hyper-sensitive controls and retarded platforming. You're expected to jump onto moving platforms at Quake III speeds and if you miss judge the landing by one pixel you fall into lava and die. You than have to restart at a ridiculously far back starting point because the checkpoints are really far apart.
    This game    This is a game for masochists only. It is so frustrating because of the hyper-sensitive controls and retarded platforming. You're expected to jump onto moving platforms at Quake III speeds and if you miss judge the landing by one pixel you fall into lava and die. You than have to restart at a ridiculously far back starting point because the checkpoints are really far apart.
    This game would be fun if their was actual shooting in it. There is more jumping and platforming than shooting. Also, the explosions from your own weapons are more likely to kill you than from enemy fire because the blast radius is ridiculous, especially since most fighting is done in small spaces.
    This game is all the reasons I hated old school shooters no shooting, only crappy frustrating platforming and dumb level design.    … Expand
  19. carnivorCactae
    May 22, 2014
    1
    This "remake" gets one and one point only. Just for the awesome Soundtrack!
    The rest is:
    Bad. Just plain bad! RotT wants to delude you into believing its some kind of fast paced twitchy shooter, capturing the feel of the "good old 90's-Shooters". But it's not. It's more of a try and error death-maze with edges and trip-hazards waiting for you at every corner. Could sound like some    This "remake" gets one and one point only. Just for the awesome Soundtrack!
    The rest is:
    Bad.
    Just plain bad!
    RotT wants to delude you into believing its some kind of fast paced twitchy shooter, capturing the feel of the "good old 90's-Shooters". But it's not.
    It's more of a try and error death-maze with edges and trip-hazards waiting for you at every corner.
    Could sound like some challenging experience, but you already know how much fun jumping puzzles in an egoshooter are? exactly: No fun at all.

    So, every speed and "fast paced gunplay" that wants to be build up, is instantly squashed by annoying traps that you can't avoid through skill and will run inevitably into.
    Did I mention corners and little bumps that stop your run?

    And don't forget mandatory bugs and crashes!

    But the Multiplayer-matches have to be fun, don't they?
    They could be, when you would be allowed to host and join a simple match!
    Steam -> Rightklick -> Join?
    Wrong!
    You must use an external RotT-Server-Tool and HOPE there will be something like a connetion (WHY?! The Hell WHY?)!
    Get used to the "ludicrous lag ahead"-Screen.

    Try "Brutal Doom" or "Shadow Warrior" instead!    … Expand
  20. QOO
    Nov 16, 2013
    4
    Rise of The Triad is a very broken game, but it has some fun included in it. It's pretty mixed, so I'll give my two cents.

    Pros: Fun, fast gameplay. Neat level design Cool weapons, like the Firebomb Great remastered soundtrack Quicksaves, finally. Cons: Multiplayer is empty. And I mean empty. Multiplayer also feels kinda tacked on. Performance issues. even with the patches,    Rise of The Triad is a very broken game, but it has some fun included in it. It's pretty mixed, so I'll give my two cents.

    Pros: Fun, fast gameplay.
    Neat level design
    Cool weapons, like the Firebomb
    Great remastered soundtrack
    Quicksaves, finally.

    Cons: Multiplayer is empty. And I mean empty.
    Multiplayer also feels kinda tacked on.
    Performance issues. even with the patches, game is still laggy.
    A.I is dumb as bricks.
    Enemies blend in with the backgrounds, making it annoying to kill them.
    SP and MP both horribly unbalanced.
    Final boss battle glitches too often, makes the game almost unbeatable.

    Overall, this game can be fun, but there are so many poor design choices, which you'll see. It makes me wonder sometimes, how some things could be screwed up so badly. Wait for a sale on this one.    … Expand
  21. M_Alex
    Jan 7, 2017
    1
    Sub-par graphics, buggy, poor voice acting, and boring gameplay. On the highest setting the game constantly keeps crashing, and when it doesn't crash, it can't get me invested enough to want to play it. The sense of humor is childish (an that's coming from someone who really likes Shadow Warrior), exasperating rather than funny. The gameplay doesn't make the situation better: enemies hitSub-par graphics, buggy, poor voice acting, and boring gameplay. On the highest setting the game constantly keeps crashing, and when it doesn't crash, it can't get me invested enough to want to play it. The sense of humor is childish (an that's coming from someone who really likes Shadow Warrior), exasperating rather than funny. The gameplay doesn't make the situation better: enemies hit you from great distances, and goo like finding them: they might even be three pixels of a forehead peeking out from behind a wall. Weapons are uninspired, as is the action.

    The game is challenging, but not as a result of the AI, which is awful. Some enemies stand there, not noticing you, despite the fact that you're shooting at their buddies in the same room. The graphics glitches make the whole thing frustrating: sometimes an enemy will suddenly appear right by you, in-your-face, and the next second he's at the other corner of the room. The collectible coins make the situation worse, as the enemies can see you through them. Now, if the damage indicator only worked as it as supposed too... Some glitches make this game play like an early beta, for example when aiming through your sights you sometimes get smooth animation, at others it just skips the animation.

    You also have other low-budget production issues such as a gibbed enemy, who continues screaming three seconds after being blown into oblivion, but that's a non-issue in light of all the others.    … Expand
  22. ave
    Feb 11, 2015
    3
    I was lucky to play the original ROTT years ago, so I forced myself not to be influenced by the residual memories of it while playing this piece of crap.

    Compared to any modern shooter reviving an old title, this one doesn't look or feel Old School (TM) but certainly brain-damaged, incapable of having the courage or intelligence to make the necessary tough but right design decisions.    I was lucky to play the original ROTT years ago, so I forced myself not to be influenced by the residual memories of it while playing this piece of crap.

    Compared to any modern shooter reviving an old title, this one doesn't look or feel Old School (TM) but certainly brain-damaged, incapable of having the courage or intelligence to make the necessary tough but right design decisions.

    Oh yes, the levels looks "realistic" thanks to pile of polygons crunched by the GPU. But this is not enough
    - some places looks out-of-proportions (or at least, scaled accordingly to the inflated ego a dictator).
    - the buildings layout seems to come from the deranged mind of a aspiring architect (how can you have slicers in an office corridor if you intend to rule the world ?).
    - the moving platforms are obviously the most convenient way to go from one place to another (plus, they are solid when you move up and down, but turn vaporous when they move through you),
    - the jumpers are the secret weapon of the Triad, no doubt.
    Yes, when there is a realistic environments, anything odd suddenly jumps at your face, and ROTT does that with a rare persistence.

    To stay coherent with the environment, the enemies are stiff, ugly and stupid. And since the levels are huge, they are usually located at long range, forcing me to wait until they shoot me to know exactly where they are and gun them down. It's the first time I had to regularly expose myself and wait for a fireshot to figure out from where the danger comes. And this not what I would call exciting, or old-school. More eyesight-impaired retirement school.

    The more I played, the more I felt that our world is not really threatened by the Triad since all that operation is doomed to fail solely based on its stupidity.

    To be true to the original game, this one still features the collection of oversized coins, and the proverbial secret rooms. If the latter is nice, the former seems out of place. Collecting Nazi gold in Wolfenstein or Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army is nice and historically pertinent ; but here it's ridiculous and superfluous.

    On top of that, the walk-on-that-weapon-to-get-it mechanic creates an unfortunate and meaningless "get/drop" cycle that forces you to carefully dodge some of them - or stay in position and enjoy both the comments and the gong while the game patiently swaps the weapons. Maybe you can use it as a background for you yoga meditation or a foundation loop for you next dance floor remix.

    Eventually, I got fed up of all that non-sense and stopped playing. There are many titles today descending from early shooters that knew how to render the franchise according to both players' expectations of the original title and the evolution of the genre - like Shadow Warrior.

    I think this game should have been titled "Crash & Burn of the Triad" and fall into oblivion along "Duke Nukem Never Again".    … Expand
  23. JosephCollins
    Jan 12, 2014
    2
    I cannot call this a remake. It's almost an insult to call it a reboot. I don't know what else to call it, other than severely disappointing.

    From what I can tell, this game was not a "labor of love" so much as a quick way to cash in on nostalgia. They tried to modernize a game that needed no modernization to be fun and it turns out to just be a garbled mess of modern physics and    I cannot call this a remake. It's almost an insult to call it a reboot. I don't know what else to call it, other than severely disappointing.

    From what I can tell, this game was not a "labor of love" so much as a quick way to cash in on nostalgia. They tried to modernize a game that needed no modernization to be fun and it turns out to just be a garbled mess of modern physics and classic callbacks. And that formula just does not work, in my opinion.

    The redone levels -- of which several are missing -- don't seem all that interesting to me in the slightest. They only bear a passing resemblance to their MS-DOS counterparts and all the added areas and content really adds nothing to the experience. You could argue that if the original map designers had a more powerful engine to work with (such as Doom's engine or the later Build engine), they would have made more intricate levels with even more craziness, but they didn't. And they happily worked with what they had, ending up with some absolutely fantastic levels! But that goes right out the bloody window with this remake. It's all about hopping over pits and traps now, or running through catwalks. It's prettier, sure, but it's also far less interesting somehow.

    The graphic style for this game seems... questionable, at best. Some of the textures seem a bit generic. The original game had a lot of repeated textures, but you never really got tired of seeing them because they were used in a variety of ways. Here, it's just like... "Here's a cave level. Here's a warehouse. Here's an active volcano." It's a modern gaming convention sure, but that's not how the original did it, technical limitations or not. And it worked very well in the original.

    The gameplay isn't all that impressive, either. We've seen games where you hop around like a maniac and shoot rockets at things until they die. We old-school gamers called that "Doom". While there were a number of enemies in any given Rise of the Triad level, in this remake, it seems like they just throw wave after wave at you in the action sections of levels, not really caring about the placement too much. A YouTuber said "it's non-stop action". The original at least gave you the chance to catch your breath.
    The original also had better sense about weapon placement. Given that this is an "old-school-style shooter", you'd think they'd make you hunt down weapons and think about ammo conservation. But no. If what said the YouTuber said is true, if you need a rocket launcher, there's probably one not five steps back from your current location.

    And now on to what I really wanted to talk about... the thing that upset me the most out of everything... The music.
    The original soundtrack is something I greatly enjoyed from the original. Here, however... Every single track is utter garbage. They had a perfectly good soundtrack they could have just redone to fit the given styles. But no. Instead, it's thunderous electric guitars everywhere you turn! Every song in this game has them. Every song! Even Adagio for Strings and Mist Ache! How?!
    The arrangement of every piece of music is also poorly done. All my favorites, "Adagio for Strings", "CCCool", "Goin' Down the Fast Way"... terrible! Absolutely terrible! There may be an option to change to the original soundtrack, but why did they bother? The original soundtrack doesn't work with what they've done at all!

    This absolutely does not feel like Rise of the Triad to me. It's almost a hollow parody... Clearly, they were going for "darker and edgier" here and while they succeeded in both aspects, it also loses pretty much all of what made the original game fun: Great music, curious weapons of mass destruction, simple level design with complex secrets, and above all, humor and inside jokes! The YouTuber I mentioned said this game has humor, but I sincerely failed to see the humor in sub-bosses named after body parts and innuendo. That's the extent of the humor, by the way. I did not see even the slightest sign of any of the inside jokes from the original game. At all.

    I were to give the game some credit, I guess I'd have to say they did some mildly interesting stuff with the source material. Complete redesigns of weapons, characters, and levels make this game completely detached from the original. Some would say that's a great thing. I personally don't.

    As I said at the start, I just cannot call this game anything other than disappointing. There was so much potential, but it was utterly wasted here. At every single opportunity.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

86
#86 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 40
  3. Negative: 3 out of 40
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 11, 2014
    82
    Rise of the Triad is a faithful tribute to both the original game and to the FPS games of the nineties in general. Hopefully the technical issues will be patched out soon, though. [Nov 2013]
  2. Riot Pixels
    Oct 31, 2013
    40
    The soundtrack is the only good thing in the new Rise of the Triad.
    Read full review
  3. Polygon
    Sep 11, 2013
    70
    Despite its constant punishment and inherently derivative nature, it stands apart from its modern-day competitors. Its appeal and its absurdity are one and the same.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »