Rise of the triad
Review by : Crazy Review
Format : PC
Type : First person shooter
Players : 1
I was looking around in my local Game shop back in 1995, when DOS was king and 4mb, 66mhz was considered fast. when I came across a rack of games for £9.99, Having limited cash, great I thought, after searching through them I found this 'Rise of the triad' it had a 15 age certificate on it (I was 12 at the time) cool I thought so I turned it over and read the back 'Gripping battle action and smooth, fast gameplay that will set your adrenaline racing. Amazing 3D graphics with an extra helping of blood and guts. (hence the 15 age rating) This sounded good, especailly the 'blood and guts' part. So I brought the game and headed for home. I loaded it up and it was great!
This is my second most played game after GTA on the psx. The game is very much like most others in that you have to find keys etc to progress. There are 4 episodes with each episode split up into 7 levels, totaling 28 altogether even though if you know the level select cheat there are bonus ones. Each level is split up into 4 sections which are the starting bit, a gold area, sliver area and an iron area, with the end of level door being within the gold area. With each area being marked by an approite coloured door. You will need to find keys in each area to progress through to the next etc. so within the starting bit you need to find a sliver key and in the sliver are you will have to find a iron key etc.
Each of these areas are jammed packed with baddies, but your not usual baddies though, say goodbye to monsters and say hello to Humans! yay! you shoot people, unlike quake and doom where you shoot monsters which isn't as satifying as blowing the living shit out of a human with a bazooka and watching an eyeball fly up at the screen and then slowy run down. So quake can shove its monsters up its fat arse sideways.
There are huge numbers of weapons like the standard pistol, dual pistol, machine gun, bazooka then you've got heat seeker, firebomb (creates a huge explosion and shakes the ground), Drunk missile (fires five missiles all over the place), Flame wall (creates a wall of fire which travels along the ground turning baddies to skeltons), split missile (fires 2 heat seeking missiles) then the werid weapons Excalibat (wack enemies to death, but hold down fire and it fires out baseballs) Dark staff (a stick which shoots a ball of fire). If you think some of those weapons were weird check out the 5 power-ups, each one last 30 seconds Dog mode (turns you into a dog and can bite baddies or hold down fire button and a loud bark will blow them apart) God mode (turn into god! and a simple push of the fire button will kill every baddies in view) Mercury mode (you can fly!) Elasto (bounce off walls, this last 15 seconds) and finally Shrooms (like taking drugs the screen goes all blury, again this last 15 seconds).
Now The plot. You are a member of HUNT, the top secret High risk United Nations Task force, sent on extremely covert operations to possible trouble spots outside the 3-mile boundary waters of memebr countries. You are on a routine mission on San Nicholas island, located 20 miles west of Los aneles. Your team is investigating possible cult activity in an old monastery, when suddenly troops appear out of no-where! In the distance your boat explodes. Just before your radio goes static, you hear the desperate newsman decribing the systematic destruction of Los Angeles. An escaped prisoner informs you that a pyrotechnics expert and a rich movie studio head have joined forces with the Oscurido cult. Their plan: Kill millions of innocent people for the glory of thier master El Oscuro. Having no other escape route, the HUNT team heads into the monastery, taking the only course of action left : stop the oscuridos or die trying.
There are 5 character to choose from 3 men and 2 girls. They are Thi Barrett, Lorelei Ni, Taradino Cassatt, Doug Wendt and Ian Paul Freely. There are a a mix of baddies from Low guard (armed with pistol), High guard (armed with machine gun), Overpatrol (armed with pistol but can shoot nets to trap you in), Lightning Guard (they are armed with pistol but can steal projectile weapons like the bazooka etc) Strike team (armed with a pistol and and they dive out of the way when you try to shoot them), Triad Enforcer (armed with a chain gun and can throw genades, also have body armour) Patrol robot (Fires missiles) Ballistikarft (avoid confronting them as they are indestructible but slow moving), Deathfire monk (shoot out fireballs), Death Monk (these take longer to shoot fireballs).
Then there are the 4 bosses which are General darian (he can make racks of spikes appear from the ceiling or floor he also has a bazooka) Sebastian Krist (he is in a flying chair which fires loads of missiles and he will ram you), NME ( Nasty Metallic Enforcer, fires allsorts of missiles) and last boss is El Oscuro (you seen him in the form of a head with several following behind him, so you need to destroy the other heads before you have a go at him).
Thats enough of the features lets get down to the game itself. The grahics are not up to the standard of the lastest quake but take in account this was made in 1995, it looks clear and sharpe and runs very smooth. The gameplay is fast and furious with baddies poping up all over the place so theres something to keep you on your toes throughout the levels. Shooting is very good and satsifying, when then are on their knees begging and you pop then in the head using the pistol or blow them away with a bazooka never gets boring.
The levels are varied but sometimes it can get a bit reptitive and sometimes it can be quite difficult and hard trying to find that damn key especailly in the later levels and the only resort is to use the level skip cheat. Thats the only problems I found but the fact is, I love this game! Its jammed packed and fun to play and I would recommend it to anyone.
Sound : Nice SFX
6/10
Gameplay : Fast and furious, kees you on your toes
9/10
Difficulty : Huge levels, can get a bit boring
8/10
Graphics : nothing special but clear and smooth
7/10
9/10
Overall : A great alternative to Quake
Review by : Crazy Review