Gaming: Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition (PC)

 

I don't do many video games these days. I think I’ve just drifted away. I’m two generations behind on PlayStation, and I have no interest in the current AAA market. Instead I find myself in niche titles and “retro” stuff. I presume this is how ageing works. Fulfilling both is Rise of Triad: Ludicrous Edition, a recent re-release of an obscure first person shooter from 1995. It was a contemporary of Doom 2, but as as project it started out as a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, I.e. that game what ID made before they made Doom and became megastars. I’d mucked about with the shareware version back in the day, but soon moved on to more interesting and technically impressive games. Much-much later, I became aware of the minor youtube personality Civvie 11, a chap specialising in scripted Lets-Plays of games within my nostalgia window, as well as modern games in that those styles. Civvie is a big fan of Rise of The Triad, using covers of its music for his vids, as well as periodic videos on it. Civvie deserves the credit for me picking this game up, as well as generally raising the profile of it. The publishers of this new version certainly feel that’s the case, as they used the guy in their launch trailer.

As it stands, the Ludicrous Edition is a comprehensive remaster, featuring all the stuff you could reasonably hope for and a bunch of stuff you'd never expect. Neither the original Rise of the Triad (ROTT) or its 2013 remake were notable financial or critical successes, so merely an emulation job with a few concessions to modern monitor resolutions would not have been unexpected. Something on the level of a source port, but not fan made, maybe. Nightdive Studios and New Blood however went above and beyond, adding every conceivable quality of life improvement, every level, new levels, and even cut content. Even the game's soundtrack, always its strongest point, gets a choice of soundcard styles, new sound effects if you want them, and even music from the 2013 version. It's also relatively inexpensive, so it's as hard to fault the Ludicrous Edition as a value proposition as it is as a restoration. But then there's the game itself.

 

ROTT is weird. I don't just mean the superficial "LOL so random" stuff like Dog Mode, the Shrooms power-down or Ian Paul Freely. I mean a fundamental weirdness that hits once you're acclimatised to the oddness of the presentation, and you start engaging with the deeper mechanics. It's as much about what it isn't doing as much as it is. If you've played a first person shooter before, you've probably got an idea of the genre staples. For instance, you might expect a selection of increasingly powerful but functionally different weapons with limited ammunition. Something like a pistol, then a shotgun, a machine gun, a couple of explosive types, maybe a sniper rifle, and then some exotic superweapons? As these weapons work best in different circumstances, gameplay takes on a tactical element, where a player will from moment to moment have to manage their resources. The right tool for job, and each new weapon adds new tools to the box. ROTT doesn't do that. You have three principle bullet weapons with unlimited ammo, and a forth slot for big guns with limited ammo. The bullet weapons are straight upgrades of each other, so once you have the MP40, you'll never go back. The big guns are mainly missile launchers of varying flavours, but all having at least some area of effect. Whereas the bullet weapons are of the "hitscan" type, meaning they hit the target instantaneously, the missiles are actually modelled, meaning that they can be dodged, and you have to walk your shots. They also don't have distinct ammunition pickups, and when you go to pick up a new one, you leave the old one behind with all it's missiles. So, gunplay in ROTT is about having a workhorse gun, and a "fuck you and anybody near you" gun. The enemies are designed around that, and can get into bullet sponge territory. Mostly, you can put a few rounds into the average guard and make them flinch, thus buying you time, but that tactic doesn't work on the Triad Enforcer whom is the first of the more problematic enemies. So, while not unchallenging, combat does have a degree of monotony to it. Then again, the Firebomb does exist, and the bosses are, shall we say, interesting? You have to first find the bastards, and deal with whatever gimmicks are around them.

 

The above is where I find the weirdness. ROTT did not attempt to follow Doom's lead, which means it's mechanics only appear odder with the passage of time. Visual aspects are also a product of its time and an engine that was obsolete at launch. That's why the levels seem to be made of 90 degree angles, and the enemies are often Mortal Kombat style digitized photos, which was more common than you'd think, but explicit here. Hell, there's a high score system, shades of achievement hunting there, and a lives system. The designers compensated for those technical limitations by putting a twist on everything, ROTT tends to be at least amusing if not especially deep. Case in point: Priest Porridge. ROTT does not busy itself with medkits, no, you get porridge. That heals you a bit, but if its warm, it heals you more. How do you make it warm? Well, you fire a bazooka at it. No joke, your limited selection of missiles have a role to play in healing. No, the game doesn't tell you this, but you'll probably figure it after a few desperate rocket duels. Most of the more complex gameplay though comes from level design however, with maps taking increasingly maze-like and deathtrap quality as time goes on. Like it's contemporaries ROTT encourages exploration through the use of "push walls", and paces combat through the use of keys. It's a less linear approach than say your Call of Duty or Half Life style of game. It's the area of the game where the Wolfenstein 3D connection is strongest, that and the points system, and thus is the most typical aspect of the game. But the fundamental quirkiness of ROTT is present here too, most obviously with the floating disks. I don't want to get too far into the minutiae of game engines from a quarter a go, but these games weren't actually in 3 dimensions, it was more if an optical illusion, aka 2.5D. The disks, or Gravitational Anomaly Disks (GADs), add an element of verticality that Wolfenstein 3D didn't have, and that Doom really do either. In fact with the presence of the GADs, rotating blender hazards, flame traps, springboards, general Nintendo-Hard dickery, and such put me in mind of 2D platform games. You know, the DOS or pre-Sonic style. ROTT doesn’t try realism or cinematic in its levels, but what it does try is challenging gameplay. Possibly too challenging in the case of the “Extreme” level pack, which has a nasty reputation, but I’ve not tried that yet.

 

So, is Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition worth playing? Yeah. Possibly more in short doses, but this was a fine distraction.