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There was nothing quite like running around a Rise of the Triad map under the mind-bending influence of Shrooms Mode while swinging Excalibat around with wild abandon. This is what I did at home almost to the exclusion of all else, and this is what I spent half of my computer classes in junior high school doing. The other half of my computer class was spent LAN gaming Rise of the Triad with my friends. This was one of the greatest benefits of going to a school where my father was a well respected teacher, and being in a computer class with a teacher who was one of his oldest friends.
Rise of the Triad has always held a special place with me. It was one of the few things that I connected with other people on in a social environment, and it was simply a brilliant game (and better than DOOM). I had become so comfortable with Rise of the Triad, that when I was in shock at my grandmother’s passing, the only thing I could think to do was sit at my computer and continue the HUNT. Even before its return was announced, it was a title that I held up as a cornerstone of 90s gaming. At QuakeCon, it was announced that Rise of the Triad was returning, and that it would be everything we remembered and more. At PAX, I got a chance to put part of that to the test.
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There was no single-player campaign gameplay at PAX, much to my disappointment, nor was there a classic map for the multiplayer demo. What we did see, however, was a new map designed in the Rise of the Triad classic style, and tailored to Rise of the Triad gameplay. Twitchy at heart, the map encouraged speed and featured multiple conflict areas connected by halls, tunnels, liftpads, repulsor pads, and more. The Flamewall, Heat-seeking Missile, Bazooka, Excalibat, and more were laid out around the map for myself and my two opponents to locate and utilize in our common quest for mutual destruction, and all functioned as expected and remembered (with the screen on the heat-seeking missile actually showing the path of the missile, which would have been impossible in the original). The best compliment I can give both this renewed version of Rise of the Triad and the Rise of the Triad inspired level is that I felt like I was playing Rise of the Triad.
At $14.99, the game will be fully moddable, and will introduce a whole new generation to one of the world’s most classic shooters. Let the HUNT begin!
