A very under appreciated and revolutionary FPS game!
It was released a couple of months after Doom 2 and something like two days before Heretic...way bad timing!!!
The game used a re-written Wolfenstein 3D engine. The engine did have limitations such as 90 degrees walls as seen in Wolfenstein 3D but it also had revolutionary effects.
"Revolutionary effects" I hear you cry...yes it had revolutionary effects such as 11 player network support, masked walls (allows you to make bullet holes in walls), transparency, different playable characters and dynamic lighting.
You did read that correctly Rise of the Triad was the first game to ever have those features and many of the engine features ended up in the Duke Nukem 3D BUILD engine but that is a completely different review.
This being a game of firsts it was also the first game to get a RSAC rating of 4 (highest rating) with wanton and gratuitous violence certificate.
The graphics for the game weren't that good for the time but the revolutionary graphics effects rescued it a little bit.
The sounds were quite on par with any other game of the time.
The music was produced by Lee Jackson and was a lot better than any other game around at that time.
The game had first different players you could play as, some were stronger than others, while others were faster and/or more accurate with weapons.
The character you played as would actually have an effect on the difficulty of the single player game and the multi player as well.
Multi player is were this game truly stood out from the crowd. It had 11 player network support and 9 multi player game types.
It had microphone support so you could shout insults at the people you were playing. Remote Ridicule was also supported in the game, press a function key and you could insult your opponent with a microphone.
Weapons, weapons and more weapons, that lend to gibs, gibs and more gibs!
This game had truck load of weapons which included dual pistols, MP40 machine gun, firewall (not of the Sygate type LOL), drunken missiles, heat seeker, dark staff, Excalibat and more.
This game was a very under appreciated and revolutionary FPS game!
Anyone who calls themselves a games fanatic should have this game in their collection!