While the comparison of anything "3D" from that era,
ROTT included, with
Doom is inevitable, the complaints of some people that 90 degree walls essentially ruin
Rise of the Triad is not justified in my opinion. In fact, there are lot more features in the game than in
Doom, and even though the limitations imposed by the upgraded
Wolfenstein 3D engine result in a rather specific level design and architecture,
ROTT boasts many innovative and simply fun things here and there that contribute to the replay value and create a unique experience with the game.
Many features that were introduced in
ROTT have eventually become
de rigueur in the FPS genre. It was probably the first game to take a snapshot of the current game screen and display it in the save/load game menu along with the level number for each saved game. It was also one of the first to allow the player to look and aim up and down, and not just straight ahead. Despite the limitations in the design of the player's surroundings, there are many, many destructible objects in
Rise of the Triad, which can be considered a step towards environment interactivity that can be seen in later games, notable
Duke Nukem 3D and other Build engine titles. An interesting thing to note is that, for example, if the player destroys a light source - a torch or a lamp - the lighting of that area will realistically diminish, an attention to details that is not always found in many similar games.
There are many reasons why
Rise of the Triad is highly replayable, and one of them is the many different ways you can play it. As in early side-scroller platform games like
Duke Nukem, it is possible to gain various bonuses at the completion of a level, depending on which actions the player takes. For example, one of the bonuses requires the player to destroy all potted trees on a level, and another can be acquired by using all health items that can be found. Completing these objectives makes an additional challenge, and also encourages the player to look for secret areas, as many items you need to either collect or destroy are well hidden in secret caches.
Rise of the Triad continues the fine tradition of
Wolfenstein 3D and
Blake Stone, preserving the classic fun pastime of looking for secret "pushwalls" throughout a level. In a little twist, however, some secret walls are more distinguishable from others on easier difficulty levels, as they are darker than the other near them; on higher difficulty, these hints to the player are no longer present.
It is highly probable that the developers felt the concept of "lives" and collecting "life items" was becoming outdated with the ability to save the game mid-level, so there's a special bonus awarded for
destroying all "life items" in a level. They also get a different use in the special "time limit" play mode (activated via command line option), where picking life items, along with dispatching enemies, adds seconds to the ever decreasing timer.
Just like in platform games, the hindrances that the player has to overcome include not only guards but also various traps; in fact,
Rise of the Triad probably boasts more traps and other obstacles than any other of its contemporaries in the genre. More interesting examples include huge boulders that fall from the ceiling and roll towards the player, Indiana Jones style, and moving flamethrowers.
What was really unusual for me at first was the unlimited ammo for the small arms the player wields, but it really does not overpower the player, especially on higher difficulty levels. As you play more, you discover more and more tricks and different ways to play the game, learn to conserve and properly use the missile weapons, and counter the specifics of each type of enemy present in the game.
An interesting decision was to add not only power-ups in the game, but also "power-downs" that affect the player in an undesirable way. Along with the self-ironic power-ups like "God mode" and "Dog mode", these make for hilarious situations, especially with the "random power-up" items available in the retail version, picking which may result in getting anything, including the power-downs that a player would normally try to avoid.
Overall,
Rise of the Triad is a very fun and atmospheric game, not in the least thanks to the brilliant soundtrack, most of which was composed by then tech support worker in Apogee, Lee Jackson. Here's Lee's personal
account of the story:
Later, as Wolfenstein-3D II became Rise of the Triad (or ROTT), George called me into Steven Blackburn's office for a meeting. I'd kept on bringing up new compositions and arrangements, and apparently Tom and Mark were hyping them up to Scott and George.
George offered me a deal--I could write the music for ROTT, but I had to finish it in six weeks. Also, I had to write the music at home, but at the same time I had to come up to the office and work the tech lines for a few hours each day while the other techs went to lunch. It was going to be rough, but there was no way I was going to turn this down. I said yes, thank you, and got busy.
I'd get up in the morning, put in some writing time (using my computer, the GUS card, and a Roland D-50 that I borrowed from Mark as a MIDI controller), go to the tech room during lunch, talk to Tom and Mark afterwards about my current songs, and then come back home and write until I went to bed.
After six weeks of this, I'd written 28 songs. Not all of them were 100% appropriate as level music, but I did the best I could in what little time I had. When my six weeks were up, I went back to the tech room.
Lee Jackson's successful début on
Rise of the Triad paved the way for him to become a professional video game composer and the author of the famous title song for
Duke Nukem 3D, Grabbag.