ROTT even now it still makes me laugh!
Back in high school i didn't have a lot of money. I worked a really crappy job at a grocery store for minimum wage and what money i made went to essentials. My computer wasn't the best "gaming rig", and still isn't. However i could play a select few games that would stick with me the rest of my life. Rise of the Triad was one such game.
You have to realize when i say back in the day,i mean back when computers were still numbered. I had an IBM 486 and felt like i was king of the world with my 24x speed CD ROM. My friend also had a 486 and one day while hanging out at his house he showed me a new game he was playing. I had never heard of Rise of the Triad (ROTT for short) but i loved other first person shooters on the PC and was willing to try something new. Boy am i glad i did.
You play as one of five chosen members of H.U.N.T. (High-risk United Nations Task-force). Each with their own strengths and weaknesses. You are sent on a mission to -- island to investigate a cult that is conducting business there. Needless to say things go bad quickly, and the cult destroys you boat and the only way off the island. Thus forcing you to fight your way trough waves of evil cult members to get at the leader.
Fight through many different levels in varying stages and settings. Defeat cult members, security, monks, and even robots (NME). All the standard (early FPS) weapons are present, pistols, machine guns, drunk missiles, hand of God...wait is that right?Yup, power ups included; Shroom mode, Dog mode, and God mode, where you have God-like power to destroy enemies in a ball of energy.
The music in this game was pretty forgettable, except the one song I included. The sound clips however were wonderfully hilarious! Enemies would yell anything from "Ha!" , "Gotcha" even "They'll bury you in a lunchbox!" One of my favorite things to do in the game was unleash a barrage of Drunk Missiles and wait for the "sqwick" as they found their target.
I played ROTT up until my first computer died on me. When I got a new computer I was very excited to try out ROTT with the new processor, and monitor, and modem (so i could play online with my friends). Much to my dismay, ROTT didn't work with windows, and the Compaq that we got didn't allow it to work AT ALL in DOS. I spent the next 10 or so years (seriously) trying to find a way to play the game on an up to date computer. Then one day I stumbled across " WinROTT" and I was happy again! I still had my original Disc of the game and immediately tried it out. After trying, and failing, so many times before on many a different computer I was skeptical, but much to my surprise it worked. Called up my friend got him hooked up with it, and we have been playing off and on ever since. What better way to end the story but with a "lived happily ever after" moment. Now you can get it in an even more compact and easy to use package over at GOG.com. The game works on most all PCs and comes complete with plenty of extras.
Interesting little side note, ROTT didn't actually start out as an original IP. Actually it was going to be a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, entitled Wolfenstein 3D: Rise of the Triad. That's why the enemies in the game look like they are wearing some Nazi knock off uniforms, and why the cult members had MP-40's as well as Heat Seeking Missiles. Also they were going to have male AND female enemies but budget and time didn't allow it, but the female voices are all on the disc for you to listen to. I always wondered why they had those samples on there but I never remembered seeing a female in the game. Now you (and I) know.
*keep an eye open for "Scott's Mystical Head" I found it once...once*