At this point, it’s probably pretty obvious that I am an unabashed lover of trashy first-person shooters. (If not, just wait until my review of Rage!) With that in mind, here’s the rather unexpected sequence of events that leads me to this post:
1. I finally give into the digital distribution model after much resistance. My first purchase on GoG is the original Rise of the Triad.
2. Shockingly, I don’t like it.
3. Several years later, I purchase the new Rise of the Triad without a second thought.
There are a few things wrong here. For starters, I completely forget why I bought RotT in the first place. It’s not a game from my childhood, and I don’t remember caring much about it either before or after that purchase. Seems like it was just a complete impulse buy, which is unusual for me. Second, it’s an old-school first-person shooter — designed by Tom Hall! — that I didn’t actually enjoy. Like, at all.
But the burning question: Why would I pick up the remake if I didn’t like the original? Hm. Good question. Well, I guess I just figured I’d give it a shot. Any time a shooter looks like it puts more emphasis on gameplay than on story, and more on fun than on Big Action Set-pieces, I’m willing to check it out. Rise of the Triad is an especially unusual animal to see still kicking today, though, with almost all its cues taken from mid-’90s shooters and almost none from today’s. As far as I can tell, anyway; I’ve only had a chance to boot it up for five minutes to make sure it runs.
…it also helps that the preorder came with both Blake Stone games, which are two of my favoritest shooters ever.
In any case, Rise of the Triad is what I’ll be playing over the weekend — and hopefully beyond. Remind me to let you know how it is. (Unless it turns out to be another Painkiller, in which case I’ll probably be silently weeping somewhere.)