Rise of the Triad: Dark War

"Rise of the Triad: Dark War" is the original game of the Rise of the Triad series, released on December 21 st, 1994 by Apogee Software.

Plot
''A team of special operatives, known as the H.U.N.T., is sent to San Nicolas Island to investigate deadly cult activity taking place in an ancient monastery. Their boat, the only way back, is destroyed by patrols, and the team soon learns that the cult plans to systematically destroy nearby Los Angeles. The operatives, now unable to return whence they came, are then left to fight their way into the monastery on the island, and eventually put a stop to the cult's activities.''

Gameplay
Overall, the gameplay is straightforward and often linear, like that of other games developed during the time (such as Doom). The objective is to kill as many enemies as possible along with the bosses, and to collect Keys in order to complete levels successfully. Occasionally special tactics and simple problem-solving skills are required to reach seemingly unreachable locations. Although most maps are fairly linear, there are many secret areas hidden within them, some which have secret exits.

Characters
The player can choose between 5 characters characters, each with unique stats. For instance, Doug Wendt moves rather slowly but can sustain a particularly large amount of damage, while Lorelei Ni has fewer hit points but is very quick and accurate. Taradino Cassatt is the shareware character, and has average statistics.

Enemies
There are several types of enemies in the game, are digitized actors mostly played by Apogee employees and their friends and family. Many of them have unique abilities, such as stealing your missile weapons, begging for their lives, dodging the player's attacks, feigning death to ambush the player, and shooing nets to restrain them. There are also four different bosses, which await the player at the end of each episode.

Weapons and Items
There are a total of eleven weapons in the game, divided into three groups - bullet weapons, missile weapons, and magic weapons. Bullet weapons have infinite ammo. Missile weapons have limited ammo that varies, and constitute the bulk of the available arsenal. They are usually powerful enough to attack groups of several enemies. Magic weapons, like missile weapons, also hold varying limited ammo. Players can carry a total of four different arms at once - all three bullet weapons and either a missile or a magic weapon. This is a realistic limitation that is the first of its kind to be found in an FPS.

There are also several powerups found in the game that give different abilities to the player. Only one powerup can be active at a time, and their effects are limited.

Environment
There are several ways to interact with the environment in the game, including Elevators and Pushwalls. A major element of gameplay are the many hazards that the player can encounter. These include Spinblades, which are stacks of gyrating blocks to which large blades are attached. These cause any player (or enemy) to lose health rapidly when in contact with them.

There are also Jump Pads in the game, that catapult a player or enemy in the air, following some physics. If the player just stepped into it, it would propel him straight up, while by running up to it the player can make long jumps. Jump pads are often required for getting past certain obstacles or reaching a ledge to retrieve a key, etc. They can also be used for collecting powerups and bonuses.

The game has numerous destructible objects, most of them ornaments or plants that have no actual role. There are light poles and fire pots are shot, will dim the area. Lastly, there are glass panes that can be shattered by shooting or running through them.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer mode, dubbed Comm-Bat TM, was notable for the time the game was released, allowing up to eleven players simultaneously. Each could have separate uniform colors, but in team mode, the colored were defined. There are nine multiplayer modes, some of which do not necessarily involve players shooting each other.

Levels
The main game consists of 34 levels divided into 4 separate episodes, with a boss to fight at the end of each one, and 3 "Warp-Only" levels (accessible only by using the level warp cheat). The game also has up to 46 Comm-Bat levels included, depending on which version of the game you own.

Episode 1 - Approach Episode 2 - Monastery Episode 3 - Caves Below Episode 4 - The Slow and the Dead Warp-Only Levels
 * 1) In the Thick of It
 * 2) Winding Way
 * 3) Burned and Amazed (Secret Exit)
 * 4) Too Much Room
 * 5) Two-Key Return
 * 6) Spring Surprise
 * 7) General Darian (Boss Level)
 * 8) Turn of the Screw (Secret Level)
 * 1) Into the Castle
 * 2) Great Halls of Fire
 * 3) The Room
 * 4) Spiralling In
 * 5) Rocky Plateau (Secret Exit)
 * 6) The Four-Way Chamber
 * 7) Sebastian Krist (Boss Level)
 * 8) Elevator Trouble (Secret Level)
 * 1) Robotricks
 * 2) Down & Over
 * 3) Dead in Five Seconds
 * 4) Clear & Present Dangers
 * 5) The Angry Quilt
 * 6) Movin' Walls (Secret Exit)
 * 7) Know Thine NME (Boss Level)
 * 8) Eight Ways to Hell (Secret Level)
 * 1) "Monky" Business
 * 2) Fire and Brimstone
 * 3) Crushing Defeat
 * 4) Diamonds & Rust (Secret Exit)
 * 5) Backfire
 * 6) Circles of Fire
 * 7) Lair of El Oscuro (Boss Level)
 * 8) Switched Around (Secret Level)
 * 9) Canyon Chase
 * 10) In the Dark Nest (Boss Level)
 * Dead in Two Seconds
 * The Vomitorium
 * This Causes an Error!

Comm-Bat Levels (Standard)
 * One-Stop Gun Shop
 * The Well
 * Way Too Tiny
 * Sign Language
 * Land Bridge
 * Checkers
 * Tree House
 * Mazewar '94
 * Impossible Land
 * Picture This
 * Mark's Madness
 * Bazooka Joke
 * Above All This
 * Four-Square
 * Giza
 * Ramp
 * Into the Fray
 * Lotta Lava
 * The Machine
 * Batter Up!
 * Attonement
 * Memorize This!

Comm-Bat Levels (Power Pack)
 * Swimmin' Pool
 * The Sanctum of Rocking
 * Think Up!
 * Ziggurattack
 * Free Flight
 * Cross Purposes
 * Joustin' Time
 * Captured
 * Yellow Brick Road
 * Crystal Fields

Comm-Bat Levels (Site License)
 * King of the Hill
 * The Castle
 * It's the Pits
 * Popcore
 * Round 'n' Round
 * Hey! More Barrels!
 * Too Tight
 * Race Track
 * Cave In
 * Glen Park
 * Urge to Kill
 * Death Tree
 * Oh Yeah!
 * Staff Meeting

Development
The Developers of Incredible Power, a branch of Apogee, are the team behind Rise of the Triad, and was the only game successfully released by the team. The name was coined by Tom Hall, the team's lead designer.

Rise of the Triad began its life in early 1994 as nothing more than an expansion pack for Wolfenstein 3D. The original full title of the game was Rise of the Triad: Wolfenstein 3D Part II. It was to use the same game engine as Wolfenstein, and have new levels, art, and characters. As the game continued its development, project leader Scott Miller was contacted by John Carmack informing Miller that the expansion pack project had been cancelled. Miller suspected that this was because iD Software didn't want to draw the spotlight away from their upcoming game, Doom.

According to the Apogee website, the original storyline was as follows...


 * After the fall of Hitler, the true powers behind him have drawn into seclusion, planning their next strategy for world domination. Three large corporations guided Hitler as a puppet, and now plan the subjugation of the planet to their organization, the Triad. Their new plan: having developed nuclear weapons and new V-3 rockets to carry them, they plan to get a stranglehold on the world with the threat of Armageddon.

The engine became an enhanced variant of the Wolfenstein 3D engine. The level design was primarily defined by 90 degree walls and unvarying floor and ceiling heights in individual maps, limitations that carried over from the original engine. However, the improved engine was still the first to pioneer staple features which would be found in many later games, such as panoramic skies, dynamic lighting, and fog.

Several planned elements were cut from the game due to technical limitations at the time, including alternate versions of certain enemies and additional levels. Many of these elements were preserved in various forms on the registered CD version's bonus goodies. A handful of dropped levels were made available later on through the Reject Level Pack.

Versions
See Also - Version History

Rise of the Triad had four different versions available for purchase over the course of its initial lifespan...


 * Disk Version - The original floppy disk version was made available for purchase in late February of 1995. It included the full registered 32 level campaign, as well as 30 Comm-Bat levels for up to 11 players.


 * Triad PowerPack - The upgraded floppy disk version added 10 more Comm-Bat levels, a random level generator, and a handful of image and sound files from the game. It also bundled in the shareware version, with its limitations removed (for example, you could now play as all 5 characters).


 * Super Triad CD - The official CD version of the game was made available for purchase in March of 1995. It included everything from both floppy disk versions, with additional image and sound files and demos of Apogee's other games. This version would later become the standard version to own, as both floppy versions were discontinued in January of 1997.


 * Site License CD - The site license version was made available for purchase in April of 1995. Originally, each player would need to own a copy of the registered version to play on a network. With this version, however, the game could now be distributed to eleven other players over a single network. In addition, this version included 14 more Comm-Bat levels, a signed site license agreement, and 11 command cards. This version was discontinued on March 2 nd, 2000.

The game itself also went through a few versions during its first year on the market...


 * Version 1.0 - The initial games release on December 21 st, 1994.
 * Version 1.1 - Released on February 8 th, 1995. It introduced a new problem where 4 meg machines were unable to play.
 * Version 1.2 - Released on February 17 th, 1995 in an attempt to fix the issue the previous version brought about. The problem, unfortunately, still persisted. The registered version of the game began shipping with this shareware version.
 * Version 1.2a - Released on February 25 th, 1995, finally resolving the issue. This is the version that the CD version was initially released with. However, another bug was discovered where players playing directly from the CD could not save their game.
 * Version 1.2b - Released specifically for the CD version to resolve its save issue. The site license CD was released with this version.
 * Version 1.3 - Released for both shareware and registered versions in August 8 th and 18 th, 1995, respectively. This was the final version of the game.

Notes & Trivia
To be Added

Game Support
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