Rise Of The Triad: Dark War

                      Rise Of The Triad: Dark War Review

                                       (With a little ranting here and there)

History

Rise Of The Triad: Dark War is a First Person Shooter developed and published by Apogee Software in 1994, the main developing team, however, being called: "The Developers Of Incredible Power" (Yeah, the power to implement BAD DESIGN CHOICES, but more on that later.) This game was supposed to be called "Wolfenstein 2" but later scrapped the idea due to John Romero not being pleased by the idea. (SO THEY DECIDED TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANTED WITH THE GAME, A REALLY BAD IDEA OVERALL.)

Story

A team of five members named the H.U.N.T go an an island to explore a Monastery and shut down the operations that take place inside, (while blasting Nazis with cool explosive weapons and LOTS and LOTS of annoying traps to go with it :P)

Gameplay

Okay, do you think I had enough nitpicking for this game? I was just getting started! So anyway, you can play as five characters which each of them has different abilities, one can run faster but being very weak overall, and so on. The game has 4 episodes in total, the fourth one being the longest by having 10 areas instead of 8. Your main enemies are the nazis, in third episode you also have robots, in fourth the bullet sponges called Undead Monks. You could carry 4 weapons, a pistol, akimbo pistols, the MP40 (which had infinite ammo btw) and the fourth being reserved to explosives and magic weapons. Besides enemies...OH BOY...you had traps. A. LOT. OF. TRAPS. Yeah, I know I should be kind of objective with reviews like these, but THIS GAME...IS S.H.I.T. DUE TO THE TRAPS. I Don't care how well made the game is, I don't care about the mediocre level design, the traps ruined the experience for me.

Soundtrack 

The music is nice, composed by Robert Prince and Lee Jackson, but still, the traps ruined the game for me, not even the soundrack will redeem it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Rise Of The Triad is an OK game, but has terrible flaws that ruined it to me. Maybe you will like it, but I will never, ever play it again, not even the addons or shareware version. This game gets a 4/10, it would've been even lower if it wasn't for some redeeming elements. Now excuse me while I'll throw this into the Recycle Bin where it belongs.

Duke Nukem 3D

                               Duke Nukem 3D Review

                             One of the best classic FPS games ever made

History

Duke Nukem 3D is a First Person Shooter developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive released in January 26th, 1996. It is a sequel to the two Platform games, Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II. It was considered to be a pioneer in First Person Shooters at it's time of release. Other versions of the game include the Atomic Edition version with Episode 4, a fith episode being release 20 years later in the Duke Nukem 20th Anniversary World Tour in 2016.

Story

You play as Duke Nukem, a blonde macho guy (voiced by John St. John) who fights against an alien invasion on Earth, alongside the EDF (Earth Defence Force). The aliens kidnapped all the women for nefarious purposes, so it's Duke's duty to save the babes and kick some alien butt along the way.

Gameplay

While using 2D Sprites, the Build Engine was capable of creating marvelous map designs in different themes. The weapon arsenal diversiy is also a huge plus to the mix, and so the enemy types. Besides weapons, you can use a small variety of items to help you on your journeys: Night Vision Goggles to see enemies in the dark, Protable Medkit which gives a boost of health up to 100% whenever you use it, Scuba Gear to breathe under water, a Holo Duke to distract enemies and Protective Boots to shield you from hazards. As for the weapons, from the Mighty Foot to Freeze Thrower, you have a nice assortment of arsenal at your disposal to "kick ass and chew bubblegum". 

You can also play with the WASD and Mouselook controls very easy, even tho the mouselook may be a bit stiff if you plan to play it in DOS Mode. The game is filled with tons of easter eggs and refferences in every level, so you will waste some time to find them all, some of which can be well hidden.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by two persons, Lee Jackson and Robert "Bobby" Prince from id Software. The majority of the music consists mainly of symphonic futuristic soundtrack, only the theme song resembling a metal tune inspired from Megadeth.

Conclusions and Score

In conclusion, Duke Nukem 3D is a masterpiece and I highly recommend you play it if you're interested in a very interactive game with rich references and easter eggs. I give it a solid 9/10, so

"What are you waiting for, Christmas!?"

Quake Mission Pack 1: Scourge Of Armagon

                          Quake: Scourge Of Armagon Review

                                     One of Quake's Best Expansion Pack

History

Quake: Scourge Of Armagon is one of Quake's Expansion Packs created by Hipnotic Software and released on 28th February, 1997. It is the first official expansion pack.

Story

You play as the same Ranger from Quake, your mission is to close all Rift Gates that are controlled by Quake's General, Armagon and stop the invasion of deadly monsters and offsprings.

Gameplay

It is the same as in the original Quake, but there are other changes that makes the playstyle different, such as: new weapons (proximity mine launcher, laser cannon and hammer of thor), new enemies (which some of them are very, VERY annoying), new powerups, new maps and new traps. This time you don't have to choose episodes from the start, it is more like what Spear of Destiny and Doom 2 did as you play continously, but in each episode you start off with just the shotgun.

Soundtrack

This game's soundtrack is AWSOME and I can safely say, even better than original Quake's and even other Expansion Packs. Jeehun Hwang is simply a genius.

Conclusions and Score

In conclusion, aside from flaws that his expansion has, this is a decent one with great soundtrack and atmosphere. I give it a 7.7/10, not really the best thing ever, but it's decent enough o try out.

Wolfenstein 3D

                                   Wolfenstein 3D Review

                                              Grandfather of FPS Games

History

Wolfenstein 3D is a First Person Shooter developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software in May 5, 1992. It was heavily inspired by Muse Software's Castle Wolfenstein, this one being the third installment and a spiritual succesor. 

It was the second major success of id Software after the Commander Keen series.

Story

You are B.J. Blazkowicz, a World War II Allied spy sent on a mission to stop the creation of the Mutant Army. However, you were captured by the nazis and then trasported to Castle Hollehammer to be executed. Fortunately for B.J., they didn't find his trutsy Knife, thus eliminating the guard who came to his holding cell for the final blow. Armed with the pistol from the Guard, B.J. sets foot outside and then Escape From Castle Wolfenstein.

Gameplay

As a standard FPS, you collect weapons and ammunition to eliminate nazi hostilities in the rooms you encounter. There are four weapons in Wolfenstein 3D: your trusty knife which you will never seemingly use because most enemies are hitscan and could end you up rather quickly, the standard Luger pistol which is semi-automatic and deals less damage, the MP40 which is will be the most used weapon in the game and the Chaingun which can mow down large number of foes and bosses, but eats up a lot of ammo.

There are 60 levels in total in the game, 6 of them being Secret Floors which can be accessed only through secret areas. Aside from weapon, ammo and health pickups, there are also treasure items which boosts up your score and the completion tally at the end of each level. 

The enemy variety is a bit lackluster, only being a few types, but at least there is a different boss in each episode. 

The difficulty increases in each episode you play, adding more and more harder enemies to deal with.

Soundtrack

The music is composed by none other than Robert "Bobby" Prince inspired by both WW2 soundracks and more modern aesthetics. In my opinion the music is really good and sometimes catchy, my favorite one in the game being "Pounding Headache".

Conclusions and Score

In conclusion, Wolfenstein 3D is a decent game but unfortunately for modern standards of today hasn't aged well by having it's problems: mazelike and confusing levels, two episodes in which you cannot 100% complete and the overall difficulty of the entire game which can offput some gamers.

I give it a 7,4/10 I could even say it's a must play for Die-Hard-FPS-guys/gals-before-they-die type of game.