Rise of the Triad

Also had a nice truckload of multiplayer options and games. Very nice indeed.

UPDATE: 11/11/2000

Playing over ROTT again nowadays makes me realize quite a few things about it. Most of all, this game was REALLY ahead of it's time. Around the time when Doom allowed 4-player deathmatches (Teams if you're lucky) in the game's normal levels, ROTT allowed 11 players in 9 different deathmatch games (YEARS before the first CTF mod was made for Quake, ROTT had Capture the Triad) spread over 30 multiplayer levels (in the CD version... site liscence version had 10 more, PLUS the random level generator) PLUS the single-player levels.

Not only that, but ROTT had pre-recorded audio taunts (Remote Ridicule). You could have the game scream "BEHIND YOU!" right before cracking some skulls with Excalibat. And, LONG before Team Fortress 2, this had Live Remote Ridicule... primitive by today's standards, but it allowed one player at a time to speak into the microphone and have everyone in-game hear it.

Perspective-corrected sprites, too? Heaven forbid!

Rise of the Triad Weapons:

The shotgun, the rocket launcher, the BFG. Most gamers alive during the Doom era know these weapons by heart.

With that said, here's a rundown of all the weapons (Not counting powerups) in ROTT:

Pistols

• Pistol

  You start the game (and each life) with one of these. Weak, slow, rather pathetic. The sort of thing you want to upgrade FAST. Fortunately, it has infinite ammo, so just holding down fire should keep you alive long enough until you get something better.

  Ammo: Infinite
  Damage: 13HP per shot

• Dual pistols

  Twice as fast as the normal pistol. Okay as a weapon, but still too slow for production use.

  Ammo: Infinite
  Damage: 26HP per shot (2 bullets per shot)

• MP40

  Your multi-use weapon. Infinite ammo, fast firing. Beautiful for rooms full of low guards, useable against Triad Enforcers, an all-around really fun weapon.

  Ammo: Infinite
  Damage: 10HP per bullet

• Bazooka

  Your general straight-firing, explosive weapon. Though it has no "special" things about it, it comes with the most ammo and is relatively powerful. Great for those long distance power shots.

  Ammo: 10 shells
  (If you snagged it from a Lightning Guard, it'll have 3-x shells, where x is the number of times the guard shot you with it)
  Damage: 160-222HP per shell

• Heatseeker

  Put bluntly, a heat-seeking missile. Not quite as powerful as the bazooka, but when you're hunting low guards or your opponents in Comm-bat, it really doesn't matter -- it's strong enough.

  It should be noted that a heatseeker, true to it's name, will seek HEAT. This includes lights and torches in the room, as well as enemies.

  Ammo: 7 shells
  Damage: 100-162HP per shell

• Drunk Missile

  Possibly one of the most fun weapons in the game, the Drunk Missile shoots a spray of 5 missiles which travel at random for a second before they all start to home in, a la the heatseeker. This can cause a great deal of pain and gibbing. Don't fire it in a close hallway.

  Ammo: 7 clusters of 5 missiles each
  Damage: 25-56 per missile

• Firebomb

  The death weapon. A danger to yourself and others. The firebomb fires a missile forward which, on impact, spreads mushroom cloud-like explosions in an X pattern. Lethal in close quarters, dangerous in wide open spaces. Not a weapon to be messed with.

  Ammo: 5 missiles
  Damage: 150-242, plus explosions

• Flamewall

  Another fun weapon. This kicks out a small missile which, on it's own, does little damage. The real fun comes when it hits the ground, whereupon it breaks into a huge wall of flame that travels across the floor. The flames will incinerate any normal human enemy in your path (This goes for other players in Comm-bat, too). Fun.

  Ammo: 5 missiles
  Damage: Instant death -OR- loss of Asbestos Armor

• Split Missile

  A specialized-use weapon, to say the least. The split missile's shot starts as a normal bazooka shell until you release the fire button. Then, the missile breaks off at 45 degree angles into two more missiles, each of which home in, a la the heatseeker. Very nice in open areas where each missile can have a chance to home in on something.

  Ammo: 7 clusters of 2 missiles each
  Damage: 100-162 per missile

• Excalibat

  The followers of El Oscuro, while casting a magic staff-creating spell, needed a length of wood to complete the spell. All they could find was a baseball bat. So, now it's a magic baseball bat.

  One of the magic weapons you can find. Excalibat appears as a glowing green baseball bat (Louisville Slugger, no less). The basic (And infinite) form of attack with Excalibat is to swing it like, well, a baseball bat. Rather weak, but always fun to watch.

  The "real" attack of Excalibat, however, is when you hold down fire, releasing a 180 degree arc of baseballs, each one exploding with massive damage. A great crowd-pleaser, although a little slow to fire.

  Ammo: Infinite swings, 10 Excaliblasts
  Damage: 10-50HP per swing, 160-222HP per ball in the Excaliblast

• Dark Staff

  Extremely powerful, fun to fire. The Dark Staff summons a ball of pure kinetic energy and fires it straight forward. This is the sort of thing you don't want to get in the way of -- it's just that powerful. It does fall short in the speed department, though.

  Ammo: 7 Kinetic Energy Spheres
  Damage: 280-432HP per shot

NOTE: Some of the information in these nodes was taken from the official ROTT FAQ v3.0, at http://www.3drealms.com/faq/rottfaq30.txt. Specifically, the exact damage and ammo supplies were taken; all the descriptions are in my own words.

However, in all fairness, Ken himself wrote in the Ken's Labyrinth readme file that the engine was directly inspired by Wolfenstein.

Update: There now seems to be a bit of a scuffle between myself and my fellow noder, EvilDonut, who consistently claims that the engine was, in fact, based off id's engine, and not Silvermans. His evidence lies in this article (http://www.classicgaming.com/rott/hell), where Mark Dochtermann - Apogee programmer - claims he reprogrammed the Wolf engine for ROTT. However, I recall reading a short article by Silverman on a now-defunct website where he claimed his first work was done for ROTT. I suppose people will believe EvilDonut now, since his claims can be substantiated. I am leaving my (incorrect?) writeup intact, however, and let the courts decide.

December 20th, 2002. andman says The source code for Rise of the Triad was released under the GPL today, thought you might want to add that to your w/u. Read more at http://linuxgames.com/news/feedback.php? identiferID=6094&action=flatview