I really hate it 🙁

Forced checkpoint progression (no backtracking of course), enemy imbalance, badly done gore that apparently needed a "gore expert", no options to disable point overlays or annoying voices, lame "dat nostalgia" classic soundtrack rendering, forced-too-fast player phyiscs getting caught up on microdetails on maps too easily, indestructible environment, mouse input bugs, keyboard binding bugs, artificially unfair gameplay, and overall lacking Tom Hall subtlety and charm of the original.

I wasn't really hyped up about it in the first place though, but it sure shows that there is a lot of sheep on that 'oldschool 90s fps' reboot bandwagon. That said, not interested in Hard Reset 2 - i mean Shadow Warrior, either.

Call me when "oldschool" stops being Serious Sam The Next Encounter. Sorry if I sound a bit "Get off my lawn" grump, but even if it didn't ride on the Rise of the Triad name, it's still a very flawed game in terms of the actual game.

Alrighty then, my faint interest is withdrawn.

In my experience the only way to get old school charm is to play the original. Sounds like this is no different.

And artificially unfair gameplay is always a turnoff, regardless of the game or genre.

Indeed. There's a lot of 'where the hell is this hitscan coming from' and it's almost always enemies you can't see well. It makes you wonder if they're getting you through the walls. Poor damage feedback doesn't help.

leileilol has valid complaints but I'm still having a lot of fun with it. The remixed soundtrack is pretty cool.
I like the 'hunt for health/weapons/secrets' style gameplay that is most modern shooters eschew.

I say for $15 its worth a look if you don't think about it too hard 😀

leileilol wrote:

I wasn't really hyped up about it in the first place though, but it sure shows that there is a lot of sheep on that 'oldschool 90s fps' reboot bandwagon.

I can empathise with your comments, but this is a bit harsh.

It's installing as I type this, verdict incoming.

OK, just finished the first two levels.

leileilol wrote:

Forced checkpoint progression (no backtracking of course), -- Yeah. Annoying. You can't save mid-level either, but could you do […]
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Forced checkpoint progression (no backtracking of course), -- Yeah. Annoying. You can't save mid-level either, but could you do that in old ROTT? Can't remember.

enemy imbalance -- I played on "Normal" and it seemed OK. Maybe they got the scaling wrong on the higher settings?

badly done gore that apparently needed a "gore expert" -- Yeah, agree. It's cartoony and stupid.

no options to disable point overlays or annoying voices -- Agree.

lame "dat nostalgia" classic soundtrack rendering -- Didn't try em, I like the new heavy metal recordings.

forced-too-fast player phyiscs getting caught up on microdetails on maps too easily -- Can't say I came across this. You do move pretty fast though, and I noticed that you can get "pushed through" the hover platforms from time to time, if you don't like up with the floor properly.

indestructible environment -- Yeah, I miss this.

mouse input bugs, keyboard binding bugs -- I only noticed that the sensitivity is a bit funny, and took a bit of trial-and-error to find a nice setting.

artificially unfair gameplay -- I didn't notice this, but again, maybe the difficulty curve is bad.

and overall lacking Tom Hall subtlety and charm of the original. -- This is true in spades, sadly.

I'm still enjoying it though. Even with its flaws, it's a nice break from "modern" shooters.

Ever suddenly restarted the level because you couldn't even see the game over screen?

That has happened SEVERAL times and that usually sets off my "fuck this game" quit frustration. Where were the playtesters?

SquallStrife wrote:

lame "dat nostalgia" classic soundtrack rendering -- Didn't try em, I like the new heavy metal recordings.

Wait, so there are two different soundtracks or what?
I've only heard that metal version of 'Going Down the Fast Way', but I don't like it -- wish they'd put more thought into this type of stuff than the same old autopilot protools metal with dry detuned guitar, Drummer From Hell samples, and all non-obvious instrumentation removed from the original. *shrugs*

In the audio options there's a 'classic' mode that plays the original soundtrack (I think recorded from a Sound Canvas) instead of the new metal remixes.

The game is certainly not without its flaws but FWIW I'm enjoying it and would happily spend another $15 on a similar game. There's a lot of worse games for thrice the price.

Also for people with mouse input or framerate issues, check the steam forums for this game, there's a number of pinned threads that detail how to resolve these (usually just editing a config file). There's also new AMD beta drivers that help with framerate.

Hmmm...forced checkpoints sounds like another Call of Duty wannabe. I'm getting tired of rail-shooters-in-disguise. And I'm a sucker for having bought the series till Modern Warfare 2. Too bad playable demos are becoming a thing of the past, to try them before buying. Saying that, I like the original though.

leileilol wrote:

Forced checkpoint progression (no backtracking of course)

This is a gamebreaker for me. One of the main things I enjoy about retro FPS games is the fact that you're allowed to freely roam the levels. With the added linearity of forced checkpoints, it pretty much makes things like Halo or CoD. That said, I might still get it if the multiplayer is good, and the mod support is as good as they claim it is. Who knows, maybe someone will make a mod for it that eliminates the dumb checkpoints and turns it into what it should've been in the first place; ROTT with modern graphics.

yeah, after playing a bit more of the game and repeatedly dying to some silly instadeath jumping/bouncing puzzle, and having to restart half a level back at the last checkpoint... the lack of quicksave is pretty frustrating.

I'm not sure why they included these types of puzzles. The original ROTT didn't really have any nasty bouncing puzzles, certainly none where you died instantly - IIRC the only instadeath in the original was getting crushed between walls or touching a sky tile. Extreme ROTT may have been a worse offender in this regard but that made no illusions about being fair or balanced. I have played through original and extreme ROTT several times but its been many years.

Hell, most people complained about the Xen levels in Half Life because of the jumping puzzles - it seems pretty generally accepted that first person jumping puzzles are just tedious to play.

On a positive, I liked the retro secret level in episode 2. I can see Scott's Mystical Head in E2L2 but haven't managed to find a way to get it yet.

jm2c as well, I like it 😁

I think on the episode 2 level select screen, towards the top left you can see the Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket in a cave.
There's something else on episode 1 level select screen but I can't quite make out what its supposed to be.

It's got way too many rough edges to get a great review from me.

It needs a quick save feature, badly! Getting wiped out by long range poorly defined enemies is dull and makes the previous point even more pertinent. Dying and restarting without seeing anything of it has happened several times. Bad keyboard mapping facility that doesn't recognise certain keys so have to manually edit the ini file. Not saving options so have to reset each and every time. The music is good, the game is fast and furious.

It needs a good deal of work and it'll be a great game (bargain at the price). As it is, it isn't worth any more than the £10 I paid and may never get completed.

I bought it because it came with the throwback pack, i figured that prices the game at 4 bucks since the throw back pack is 10 bucks alone so i picked it hoping that it will be a good or decent game. i have yet to play it.

Too bad the throwback pack ships with DOSBox 0.72. Probably because either laziness (old Siegler-era packs) or they don't like the splash logo.

why not compile a version with out the splash logo and for fuck's sake release it on mac and linux, christ it's practically plug and play. this goes for every dosbox packaged game.

cdoublejj wrote:

why not compile a version with out the splash logo and for fuck's sake release it on mac and linux, christ it's practically plug and play. this goes for every dosbox packaged game.

I once asked GOG.com about this and they claim they have found better compatibility with some games in 0.72 and 0.73. I think that is just covering up a reluctance to update all of their installers.

I agree i makes no sense why they have so many games compatible with Dosbox yet not yet released for Mac or Linux.