Wolfenstein - Game Review

Wolfenstein 3D in its First Person Shooter (FPS) form was first launched in 1992 by Id Software and is considered to be the beginning of the 3D gaming era. Based on two earlier games that go by Castle Wolfenstein (1981) and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein(1984), Wolfenstein 3D is a game that changed my perception of what computers could do. Until Wolf came out, 2D scrollers like Digger and Dave were the heights of gaming technology. And then when it did launch, it made 2D scrollers look bad (I still enjoy them). It put Id Software into the forefront of game development technology and they have churned out one awesome game after another. So when I heard that a new installment of Wolfenstein was releasing, my joy knew no bounds and I couldn't wait to lay my hands on it. When the game launched last week, I knew what I would be doing the most of this weekend. And now, I feel like an astrologer, albeit one who kills Nazis and monsters.

In the last decade or so Id has been widely criticized for making 3D FPS games that don't have much of a story. While I really haven't been bothered by this all that much (I like my share of digital killing), it certainly helps to have a strong plot in a game. Id has been licensing its gaming engine to other game developers and when I heard that Raven Software was one of the developers I knew I could expect a game with a proper story and good action.

The game is bloody brilliant. Any gamer who likes the 3D FPS genre shouldn't call himself one without having played this game. Take Call of Duty 4 (the game), mix it nicely with Da Vinci Code (the movie), and then after a few hours add Doom 3. This is the recipe for the latest reincarnation of the Wolfenstein series. And boy, is it tasty or is it tasty?

You play an American Spy William "B.J" Blazkowicz, mostly called B.J (I wonder why?) through the game, operating in the city of Isenstadt that has been taken over by the Nazi War Machine researching into paranormal activities to strengthen the Third Reich and defeat the allies. Though the game is set during the world war time, you do not battle in the front-lines and are sneaking around Isenstatd on missions, some aided by the local resistance fighters, that is vital to uncovering the Nazi plan.

The game has an interesting story line and for the first part your are mostly fighting the German soldiers, stormtroopers and their elite soldiers. Towards the latter half of the game you encounter more wilder hybrids between humans and other creatures that are the result of Nazi experiments with the paranormal. The paranormal being the Nazi attempts to build portals between earth and another dimension of an old civilization. The game is very fast paced and one doesn't have to travel very far for missions since you are mostly playing in and around the Isenstadt area. Besides fighting inside the town, you also get to enjoy the visuals while fighting in farms, underground bunkers and caves, castles and airfields. You even get to fight while flying on a Zeppelin airship. The total gameplay time was around 12.5 hours for me. One thing annoying in the game was collecting money. Money is needed to upgrade weapons and this is generally a distraction in the game. Being in the constant look out for corners of rooms and dark alleys for a bag of money deviates from the plot of the game. For an American spy, I would expect the guy to have sufficient money to buy weapons which should have been given as a reward for finishing missions. My other complaint about the game is the difficulty level. I would highly recommend any seasoned FPS player to try hard and not the medium difficulty level. The medium level almost borders on insulting shooting skills except towards the end of the game where things get tight.

The game has a huge armory. Besides standard Nazi war weapons like the grenades, MG40 and MG43 (both machine guns), the Kar98 (Rifle), Panzerschrek (rocket launcher) and the flame thrower, there are super weapons like the Tesla gun (electrocutes), the Particle Cannon and Leichenfaust 44 (something like a powerful plasma gun). All weapons are upgradeable and upgrading the weapons make a big difference to the damage and consequently the game play. In addition to all these weapons there are special modes that help shield enemy attack, slow time, look into the other dimension and shoot through enemy shields. Some of these modes even serve additional functions when used in combination and all special modes require a special form of energy that depletes quickly and has to be replenished frequently. There are many sources for replenishment - energy canisters or empty spaces that seem to be dissipating energy out of no where. I played most of the game with the MG43 machine gun and the Kar98. With scopes affixed on both of these there are plenty of opportunities for sniping in close as well as wide open spaces. The super-weapons are really helpful when engaging many enemies at the same time. The only weapon I didn't put to good use is the Particle Cannon.

The game has fantastic visuals and is unlike most other Id games which tend to be dark and cramped. All main characters have unique faces and can be easily identified. The interiors of houses, offices, factories and hangars are well done with unique textures that don't repeat very often. So are open spaces like the farm or the airfield. The body parts of soldiers are done really well. Grenade explosions will lead to flying limbs. Shooting on the head or the limb will clearly remove only that part of the body. You get a double kill if you shoot two people standing back to back. There is enough blood and gore to make the serial killer in you happy. On the other hand if monsters are your cup of tea, the game provides enough of them to satisfy you. The game physics are also nice. Flying limbs, particles in the air and fires, all follow laws of physics and add to the game play. The sound track is also pretty gripping. Though I don't have surround sound, the audio is clear and it helps to pay attention to those talking. I especially liked the bass sound when you shoot the enemy shields.

All in all the game is fantastic and would score a 8/10. It would have been a niner if not for the gold and the wrongly labeled difficulty levels (though this might be a matter of personal opinion). It would have been a tener if not for the often reused Nazi-monster theme. However, that is not to take away from what could possibly be one of the contenders for the 3D FPS game of the year (Until Call of Duty - Mordern Warfare 2 releases?).