The name Wolfenstein is certainly one of the most easily recognized ones in gaming and the original Wolfenstein 3D created what has become one of the most popular genres of gaming, the first-person shooter. The creators of the Wolfenstein series, id, have never milked the name and when a new Wolfenstein game is announced it is generally an exciting time for gamers. Once again William ‘B.J.’ Blazkowicz is heading into the fray to take it to the Nazis up close and personal in Wolfenstein for the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The question remains, does this successor to the Wolfenstein name live up to its legacy? Read on to find out.

Gameplay

Hitler’s march through Europe has been stalled by the Allied forces and the Nazis have started exploring more...unconventional methods of warfare to push the 3rd Reich on. Enter the small German town of Isenstadt, the only place on earth were a mysterious forced called Black Sun can be distilled from a parallel dimension called the Veil. Fortunately the Allies can call on U.S. Special Agent William ‘B.J.’ Blazkowicz to go to Isenstadt, get in with the various resistance groups within the town and find out what the Nazis are up to.


Early on in the game you will assist one of these resistance groups, an odd one from Russia that studies the occult, in finding a magical medallion and a mysterious Nachtsonne crystal. Once in your possession the medallion allows you to enter the Veil at will, granting you extra speed and allowing you to pass through certain walls and see things invisible in the normal world. Your Veil powers use up Veil Energy which can be regained by charging up in any Black Sun pool. The Veil medallion and its subsequent upgrades, made by finding additional Nachtsonne crystals, illustrate the major and really the only true innovation to be found in this newest iteration of the Wolfenstein series. The medallion’s upgrades include the ability to slow time, create a bullet-proof shield and ubercharge (see what I did there?) whatever firepower you happen to be unleashing at the moment. The armament you can collect is rather significant as well, with everything from the always very popular Tesla Cannon to the MP40 submachine gun, Panzerschreck Rocket Launcher, a flamethrower and the new bad boy in town, the Particle Cannon. It must be noted that each and every weapon, your medallion and medallion powers can have further upgrades applied to them. These additional upgrades cost cash and the upgrades must be purchased from black-market vendors found throughout Isenstadt. The main burg of Isenstadt acts as your hub-wrold that contains various sectors, safe-houses, black-markets and streets packed with Nazi patrols. Those patrols will always contain your average throwaway Nazi soldiers but as you progress through the game and meet new, meaner and weirder foes in the various missions, their kin will be found in patrols in the streets of Isenstadt.

If you’ve ever played a shooter before, and if you are reading this I will assume you have, then the controls will be familiar to you. The additional Veil Powers are really not all that different to other such modes in other FPSs so they shouldn’t create any difficulty for a gamer with a touch of experience. The controls themselves are fairly tight and feel good regardless of your control system of preference, and nicely customizable with various options, like Aim Assist, for those who wish to use them.  The fairly dumb A.I. will mean that lightning fast reflexes aren’t required for this game so if you are using a standard keyboard and mouse you should be fine. Gaming gear might come in handy during multiplayer where human opponents will test your skills. Wolfenstein has the standard levels of difficulty for those looking for more or less of a challenge. The weapons fire and feel like you think they should in game and are damn satisfying to use. The enemy A.I. would probably score slightly better on the Turing test then a rotten turnip, but only just. You can expect the enemy to take to the nearest cover but where ever you suspect a head will pop up is pretty damn likely the place that a head will pop up, that head will also have a quick staring contest with you giving you a nice couple of seconds to line up a sniper shot. I’m not very good with a sniper rifle in FPSs but in Wolfenstein I’ve scored an absolutely ridiculous number of head-shots.


Wolfenstein, like any modern FPS comes loaded with a multiplayer mode, and while there aren’t as many modes included as one would expect the action is fun and the classes add an enjoyable twist and a few interesting challenges to an otherwise unremarkable multiplayer mode. Included are Team Death Match which is exactly what you think, Objectives in which you defend your turf as the Axis or complete objectives as the Resistance and finally (yes, there are only three) Stopwatch which is basically Objectives but each team takes a turn defending and attacking and the best time to complete the objectives wins.

Graphics and Audio

The graphics engine that pushes Wolfenstein does an excellent job of keeping the game running with no frame-rate hitches or slowdown and very little in the way of texture pop-in. Unfortunately this isn’t as great an accomplishment as it would seem seeing as how Wolfenstein does not push any modern hardware remotely close to the limits we’ve seen in the last two years as far as graphics quality is concerned. While the PC version does marginally out class the consoles in graphics quality, the fact that you are sitting so close to the monitor will make it all the more apparent that the textures could have been better. It certainly doesn’t look bad but the graphics seem a bit dated and the facial animation on the NPCs is not terribly enjoyable to watch. On the positive side the Veil Powers cause some interesting lighting effects which are quite nice to look at.


On the audio side of the technical aspects Wolfenstein fares a bit better as the sound effects and score are very fitting and sound really solid. The voice acting on the other hand is far from top shelf. The accents are way over the top in nearly all cases and even the actually acting isn’t overly believable but the worst part is the repetitiveness of the NPC resistance fighters. If you are one of those FPS players that like to explore your environs after clearing out the baddies, be prepared to listen to really crappy German accented resistance fighters yell; “Hurry B.J. we must move!” over, and over, and over...etc. That guy is not getting his share of my looted Nazi gold, that’s for sure.

Value

Wolfenstein offers up a bit of open ended gameplay and some optional missions plus a really large number of weapon/power upgrades all of which you cannot afford in a single play-through so the single player campaign definitely gives you reason to come back and run through again. The multiplayer is also quite fun and while it certainly isn’t as deep as multiplayer is many other modern FPSs it does offer class based play and the ability to buy upgrades for your weapons with cash earned in matches.

Conclusion

Despite the few complaints I have about Wolfenstein, particularly the dated graphics and terrible A.I., when it comes right down to core gameplay it is a fun, solid and satisfying FPS that will appeal to those looking for a straight up shooter with few bells and whistles.