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Those of you who aren’t familiar with older video games may have never even heard of Wolfenstein before, allow me to educate you – Wolfenstein was one of the pioneers of the FPS genre that is... well it’s pretty darned popular, isn’t it? This game’s ancestor, Wolfenstein 3D (that ran on MS-DOS) may not look pretty to the eye, but its influence on modern gaming cannot be overstated. Such a shame is it then, that Wolfenstein does nearly nothing new for the ever so slowly stalling genre.

But hey, do you like shooting guns? At Nazis? Well then my friend, ignore the rambling diatribe above and go out and buy Wolfenstein. Yes, as you may have imagined this game is an incredibly competent first person shooter that makes good use of a very well made upgrade system and some cool magical powers.

Wolfenstein’s “plot” is little more than a flimsy premise to set you on your way to capping some olde-worlde skinheads. That isn’t necessarily bad, per-se, and didn’t really influence my enjoyment of the game; I mean, if you wanted a deep meaningful story... well, you probably shouldn’t be considering playing a game in which the main character is constantly addressed as ‘BJ’. Go to the German WWII town of Isenstadt and kill the leader of the ‘Nazi Paranormal Division’? Sure, why not. Use the magical crystals to walk through walls? Absolutely.

The game completely quashes any smouldering embers of narrative left by making every single German (that’s pretty much everyone in the game apart from ‘BJ’) have a terrible, terrible accent, that reminds me of some sort of semi-racist impression of a Nazi which your drunken uncle might impose upon you at a wedding. Then... well, towards the end, a character that is reasonably important in the grand scheme of things dies in a gunfight. This may sound reasonable, but the game presents this as some kind of huge calamity when you have talked to this character for literally at most; 2 minutes. It was at this point I realised Wolfenstein was awesome.

Sure, it has a terrible story, but you know what: Raven Software doesn’t give a damn, and neither should you. The shooting system is terrific, there are eight weapons in all that will absolutely quench your blood lust, and dude, when you shoot a Nazi’s head, it pops off like a coconut in a sideshow. Speaking of weapons, as I mentioned earlier, they are all super upgradable, to a point where at the end of the game I was completely unstoppable, mowing down Nazi’s with a super-charged laser cannon that leaves a smouldering pile of bones. During the course of the game you pick up four crystals, one that allows you to see things not visible in the real world, one that allows you to slow down time, one that deploys a bubble shield, and one that gives you extra damage power. However, these magical powers won’t last long - at most 15 seconds - meaning the fight isn’t too unbalanced.

It’s probably worth mentioning that Wolfenstein has a multiplayer component. The little I played of it (about 45 minutes in all) was really enough to prove to me that it was passable. There’s a Team Deathmatch and two objective based modes that really just add another bullet point on the back of the game’s box. However competent it is doesn’t really matter, however, as I’m willing to bet that within a couple of months the servers will be empty.

Wolfenstein isn’t pretty, it’s not got some new “cutting edge” art style, it wasn’t written by J.J. Abrams and its multiplayer is forgetable, so if you want any of those things, move along. However, if you like shooting then you’ll get a good solid 8+ hours out of this game that are incredibly enjoyable, even if only for low-brow thrills.

Matt

Labels: Activision, Matt, Matthew Meadows, Review, Wolfenstein

Hate Nazis? Good, you've just been given a holiday. It appears that August 18th and 21st have been chosen as hosts to one sexy, sexy celebration of anti-fascist sentiment.

The reason: in a span of three days, the tenants of Adolf Hitler will be artistically urinated on in not one, but two ways. Gaming-wise, the third installment of the famous Castle Wolfenstein series will once again give players a chance to kill Nazis and their unnatural undead experiments. Three days later, Quentin Tarantino's latest blockbuster, "Inglourious Basterds," will tell the exciting and child-friendly tale of a group of happy young Jewish-American soldiers in France during the Second World War who took it upon themselves to perform acts of swift, shocking violence against high-ranking Nazi officials in retribution for over a decade of horrible social atrocities committed to their people. It's a potent combination. I personally foresee a fresh landslide of jokes, blog entries, newspaper articles, and t-shirts relating to Nazism in the general public.

Seeing a connection between their products, the good people at Activision and iD entertainment, the companies that produced the latest Wolfenstein in the series, decided sometime in the relative past to sponsor the just-as-good people at Universal Pictures, who are producing Inglourious Basterds. It's the kind of corporate menage a trois that people only dream of.

To get people excited about what I'm now calling "Freedom Weekend", iD, Activision, and Universal Pictures have created a contest that combines the essences of the Wolfenstein franchise and Tarantino's latest flick by glorifying in the destruction of everything Hitler believed in and stood for: anti-semitism and the existence of godless zombie experiments.

Entering is easy, just head over to GameSpot.com and fill out a form. After that, wait and see if you are one of the two lucky entrees chosen. If so, then take a moment to congratulate yourself before proceeding with a companion of your choice to Los Angeles. There, you will attend the Hollywood premiere of Inglourious Basterds at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre, after which you will be escorted, probably via gold-plated limousine, to a ritzy, star-studded after party, where you will no doubt nervously spill exorbitantly-priced martinis on gorgeous celebrities.

You might as well apply, the chance is too great to miss.

Wolfenstein will be playable on the 360, PS3, and PC. For those of you who are more interested in the game than its contest, head to its main page - it'll tell you everything you need to know.

Greg

Labels: Activision, Greg Mengel, iD, Wolfenstein