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Wolfenstein
Ignore the heritage, and you might well enjoy the good, old-fashioned meat-and-potatoes shooter that is Raven's Wolfenstein
Written by Chris Schilling, 04 September 2009
That name. It's a burden Wolfenstein finds hard to bear, struggling under the weight of a legacy left by one of the world's most famous, influential and well-loved first-person shooters. Its eventual sequel, Return to Castle Wolfenstein was also very much a product of its time - back in 2001, it didn't particularly innovate, but was a hugely polished and well-constructed shooter with an excellent multiplayer mode.
Wolfenstein doesn't have any innovations, its idTech engine is starting to look a little creaky, and its multiplayer is a shadow of its predecessor's. Yet its single-player campaign provides solid - if slightly guileless - entertainment from start to finish.
360Zine Issue 34
For our latest Wolfenstein coverage, click here to download 360Zine Issue 34 for free.Protagonist BJ Blazcowicz returns, this time to prevent further Nazi dabblings in the occult. This time he has a medallion which allows him to enter The Veil, a world between our own and that of the mysterious Black Sun, a place Hitler and his cronies have been using to turn soldiers into hideously mutated (but rather combat-effective) creatures. Designs for these beasties are pulled straight from the likes of Gears of War, Killzone 2 and even Left 4 Dead, while the AI of your Nazi enemies ranges from scarily accurate to completely lobotomised, often so terrified when you run straight at them that they'll point their guns but fail to fire, allowing you to puncture their oesophagi with your bayonet blade.
That the latter is quite so satisfying is probably a large part of Wolfenstein's appeal. Its weapons are great - meaty, powerful, and more importantly upgradeable - and the pleasure of being able to first dismember Nazis with a pimped-out Kar98 rifle, and then disintegrate them with a particle cannon shouldn't be underestimated. No-one quite does elaborate limb-removal like Raven, and seeing an enemy hop around vainly on one leg as blood gushes from the hole where his other should be, or watching a group of Nazis do the electro-judder dance as you frazzle them with the tesla gun is perhaps one of this year's guiltiest pleasures.
It might be something old, little new, plenty borrowed...but playing Wolfenstein is unlikely to leave you blue.
Wolfenstein coverage available in 360Zine Issue 34 - click here to download it for free!
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