"Aieeeeeeee!" – Random Nazi Soldier

Do you remember Castle Wolfenstein? No, probably not. Castle Wolfenstein was an isometric stealth game released in 1981 for the Apple II, and eventually id Software decided "wouldn't it be cool to see castle Wolfenstein in 3D?" So after many hours of blood and sweat, we got this game.

Developer: id Software

Publisher: Apogee

Gameplay: While not the first FPS (Catacombs 3D gets that title), Wolfenstein 3D was the first real FPS. Essentially you used your small assortment of weapons (Wolf3D only has four guns) to battle your way through nine maze-like levels to the boss in each of the six episodes. There's not really a large variety of enemies, most of the time you end up fighting regular old Nazi soldiers. Each level of each episode involves finding the one or two keys to each set of locked doors scattered about the area while killing everything in your path, and then taking the elevator to the next level where you rinse and repeat. The gameplay of Wolfenstein 3D is not very interesting, it can be very easy to get lost since every corridor generally looks the same and there is no form of mini-map. Wolfenstein 3D can certainly be challenging on higher difficulty levels, and you actually have lives. I don't know why id Software included lives myself, they are utterly useless as you end up starting at the beginning of the level with nothing but your knife and pistol. If you were smart, you were better off saving the game at the beginning of each bloody level.

Generic Nazi Soldier #1

Generic Nazi Soldier #2

Design: Wolfenstein was very simple in its design. The FPS genre was still in its infant stages, so this is somewhat forgivable. There were only a handful of enemies to combat, and every freaking level looked the same. There were no ledges, or any form of height mapping. Every level was just one plane with a bunch of corridors forming an often large maze. Navigating the maze-like levels of Wolfenstein could be a challenge due to the lack of a map feature, and more often than not most of the level used the same wall textures. It's not difficult to end up lost, and going in circles due to the way the game is structured, and unless you know the levels inside out you can spend literally hours looking for the silver key so you can move on to finding the gold one.

One aspect of the design that I always found odd was that the Nazis seemed to eat off of the floor rather than the tables.

The table is right there

Nostalgia Factor: Even when Wolfenstein was new I don't think I was ever particularly impressed by it. Yeah it was one of the first 3D games (Three dimensional games were nothing but a dream back then, believe it or not), but I found the way the game was structured to be more tedious than fun. Killing Nazis was fun, but navigating large confusing levels with no real variety, and finding keys was not. Revisiting Wolfenstein was more of a chore than anything, yeah it brought back memories but I never really had any positive memories with it to begin with.

The Boss of Episode One: Escape from Castle Wolfenstein

Critical Reception: Wolfenstein 3D was fairly well received by gaming magazines when it came out initially. Unfortunately due to the lack of wide scale internet, there are no online reviews that came out when the game was new.

How it holds Up: Not well at all. Since this was the first true FPS it does deserve a margin of respect, but if you're spoiled by modern shooters then Wolfenstein 3D is only worth playing if you want to see how the genre more or less began. With level design worse than Halo, and a very small selection of weapons and enemies Wolfenstein would serve as little more than a dust gatherer in your collection. I don't think I've ever heard anyone claim that Wolfenstein 3D is better than a lot of today's shooters, but this is one game that I certainly would not add to the list of old school games that are superior to modern day releases.

RAWR!

Useless Trivia:

- Wolfenstein 3D had a lesser known sequel called Spear of Destiny.

- Story-wise episodes four, five and six occur before one to three.

- Wolfenstein 3D was remade by id Software as Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

- The main character of the game, B.J. Blazkowicz is the grandfather of Commander Keen protagonist Billy Blaze.

- Wolfenstein 3D was banned in Germany.

Useful External Links:

Moby Games Wolfenstein 3D Page

Hardcore collector? Masochist? You can buy Wolfenstein 3D at id Software's Online Store

Want to get lost in blue corridors for free? Download the shareware version of Wolfenstein 3D which includes all of Episode One: Escape from Castle Wolfenstein.