Editor's Say - "Good" "The granddaddy of FPS. A walk down memory lane" Find out what i thought...
Wolfenstein review by Simon a.k.a. [TheDevilDweller]
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*****Introduction*****
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The Good:
Great strong FPS game-play - Fun single player campaign - Brutal - Veil powers
The Bad:
Uninteresting story and characters - Uninspiring cut-scenes - Old style elements in new generation - Frame rate problems - To many loading times - Multiplayer issues
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Wolfenstein, sequel to 2001's Return to Castle Wolfenstein, may be the granddaddy of first person shooters (Along side Doom), but with this new generations of gamers, it just doesn't stand out enough from the crowd.
A walk down memory lane.
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*****The Plot*****
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Story:
Wolfenstein is a sequal to Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Set some time around 1943, you play American agent B.J Blazkowicz call in on a mission by OSA to sabotage a Nazi Kriegsmarine warship planning to fire on London. On his mission, Blazkowicz comes across a medallion called the "Thule Medallion". Moments after Blazkowicz was seized by Nazi soldiers, the medallion affectively cast a shield around his body blocking of a hail of Nazi bullets. After the inceident, Blazkowicz managed to escape on a fighter plane and blow up the Nazi warship thus completing his mission. Blazkowicz learned that the medallion needed crystals called Nachtstone, that are only found in Isenstadt. Blazkowicz is sent to Isentadt undercover to stop an excavator, a Nazi general named General Zetta. Unfortunately, Blazkowicz's cover was blown by a mysterious informant. Blazkowicz was confronted by Nazi solider. With the help of agents for the Kreisau Circle, Blazkowicz manages to fight of the Nazi troops and makes it to Isenstadt.
In Isenstadt, agent B.J Blazkowicz agrees to aid the resistance against the Nazi arm. Throughout his encounter with the resistance, Blazkowicz manages to retrieve a crystal with the help of a man named Kovlov, Blazkowicz is able to use the Thule Medallion against the Nazi's. Blazkowicz meets an old enemy he thought to be dead, and must find out what the Nazi's intentions are with the Thule Medallion.
The story can be quite good, but once the story gets further in, it gets boring and uninteresting. The story is told through cut scenes and intelligence documents that you can find throughout the game. Most of the cut scenes are rather sceptical and bland, the characters are moderate and not really interesting enough for you to get overly excited about.
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*****The Graphics*****
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Overall Design:
Developed by Raven Software and using the same game engine technology as that of Doom 3, Quake 4, and Prey, the graphics with Wolfenstein can look a little out dated, but still pretty good nonetheless.
The environment is nicely detailed. Character rending and textures can look slightly iffy at times. Special effect such as the Thule Medallion slow motion effect and Veil effects are pretty cool. Environmental element i.e. fire, water etc are pretty well done. Overall Wolfenstein may be made with an old engine, the visuals are still pretty good.
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*****The Game-Play*****
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Game-Play:
Perhaps the best thing about Wolfenstein is indeed the game-play.
Wolfenstein revolves around missions giving out to you by three different resistance groups, Kreisau Circle, Golden Dawn and the Black Market. Each group have different missions and objectives, but they're all aiming for the same thing, to defeat and stop the Nazi German plans, and to drive them out of Isenstadt. There are also hidden missions throughout the game given to you by other characters. Wolfenstein has a slightly more role playing concept, such as Oblivion and Fallout 3, being a first person shooter that you can select and accept missions of your chosen, and upgrade weapons and power abilities. Wolvenstein consists of you following a symbol on your compass that leads you in the right direction, so there is no real fear of getting lost. The level designs are quite open spaced, with a few linear areas.
Wolfenstein consists of a regeneration healing system, which is pretty standard with most games nowadays, that everyone should be familiar with. Whenever you take a considerable amount of damage, the screen with flash red indicating that your health is very low. Whenever this occurs, you must refrain from taking damage, in order to give yours health enough time to regenerate.
Throughout your play-through, there are 8 weapons to play around with, 5 realistic weapons, and 3 supernatural weapons. The 5 realistic weapons consist of the MP40 German machine gun, the Kar98k rifle, the MP43 German Machine gun, the Panzerschreck rocket launcher, and the Flammenwerfer. The 3 supernatural weapons consist of a Particle Cannon, a Tesla Gun, and a Leichenfaust 44. There are also mounted MG42's throughout the game, which each one can be used by the player, as well as grenades. While the option to use a pistol is granted within online multiplayer, the lack of a pistol or some sort of a handgun within the campaign mode will make you think "why isn't there one?". Even through there isn't really a wide range of weapons within Wolfenstein, each of the already existing weapons within the game feels great and responsive. There are several weapon upgrade shops located throughout the game that you can purchase additional add-ons for your weapons. Add-ons include clips that hold more ammunition, mounted scopes, grip handles for steadier aiming etc. Upgrading your weapons require money which are hiding throughout the game (almost like secret items) that will basically force you to explore a level or area, because finding money to upgrade your weapons is pretty essential in Wolfenstien.
In addition to you weapons, you will also find a strange medallion called the "Thule Medallion". With it you are granted special abilities to aid you throughout the game. The Thule Medallion consists of four crystals, each with a specific ability that you'll find as you proceed through the game, which is story related.
The four powers consists of:
The Veil Sight, which allows you to see secret passageways that your normal naked eyes cant see, enemies are highlighted, the ability to run faster, as well as being able to see through walls when upgraded.
Mire, grants you the ability to slow down time.
Empower, which when activated increases the damage of any weapon you use, and the ability to shoot throw power shields.
Shield, which casts a protective barrier (shield) around you. Once upgraded, the shield will bounce bullets back at your enemies.
The Thule Medallion is pretty cool, but it is a story related item to proceed with in the game, but it can make Wolfenstein pretty challenging if you chosen not to take advantage of it's power abilities. Once the Thule Medallion is activated, you enter a dimension called the "Veil" which is a dimension in between the human dimension and the fictional related story dimension called the "Black Sun". Whenever your in the Veil, you can see specialized enemies that can only be seen in the Veil called "Geists". Gesist are pretty harmless and passive creature when not provoked. Killing a Gesist will release a burst of energy that can stun, or even kill any nearby enemies. Killing a Gesist could cause any nearby Gesist to angrily attack you in a suicidal explosion that can take a fair amount of the health. Also when in the Veil mode, you can see secret passageways, your enemies become highlighted, which makes it easy to spot far of enemies that you may find difficult to spot in normal view, plus seeing your enemies in darkened areas, and the ability to run faster.
The Thule Medallion uses Black Sun energy, and every time you use the Thule Medallion and enter the Veil, it's main power will slowly drain depending on what power you are using. Using the Veil Sight can last for quite awhile, but using any of the other powers will cause the Thule Medallion's main power to dramatically decrease. In order to increase the Thule Medallion's main power, you must find Black Energy hotspots or drain power from Black Sun Energy barrels, located throughout the game. Black Sun Energy hotspots can be somewhat difficult to spot when not in the Veil dimension. In the Veil dimension, Black Sun Energy hotspots glow bright light, whilst in the normal human dimension, Black Sun Energy hotspots can be identified by clear heat waves that can be quite difficult to see.
Wolfenstein is a pretty brutal game. Enemies lines will fly off when shot or blown up. You can even use a mounded knife, which you'll need to buy as an upgrade for the Kar98k rifle, that you can stab an enemies in the neck, which can be pretty sweet… but nasty at the same time. Essentially with the gargling sound.
There are a few different locations, you'll need to explore and travel to in order to proceed in the game and with missions, in which each location requires a loading time. While the loading times are not particularly long, it can be somewhat annoying when trying to travel to a certain location/s.
There are a range of different enemies within the game, common enemies like German army soldiers that possess no supernatural abilities, to enemies that have supernatural abilities. Enemies use the same range of weapon that you use, all in which can be picked up and taking for ammunition. In addition to common enemies, there are enemies that use power abilities i.e. an assassin can turn invisible to the human eyes, the "Scribe", a enemy that can cast a shield around himself and other enemies soldiers, as well as boss fights that use supernatural powers. There as also enemies that fly, move fast and cast energy bolts.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) system can be quite good, or should I say… good for an older generation. The AI system can feel pretty out dated. Enemies will sometimes stand in one spot shooting at you, occasionally will take cover behind objects but don't do a really good job at concealing there most important body part (the head). Sometimes an enemy will think it's a good idea to just run straight towards you giving you a easy opportunity to take them out. While the enemy intelligence sometimes thinks it can outsmart you by throwing back your grenade, enemies feel no sense of awareness when near exploding barrels, nor when a grenade has landed by there feet.
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Online Multiplayer:
Multiplayer consists of three game types, Objective, Stopwatch and Team Deathmatch, spread among a handful of different maps.
Deathmatch, revolves around players fighting to gain a certain number of kills, which is pretty standard.
Objective, consists of players trying to defend and attack targets.
Stopwatch, players must complete objectives in a set amount of time.
Whenever you do get the opportunity to play online multiplayer, it is rather good, but it does suffer from a few problems with connection errors, frame rate and lag issues, and problems with hosting a game, depending on where you are in the world.
There are three classes within multiplayer:
Engineer, which can plat explosives, build constructions, and drop ammo packs.
Medic, which can revive fallen team-mates and create health packs .
Solider, Which can use heavy weapons and Satchel Charges.
Each class have there own weapons and abilities and as you play more of a chosen class, you can gain more abilities.
The online multiplayer can be quite fun, but due to some of the errors, it's can also be somewhat annoying and a let down.
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*****The Sound*****
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Sound Design:
The sound design is good. The sound effects are great, the voice acting is pretty good at times, the music-score fit's the tone and the story with the game very well, but nothing really good to treat the ears.
There are a few minor technical problems with the sound design i.e. poorly timed and loaded voice dialog and sound effects hear and there, but overall, it's good.
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*****Life Value*****
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Lifespan / Replay Value:
Wolfenstein's campaign mode will last about 10 - 12 hours, which is a pretty good length. There are a few extra side missions to accomplish, as well as hidden treasures to find, and trophies to collect for you trophy whores out there.
In addition to the main campaign, the ,multiplayer mode could rank in a few more hours, if you have no issues problems.
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*****Editor's Final Thought*****
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Overall I thought Wolfenstein was a fun game, but far from great. An uninteresting story, mixed in with an old AI system and old graphics engine, but with a great and solid game-play. Not a game I would recommend in terms of story or multiplayer etc, but if your looking for a good solid campaign mode to play-through in the weekend, Wolfenstein is a worthy rent.
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*****FINAL OVERALL SCORE*****
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Story - 5/10
Online Multiplayer - 7/10
Life Value - 6/10
Presentation - 6.5/10
Graphics - 7.5/10
Atmosphere - 7.5/10
Game-Play - 8.5/10
Controls - 8.5/10
Sound Effects - 8/10
Concept - 6/10
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***** EDITOR'S OVERALL THOUGHT SCROE: 7.5/10 *****
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Wolfenstein review by Simon a.k.a. [TheDevilDweller]
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