Wolfenstein Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 31st August 2009

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The daddy of shooters returns...

Wolfenstein Details:

	First Person Shooter
	PC/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	id Software
	Activision

TBA

Out Now

During my time reviewing games I've had the opportunity to play some great first person shooters and some that were simply awful. Most shooters seem to fall into one of these two categories with only a few fitting in between with a mediocre playing experience. However for me the latest Wolfenstein game falls straight into this middle sitting.

Wolfenstein puts you in the role of secret super spy, BJ Blazkowicz who has joined up with the various resistance groups and has been tasked with stopping the Nazi’s obtaining paranormal artefacts that will allow them to gain mysterious new powers in their pursuit of world domination.

From the initial outset Wolfenstein looks a pretty good game! The games shooter mechanics are solid and Wolfenstein features everything you would expect to find in any good first person shooter. A varied variety of weapons are available, all of which can be upgraded to make them even more useful and effective in combat. Enemy A.I provides a good challenge with your foes taking cover, shouting for backup and waiting until you reload in order to take a shot at you. Enemies are also fairly varied especially in the latter stags of the game when the results of the Nazi’s experimentation take to the battlefield. For good measure the game also gives BJ some special abilities thanks to a strange talisman he posses and later on powers-up with various crystals. These powers include being able to enter the veil, the space between our realm and that of the mysterious black sun realm. The veil allows you to see enemies through walls, find secret passages and exploit their weak spots. Other abilities of the talisman once powered up include a shield, the ability to slow down time and Empower which powers-up your weapons inflicting more damage and even allowing your bullets to pass throw light cover and other veil shields.

The veil powers add a little variety to Wolfenstein, that isn’t present in an everyday World War II shooter. However, they haven’t really been implemented well as they can only be used for very short periods of time before running out of power.

The fluidity of game is also disrupted by the games story line which is incredibly hard to follow due to the way in which missions are handed out. This requires you to go to one location in the game world and speak to a NPC who will give you a mission briefing. A point is then marked on your compass and off you go. So far so good! However, if you encounter any other NPC’s on your journey there’s a chance they could give you another mission which will then replace the point that was previously on your compass. This often leads to confusion and makes the game extremely difficult to follow at times, especially as missions are handed out by several different factions.

The final thing that spoilt the overall feel of Wolfenstein for me was the constant backtracking through levels and the game world. You often have to traverse the same parts of levels over and over. As well as pass through the same streets in order to pick up new missions. This wouldn’t be so bad but it seems that more or less the same enemies take up the exact same positions as the first time you passed by, giving the game a very repetitive and lacklustre feeling. So much so it can often make it difficult to find the motivation to continue in your fight against the Nazi’s.

Multiplayer wise, Wolfenstein serves up a pretty standard experience with all the usual game types. The game does feature a ranking system and character classes but doesn’t really excel like other shooter. I don’t imagine many gamers will still be playing the games multiplayer aspect in a couple of months. As I found it near impossible to actually get a game in my time playing the title.

The graphics on show in Wolfenstein are solid throughout, with very detailed environments, excellent character models throughout and some very nice special effect when in the veil. The game also employs a very good physics system that sees shot soldiers fall from ledges and various objects fall about the game world when shot. Cut-scenes strangely lack the polish of the in-game graphics but on the whole the game looks good and it’s very hard to find anything to fault in this department.

The games audio however, serves up a mixed bag, the soundtrack whilst being fitting is extremely repetitive and really starts to annoy after prolonged play. For the most part voice acting is performed well but some of it is so stereotypical it’s laughable, and simply put sound terrible! Other sound in the game thankfully is good, ambient sounds of far off battlefields help immerse you into feeling like you’re fighting a war and the shout of enemy troops during confrontation are all extremely believable.

For me Wolfenstein was something of a disappointment, after all this is the daddy of all first person shooters. The single player campaign is fairly standard and the multiplayer pretty much forgettable. But by no means is it a bad game, but on the other hand it’s not a particularly good game and as such falls into the doldrums or mediocrity.