A Summer Blockbuster
Ah those Nazis. As if starting wars and genocide wasn’t enough, it also appears as the fiends were conducting supernatural experiments and creating new and deadly weapons based on science they don’t quite understand. Well that is what the team at Raven is insinuating.
Wolfenstein is the latest in the series of first person shooters from id, going back to one of the first ever FPS’s, Wolfenstien 3D (predating Doom by a year). That said, the game feels like a closer link to 2001’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
As said before, those damn Nazis are up to their dastardly plans again, and have taken over the town of Isenstadt in order to use it as a base for seemingly all of their black projects. Once again, you play B.J. Blazkowicz, an OSS agent sent in put a spanner in the works of the Nazis and stop their various plans. This is done the usual way, with B.J. shooting everyone, stealing intel and picking up Nazi gold. In that sense, it business as usual.
The main change to the series is the introduction of a open world hub for the game, the city of Isenstadt. I’m not entirely sold on the idea, as it can be very annoying to limp back from the missions only to be ripped to pieces by a bunch of troops outside a safe house. But, it also means there is always fun to be had just shooting up the enemy soldiers. However, the open world is jammed full of loading screens and the extra missions are not actually that good. Additionally, roaming enemies rapidly become more powerful, making a simple trip to the shops hard.
The other major change is the introduction of the new “Veil” mechanic which allows B.J. to slow down time, shield himself and empower his weapons as well as providing multiple ways of solving challenges. One of these are the Geists, little bug like creatures that float around. Only visable in the Veil, they act as floating exploding barrels providing an extra punch when fighting some of the new enemies. These powers are a bit generic, the type you’d expect from any developer trying frantically to fit some kind of supernatual power up. That said though, the powers can be fun, especially the time slowing ability.
Despite all of this, the place where Wolfenstein truly stands out is the guns.They are some of the most satisfying weapons to use I’ve ever seen in any game. As well as the stalwarts such as the Kar 98 (excellent for blowing Nazi heads off or removing limbs), the MP40 and the MP43, we are also treated to a hilarious panzershrek, the best flamethrower since Far Cry 2, a ghostbuster’s style proton cannon, a tesla gun and finally a rocket launcher that turns enemies into skeletons before disintegrating them. As if that wasn’t enough, Raven has also included an upgrade setup, allowing you to actually focus on the weapons you use. For example, I upgraded the MP40 and the Kar primarily as they are useful throughout the game, but would have loved to upgraded the flamethrower all the way (you will never have enough money to upgrade everything).
The graphics this time are running on the idtech 4 and they certainly do look nice. The backgrounds are especially lush, with some of the levels approaching Bioshock levels of beauty in my eyes especially the hospital level. The character models are also very good, with a good use of some particle effects, mainly on the veil troopers, the gentlemen in the heavy armour with electrical effects jumping across them. The sound effects are also of a good standard, with the crack of the Kar being especially punchy. The game has some sections that really crank up the tension, such as the aforementioned hospital level.
There are some issues however. The multiplayer is a bit generic, and is actually worse than Enemy Territory which is available for free. In singleplayer (the meat of the game), the missions all feel very similar, just with different backgrounds. The other flaw is that basically, this is very similar to RTCW just with a little update and a few tweaks.
Wolfenstein is a strange game. On one hand its a great game, good fun to play with some of the best weapons ever seen. On the other though, its fatally flawed, quite linear and simplistic. End of the day, its a summer blockbuster action movie with good old sterotypical Nazis shouting “Mein Leiben!”. Don’t think too much about it and just sit back and enjoy the ride.
I give Wolfenstein on PC 85%
