Wolfenstein
Posted by Jon | Filed under Video Gaming
There’s a new shooter on the block, and its a reiteration of a classic… Wolfenstein 3D. Once again, the player takes control of William “B.J.” Blazkowicz, an agent for the American Government, once again fighting Nazi’s and their bizarre paranormal research.
I am currently playing through this title in my PC, and I must say that once thing that first struck me is that the graphics really aren’t “super” when compared to other realistic shooters like Crysis. The singleplayer game that this game follows Return to Castle Wolfenstein) was developed with the Quake III engine, and for its time, was a fairly pretty game with good particle effects, crisp lines, and excellent physics. However, this new title was more developed for consoles, and it shows. The new title uses Havoc physics, and id’s Tech 4 engine, which is a port from Quake 4/Doom, but the details are smoothed out to allow for high framerates on console systems. While this detracts somewhat from the immersion aspect during play, it is more than made up for by fabulous gameplay. In Wolfenstein, BJ can activate an amulet that allows him to enter “The Veil” a sort of 4th dimension that grants him all sorts of powers:
- enhanced speed and night vision
- Increased damage
- damage shield
- slow time
These can be toggled on and off at will, and use a meter that can be recharged in special “energy wells” which are represented by distorted areas that resemble heat ripples. Now you might be thinking that this sort of thing is somewhat cheesy, and that every game has bullet time, etc etc, but in this instance, it is really well done. Most of the powers suck the meter dry very quickly, and since it don’t recharge very quickly on its own at all, you really have to be sparing in its use.
Another great aspect of the game is the ability to upgrade weapons and “Veil” powers. There are collectibles (that are found across the levels in two types: Gold and Intel), and these allow for new abilities to be unlocked (some are accessible after finishing main missions, but those gleaned from item collection are far more powerful and useful) I usually don’t enjoy this sort of dynamic, as its either way too difficult to find these items (see retarded games like Assassins Creed, where items are tough to locate, there are hundreds of them, and they don’t give you much of a reward) or its so simple to find them, that they might as well just give you new abilities automatically after you finish each section (See games like FEAR and FEAR 2 where bullet-time upgrade vials are located in the most obvious places)
No frustration here.. some of the items are fairly easy to ferret out, others are clearly visible in some hard to reach locations, and the player must figure out how to access them, whereas others are simply so well hidden that no matter how hard I searched them out, I kept missing them. This balance allows the plot to roll out smoothly and didn’t frustrate me with not finding all the items. Also allowing the player to choose where he spends his “gold” makes for a customizable experience.
Weapon choices range from the standard MP40 to flamethrowers, the Tesla gun, etc… I honestly found very little use for most of the energy weapons. The ammo is few and between, and upgraded one of the automatic weapons and the bolt action rifle fully. One of the gripes I have with the game, however, are the grenade physics… simply appalling bounce mechanics.. they made the explosives all but useless, which is frustrating. You can also throw enemy grenades back, a nice feature taken from other popular titles such as COD. The only other really upsetting part was the difficulty level. I always enjoy playing on the most challenging setting possible, and this game wasn’t even particularly tough on the hardest one available, until the final boss, which I have attempted at least 30 times, rarely removing more than 25% of his total health. I really not enjoy games that ramp up so insanely at the last possible moment.
All in all, the plot line is excellent. I didn’t get into much multiplayer, as I find it to be fairly boring unless its a game like Left 4 Dead, which forces the team mechanic.
So all in all its one of the most fun games I’ve played in awhile.. and yes, when some of the Germans get shot, and drop to the ground with bleeding throats, they say “Mein Lieben!” as they expire!
One Response to “Wolfenstein”
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» Blog Archive » More 2d goodness!! Says:
January 9th, 2010 at 3:36 pm[...] gripe I have about this game is similar to the one I have about Wolfenstein, reviewed by myself here, I tend to play games on the hardest settings that are available in order to extend the game play [...]
