In 1992 Wolfenstein 3D was the game that essentially put the First Person Shooter genre on the map, and launched the giant ‘id Software’ that’s brought us such titles as Wolfenstein, Quake and Doom.
These titles largely ruled the first person shooter genre for the better part of two decades, and now in 2009 id Software in conjunction with Activision have stepped it up again to bring us Wolfenstein, will it be as big a hit?
Once you get through all the typical branding of the games developers, the first Cinematic loads and from there you can see that they have invested a lot of time and money in this new instalment of the classic franchise. The cinematic clips take graphics to the next level most notably in the graphic detailing of the characters, the style somewhat resembles that of Final Fantasy accept older characters actually look older and not like children’s heads on full grown adults bodies as is common with that style of animation.
The story as usual follows US intelligence agent B.J Blazkowicz, who travels to a fictional German town called Isenstadt, there he meets up with the underground resistance who are trying to disrupt and destroy the Nazis currently occupying their town. Its at this point in the game that you can see how different it is from the usual id Software first person shooters.
Graphically Wolfenstein is far superior to most first person games out on the market, using the all new ‘id Tech 4’ gaming engine it provides a very smooth and realistic gaming experience. Audio is just as highly rated, the crisp clear sounds and ambient noise really help immerse the players in their surroundings.
The only real downside to this game was the short single player campaign, with the abiity to run through the main story line in around 10hrs, but the online multiplayer makes up for that if you like your online first person shooters. Overall, for fans of the franchise this game is worth a look, once it hits the clearance table.
