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Genre: First-Person Shooter Publisher: Activision Developer: id / Raven Software Players: 1-12

By Keith B (19th Aug 2009)

Wolfenstein is a strange creature, being one of the first true first person shooters in the world and one that’s not been left in the dark, courtesy of a couple of remakes and tweaks. Part of this is because the game has kept a core following of multiplayer fans through the years, and the other element is the unique twist on the setting, courtesy of supernaturally charged foes and weapons.

Agent BJ Blazkowicz, from the American Office of Secret Actions, has been dropped into the fictional town of Eisenstat in Nazi Germany immediately after the evens in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, to uncover what the Nazi war machine are doing digging up ancient crystals. Through the course of his adventure he meets up with several factions and provides help and assistance to each. There are the guns blazing freedom fighters, the boffins trying to work out what the hell is going on, and the black market people, through which you do business to increase your stopping power with any of the given weapons. As BJ unravels more about the Thule Medallion the Nazis have, and its opening of a portal to another world where Hitler’s army are trying to harness a Black Sun for limitless power, the storyline and action picks up accordingly.

First impressions, aside from the crisp visuals and the obvious effort put into the cutscenes, isn’t really that mind blowing. Grey and brown landscapes, conveniently littered with boxes and crates providing plenty of cover, greet the player when they begin, to be replaced by archaeological dig sites, castles, and factories. It doesn’t try to do anything too revolutionary with the locale but that doesn’t mean it’s unfulfilling. What is a welcome thing is the interactivity of the landscapes. Running through a town doesn’t mean you’re only on the streets, because most buildings can be entered and scavenged around for any of the three collectibles in the game – gold, intelligence, and tomes. Collecting things has been a feature of previous Wolfenstein games and that’s true again here.

BJ gets his hands on an amulet, similar to one he located earlier (conveniently enough), and can access the Veil, a sort of netherworld experience that offers four different features. This is the part of the game I was most concerned about – blending the supernatural with the shooting of Nazis in the face – but it really does come off well, because the powers are matched well to the combat mechanic. The first thing is simply activating the veil, providing an alternate view on the landscape and highlighting things of interest, like secret doors or Nazis on patrol. The next setting is Shield, which is self-explanatory, followed by Empower, which increases damage caused and handily allows BJ to shoot through walls. Finally we have Mire, which is essentially bullet-time, giving players an edge but also use as a puzzle element throughout.



With each of the Veil abilities being useful in combat, facing off against 12 or 14 Nazis isn’t a big deal, as the player flicks from Shield when they’re all firing, to Empower to blast them through crates and walls as they reload, and finally Mire to sprint up close and finish any left with melee attacks.

Spending your hard-stolen gold allows you to tweak any of the eight weapons BJ carries – five ‘real’ weapons and three straight out of a sci-fi setting- doing anything from increasing range to expanding ammo capacity or damage dealt. The tweaking process works really well, allowing you to spend cash on weapons you enjoy using, but also allowing you to sell add-ons for cash in case you want to change your approach. It opens the door to multiple play throughs. Similarly upgradeable is the medallion which houses the otherworldly powers BJ is able to utilise.

The thing is - and I can understate how much of a feat this really is – balance issues are never a concern, and the AI is pretty damn smart. The developers have also taken out many of the frustrating things that litter FPS these days. If you see a door open and 10 Nazis flood out, if you’re quick enough with your powers and aiming then you can take them all out in a matter of seconds, rather than having their room-entry procedure make them invincible for a moment. The Third Reich can shoot you in the face from 300 yards, so combat is always interesting. Throw in the random encounters as you wander the streets of Eisenstat – and more so when the supernatural monsters come into play – and the action rarely lets up.



Wedged into the title around all this combat are so many subtle references to the era and our association with the era that it really provides a mental picture. Whether it is the rousing orchestral score and the way Nazis can be disintegrated conjuring a Raiders of the Lost Ark memory or the image of the massive Zeppelin on a later stage that smacks of the Hindenburg disaster, the guys at id and Raven have done well in breaking from the tedium of generic WWII settings.

Multiplayer is such a key component of any Wolfenstein release that is has to stand on its own two feet, and it does. Unlike other shooters that have incorporated a ‘new feature’, Wolfenstein doesn’t drop all those shiny bells and whistles once the multiplayer section loads up. The Veil (albeit in a reduced form) is present and can be utilised in-game.

Although at first glance the set of features may seem rather small – three game types, three classes, eight maps, six primary weapons – that doesn’t do justice to the combinations on offer. Your game types are standard – team deathmatch, objective, and stopwatch (think Bad Company's Gold Rush). Move onto the classes, though, and things expand rapidly. Each class can be customised by spending multiplayer cash, earned by doing, well, anything productive in multiplayer, from getting $4 for scratching someone with a bullet to $100 for toasting two foes with the flamethrower. So each weapon can have the same sort of boosts available in the single player campaign. Throw in things like buying additional medpacks and ammo crates for your soldier and the tweaking really becomes key to how you’ll play.



A stripped down version of The Veil is also available online, with each class being able to access one power (and boost it like a weapon) that weren’t part of the single player. Medics can unleash a healing aura that repairs any wounds in close team mates. Engineers can turn on a speed boost, getting them out of (or into) trouble quickly, and the Soldier can throw a Veil Strike, sort of a grenade that explodes unleashing Veil energy.

Despite being stuck playing people in the US for the purpose of this review (I’m in Australia, meaning poor connections) I still managed to really enjoy my time online. Players have a reasonable amount of health so unless you’re hit in the face with a Panzerschreck you’ll have time to find a medic, and the Veil abilities don’t turn it into a freakshow.

To say I was surprised with the end product is an understatement – I thought many of the earlier videos of the title lacked polish and class. What has shipped out is something completely different. An engaging single player experience that offers plenty of replay value, and a multiplayer component that has tonnes of upgrades, ranks and the rest, meld together into a AAA title.

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