Published by:
Activision
Developed by:
Raven Software
Available on: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
INTRO:
Hey look, it’s another Wolfenstein game! The long tradition continues as the
folks from ID software desperately try once again to capture lightning in a
bottle as they revamp this 20 year old franchise. Don’t get me wrong, I love
the Wolfenstein games. I grew up blasting evil Nazi soldiers on my old 486,
and I thoroughly enjoyed playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein when it was
released almost a decade ago as well. And so here we are with another
installment.
What do you need to know? Not much, really. You’re BJ Blazkowicz, the man who’s
sent on a special mission to take down the Nazis. Of course, they’ve got the
supernatural on their side, as they have somehow gotten hold of something called
the Veil, which allows them to use super duper evil weapons. Supernatural stuff,
you know how it is. Let’s see how this game stacks up to the Wolfenstein legacy!
GAMEPLAY:
Let me first state that this is my kind of game. I don’t mind stupid
monsters or zombies or skeletons being thrown into my WWII game because I
find war games really dull and boring if they aren’t littered with the
undead. I can’t help shake the feeling that this game seems like it was made
a couple of years ago though- with the stuff that’s out now (COD, I’m
looking at you) being so much more detailed and developed, this game feels a
touch outdated.
That doesn’t mean you won’t get fun out of it though. This game requires you to
stumble around town and talk to people who give you missions to do, and you only
get to the second half of the town after about halfway through the game. It’s
really kind of annoying and I personally wouldn’t bitch too much about having
a bit of linear progression and here’s why: the whole thing seems like a
last minute add-on and not to mention that, you’ve got to face all kinds of
soldiers along the way. It’s annoying when you’re just trying to find someone to
tell them you found their amulet and you have to mow down all kinds of bad guys
as you go along.
The rest of the game is pretty straightforward and doesn’t require a lot of
thought. Do you like shooting Nazis? I sure hope so, cause it’s going to be
about the only thing you do during this game. No matter where you are, no matter
what the setting, you mission is to blast through everything and kill dudes. You
follow your compass and kill dudes, using your compass is optional.
Other than that, you can upgrade your weapons, which is pretty cool but some of
the upgrades seem useless. When you get your hands on some of the space age
weaponry, you’ll smile wide and enjoy vaporizing your foes. The weapons are done
quite well in this game. You also get
Veil powers later in the game, but they’re not as cool as you hope, you can slow
down time, use “what the heck do I do now” vision, and eventually shoot through
bad guys. It’s an okay little feature but again, feels a little too late.
Other than that, the control feels a tad slow, like you can’t quite respond
quickly enough. You often get
stopped up on furniture when clumsily trying to run away, which is really
frustrating, especially during boss fights. In
terms of enemies, they’re pretty stupid for the most part, stumbling around and
getting killed. Some of the supernatural foes are tougher, but not by much.
Gameplay: 6.5/10
GRAPHICS:
This game is pretty good looking, for the most part. Environments are pretty
rich and detailed, and when you get to the Veil, things really get creepy.
Explosions are spot on and gunfire is good looking too.
My only real problem was the character models, which often look
underdeveloped, especially BJ, who I thought looked terrible.
Everything here is pretty pedestrian, albeit passable, and the game seems
like it was actually a PC port.
Graphics: 7/10
AUDIO:
I miss the old days, when soldiers always cried out in
This game sounds pretty good, but my main problem is the lack of regional
dialect- why do all of the voice actors speak English? With that being said, the
spken word sounds good, the sound effects are great and the score works quite
well too.
German…MEIN LEBEN!
Audio: 7.5/10
FINAL VERDICT:
Ultimately this game feels like it would have been more welcome a few years
ago. For us casual horror gamers, it’s a fun little play through. The
hardcore gamer is going to be disappointed without a doubt- this isn’t a
tough game and there isn’t a lot to it. But if you like to play your games
with guns blazing and find some cool stuff along the way, you’re going to
like this game. Although it doesn’t have ton of replay value, Wolfenstein
was worth the cash- just don’t play the multiplayer modes because they’re
among the worst seen in a long time. Seriously, the multiplayer developers
got fired the day this was released.
Final Score:
7/10