Wolfenstein 3D

Review

by Geoffrey Douglas Smith

Finally, a home console port of Wolfenstein 3D that does justice to the PC original and remains fully uncensored! The granddaddy of all first-person shooters, Wolfenstein 3D may be old but like any classic, the gameplay has remained rock solid after all these years, surviving the test of time and making it a blast to play.

In the G.I. combat boots of William J. "B.J." Blazkowicz, you were sent on a mission to retrieve plans from the Nazi fortress Castle Stollehammer and were captured in your attempt. Tossed into a jail and tortured, you're planned to be executed after they extract as much info from you as possible. Fortunately, you feign giving up and when the guard comes into your cell, you make your move, kicking him in the knee and using his own combat knife on him. And this is where out adventure begins, as you stand outside your cell.

Wolfenstein 3D, as the name implies, is a 3D game and you're playing from a first-person perspective that allows you freedom of movement within the corridors and halls making up the underground area below Wolfenstein Castle. You can move B.J. in any of the four directions and also have the ability to strafe to either side and fire your weapon. Control over all of this is extremely smooth, and while it seems a bit sensitive at first, soon becomes second nature. An included run button allows you to zip through the halls at an even faster clip.

The walls and rooms are all flat, but make good use of clean, detailed textures to decorate them, such as red bricks, mossy mortar, wood grain and Nazi paraphernalia scattered about the interiors. The rooms are a bit sparse in actual objects, but that's understandable since you need the room to move about freely. Guards are all sprites in this 3D environment and they look pretty good, as do the huge, hulking monstrosities of Nazi science you'll meet every so often.

Enemies do look a tad pixelated up close, but considering you shouldn't be standing in front of a foe and expecting to survive, it's negligible. The weapons you wield look quite good from this perspective, yet the actual fire emanating from them is a single frame of animation, which can look odd as it doesn't change. A minor flaw, however. And let's not forget the blood -- enemies splatter blood when shot and lie in a pool of it upon their demise. While not as graphic as most games including this element, it does the job well without being over-the-top.

The music accompanying all of this action is some of the best I've ever heard on the 3DO; orchestrated and epic in nature, it gives the game a theatrical feel, as if you were in a war film. Sometimes very subtle, the music will work its way up to a loud pace with simulated drums and trumpets that really draw you in and get you into the mood. The German soldiers you blow away grunt in different ways upon their demise so as not to sound repetitive, plus they also yell at you in German before opening fire.

The sound of all your weapons is nice and crisp, from the continuous firing sound of the chain gun, to the whooshing and explosion of a bazooka rocket. Even whipping around your combat knife has a nice slicing noise as it cuts through the air. Probably the only thing lacking in the audio department is our buddy B.J. who sounds a little geeky when exclaiming "Yeah!" or "Alright!" in his nasally tone.

Thankfully, this great game also lasts a long time, as Wolfenstein 3D features 90 levels and some of them get quite immense, taking hours to complete depending on the complexity and skill of the player. Levels are nicely designed, with plenty of hidden passageways and wry construction allowing the player to always find a way out of a firefight or solution, in addition to plenty of secrets.

While other 3DO first-person shooters may offer more dynamic characters and weapons or alien environments to fight in, Wolfenstein 3D appears to be the most solid and fun to play in its sweet simplicity. Combined with the exciting music and huge amount of levels, the adjustable difficulties give this a massive amount of replay value, while attempting to beat the par time for each level, getting 100% kills, items and secrets will take forever. But you'll enjoy every minute of it.