Wolfenstein Preview

“Comparing Wolfenstein to other WWII shooters is like comparing Raiders of the Lost Ark to Saving Private Ryan.”

So says Peter Sokal, community manager at id Software. And he’s right. Wolfenstein is known for being an utterly ridiculous, fast-paced Nazi frag-em-up full of freakish failed experiments. You won’t find any Brothers in Arms here.

But Wolfenstein is also known for other things. The original, Wolfenstein 3D, created the FPS genre when it was released in 1992. The follow up, 2001’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein, pioneered class-based multiplayer. Indeed its famed creator, id Software, has gained legendary status among PC gamers for its boundary-pushing work with graphics and its innovative work with shooters. Now, in 2009, will the Raven Software-developed third entry into the series be worthy of the name Wolfenstein?

Our brief hands-on demo of the game left us certain of one thing: Wolfenstein is very Wolfenstein. It’s incredibly gory: head shots result in wonderfully violent skull pops. It’s full of disturbing occult-obsessed Nazis: barely a second goes by without a German-accented soldier shouting “Get him!”, then that soldier turns into some kind of demon from another dimension and tries to eat your face. It’s fast-paced: running and gunning is what Wolfenstein’s all about. It’s got a familiar face: Special agent B.J. Blazkowicz makes a triumphant return. It’s got treasure: gold is used to upgrade weapons and powers. And it’s absolutely bonkers: The Nazi’s are after something called the Black Sun, which they hope will help them win WWII. To get to it, though, they have to cross The Veil, a hellish parallel dimension that rests on top of 1944 reality. The Veil isn’t a very nice place, and tends to make its visitors a tad upset.

This is Wolfenstein alright

This is all well and good, but is it enough? The FPS genre is perhaps the most crowded in gaming (bar the knock-off Wii party game genre), so what’s Wolfenstein got that’ll wow us?

The Veil, that’s what. B.J.’s able to use the Veil, the very thing the Nazi’s have been using to create their abominations and sci-fi up their WWII weapons (there are Tesla Guns and Particle Cannons), against them. We got to see this for ourselves with a run through The Hospital level, in the fictional city of Isenstadt, which takes place about a third of the way through the game. The Veil grants B.J. a number of powers, including Veil Sight, Shield, and Time. Veil Sight lets him see into the Veil, warping the environment and revealing secret passageways and holes in walls that lead down alternative paths. Shield grants B.J. temporary invulnerability, and Time slows down… you guessed it, time, lending Wolfenstein a distinctly F.E.A.R. feel.

How the powers are used is what makes Wolfenstein interesting, and it’s what id hopes will help Wolfenstein stand out. The Nazi’s, having cottoned on to B.J.’s use of the Veil, have created Veil Dampeners – machines that simply turn off B.J.’s powers. When this happens the screen goes black and white, and the Nazi’s all of a sudden become a lot harder to kill, and a lot bolder. In the Hospital these sections act as puzzles of a sort – B.J. needs to hunt the dampeners down and smash them to ribbons if he’s going to survive.

The Veil also turns Wolfenstein at points into a stealthy shoot-em-up. In one section we played the Hospital lost power, causing the lights to go out. B.J. is able to see, though, by using Veil Sight. Like a cat stalking its prey, you’re able to creep up on the hapless Nazis and melee them into oblivion. Or, of course, you could just shoot them. If you’re feeling lucky.