Wolfenstein Hands-on 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 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.

Speaking of enemies, Wolfenstein’s of course got ’em. Lots of ’em. And they’re not for the faint of heart, either. The Assassin is a Nazi experiment that’s dipped its toe into the Veil and come back a killing machine. It can shift in and out of the Veil at will, which essentially means it can turn invisible. It’s lightning quick, too, making it fiendishly difficult to dispose of. It’s a bit like the Houdini Splicer from BioShock, actually.

Then there’s the Scribe, a kind of Nazi occult scholar type who casts shields around his mates, invariable the feral beast-like Sniffers, yet more failed Nazi experiments. When you come across a pack of these beasties with a Scribe standing nearby, you’re in for a world of hurt.

The pre-E3 demo ended with a boss fight. A Nazi scientist stands next to a Stargate-esque portal in heated conversation with a Nazi general. The conversation ends badly for the scientist: the general pushes him into the portal. What almost immediately leaps back is a King Kong monster, if King Kong looked like a nightmare from hell. It starts a new conversation, which ends badly for the general. B.J., of course, needs to take it out, coaxing it into destroying pillars like the Berserker fights from Gears of War. This is harder than it sounds.

Graphically, Wolfenstein looks impressive without ever elevating itself to jaw-dropping levels. It’s built using the id Tech 4 engine, formerly known as the Doom 3 engine, but has been modified and iterated on by Raven. There is a feeling that it might already be outdated, though. id’s Tech 5 engine, which is being used to power Rage, has already got PC graphics whores salivating. Wolfenstein could struggle to excite as a result.

Right now, Wolfenstein looks like a blast. Raven clearly gets brand Wolfenstein and what makes it distinctive, and, given its work on Quake 4 (also built using id Tech 4), we can’t see the game turning out to be anything other than a quality shooter. But, and this is a tentative but, we haven’t seen anything at this point that suggests it’ll be special.

Admittedly, we’ve only seen a snippet of the finished product. The Hospital suggests the game will be a corridor shooter, but id promises massively varied environments, from wide open farmhouse areas to underground cavern areas (will we return to Castle Wolfenstein?). There’s also a whiff of open world: Isenstadt acts as a hub, where you’ll deal with the Black Market (where you spend gold on weapon and Veil power upgrades) and pick up missions from the various factions, then, to a degree, it’s up to you to choose in what order you take them on.

Upgrading weapons will, according to id, enable players to tailor their play style to their liking. Add the scope and silencer to the Kar 98 and you’ll be able to play the game as a stealthy sniper. Run and gunners will want to add the Big Bore attachment, which greatly increases damage, and a huge clip to the MP40. The Veil power unlocks will act almost as new powers, too.

So, there’s much to discover. Fingers crossed the Veil’s got a few innovations hidden within its hellish innards. If so, Wolfenstein could make a blood-soaked mark.

Wolfenstein is due out for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on August 7, 2009.