Review | Wolfenstein
Format: Xbox360, PS3, PC | Genre: FPS | Publisher: Activision | Developer: Raven | Release date: 21/08/09 | RRP: £29.99-£49.99
By J.D. Richardson
I stated in a recent podcast that I’d like to play more games where you shoot Nazis in the face. My wish came true.
I honestly hadn’t been following the development of Wolfenstein very closely at all. With so little buzz surrounding the game, I just thought it would probably slip under my radar. So here I am, pleasantly surprised having played it through - but I ask myself why? It’s made by Raven, and I bloody love Raven. I feel guilty for ever doubting them now.
This is by far one of the most exciting first-person shooters I’ve played this year. It’s not original in any way, shape or form, but that really doesn’t matter when you have supernatural Nazis with burning skulls trying to kill you.
//No return
It feels significantly different from the last instalment of the series, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which I loved back in the day but really didn’t want to return to as a carbon copy with better graphics. Fortunately, then, what you have here is the essence of that game, but combined with a bit of Call of Duty, with a dash of Indiana Jones and the prologue to the film version of Hellboy. It works brilliantly.
It’s pure comic book action. Those nutty Nazis are at it again, meddling with forces they can’t possibly understand, and World War Two is about to go tits up for the allies unless you can stop them. It’s not exactly a new concept, and the story isn’t particularly strong, but that’s fine. It does what it says on the tin.
Generally, when you pick up an FPS, you want the actual shooting part to be pretty damn good. Sadly this is often not the case, with some games giving you weapons that have all the awe and might of a pea shooter. Luckily, Wolfestein has some seriously meaty weapons for all the gun nuts out there, although admittedly not the hugest range of ‘normal’ weapons on display.
The rifle is a particular favourite of mine, with great sound effects and enough impact to literally shoot Nazi faces right off. There’s a range of experimental weapons as well, such the Plasma Cannon and the Tesla Cannon. These are a lot of fun to use, the latter allowing you to storm into a room and take everyone out with a snap, crackle and pop of electricity. Another nice touch is the ability to unlock upgrades for these weapons, which you can then purchase and install at the local black market dealer. These include silencers, scopes, extra ammunition capacity, extra damage and so forth. You pay for these by collecting Nazi gold on each mission and hidden around the city.
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Nice to see this game finally getting a bit of love in the press. It seemed to be approached quite seriously which is a shame, it was very refreshing to play an old school, gung-ho mindless shooter again. I have to disagree about the Veil powers though, when combined with different weapons they added different levels to each encounter. The fact you can stack them (Empower + Mire ftw) is great too, especially once they’re upgraded (Mire with the instant-kill proximity attack is a godsend against those invisible enemies). I also loved how a fully upgraded Empower basically made the KAR into the Far Sight (I think) from Perfect Dark. :D
[...] One saw us scaling a building, sneaking up on a few guards and planting a bomb in a fuel depot, before hopping into a car and hot-footing it to the country’s border. Sean Devlin’s background is in motor racing, so the inclusion of driving sequences works well, and the handling seems perfectly reasonable, if nothing to get particularly giddy about. Indeed, the whole sequence is a promising one, the open-plan driving impressively showcasing the scale of the game world. And of course, there’s just something intrinsically, inexorably cool about ploughing through crowds of Nazis. J.D. would approve. [...]
[...] One saw us scaling a building, sneaking up on a few guards and planting a bomb in a fuel depot, before hopping into a car and hot-footing it to the country’s border. Sean Devlin’s background is in motor racing, so the inclusion of driving sequences works well, and the handling seems perfectly reasonable, if nothing to get particularly giddy about. Indeed, the whole sequence is a promising one, the open-plan driving impressively showcasing the scale of the game world. And of course, there’s just something intrinsically, inexorably cool about ploughing through crowds of Nazis. J.D. would approve. [...]