Nazi Zombies! (Wolfenstein 3D (PC))

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Wolfenstein 3D (PC)
Date:	27/06/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good for a quick nostalgic blast, full of character

Disadvantages: Very dated, repetitive, unlikely to hold attention for very long

Back in 1992, when home PCs were steam-powered and 4mb of RAM was an unheard of extravegance, ID software released a little game called 'Wolfenstein 3D', an early first person shooter in which the player took the role of one BJ Blaskowitz, a grizzled US marine who found himself kept prisoner in the bowels of an ancient German castle under Nazi control, with the task of fighting his way through wave after wave of Nazi guards, elite troops and even zombies in a seemingly neverending quest to reach the end of stage elevator and ascend to the next level.

The graphics were groundbreaking at the time, and though they are still not without charm they do look almost laughably dated now: there are no floor or ceiling textures, and all enemies and other objects are simply flat, crudely animated sprites, with only the walls and doors representing anything approaching 3D. This very basic 3D engine results in crude, gridlike level design, with each level consisting of nothing but long corridors and big empty rooms with little apparent purpose, although the wall textures themselves are varied, ranging from ancient stone, cold steel, huge portraits of Hitler, giant golden eagles and various other Nazi paraphenalia.

The gameplay is very basic too, offering only four weapons in total, namely a next to useless knife, a pistol, a machinegun and a minigun, and though it is satisfying gunning down the limited range of enemies with these, it does get old rather quickly. There are plenty of levels on offer here- 7 whole episodes worth in fact- but each level is a simple open-the-door-kill-everyone-load-up-on-ammo-and-he alth-and-repeat-affair that will fail to keep all but the most hardcore of retro gamers occupied for very long.

The game is still full of character in spite of this though, and particularly worthy of mention is the end of game boss, which takes the form of Adolf Hitler, kitted out in a massive mechanical battlesuit with a minugun tucked under each arm, who wails "Auf Wiedersehn Eva!" when you finally kill him, before melting onto the ground in a big pile of red mush.

Wolfenstein 3D is a game of huge historical importance, having essentially kickstarted the FPS genre as we know it today, but it's also one that has been long since superceded in every respect by newer releases, and its main attraction now lies in its nostalgia value. Its still worth a look, but is unlikely to hold modern gamers attention for very long.

Summary: A historically important game that is still fun in short doses