Ah, Wolfenstein. Such fond memories had I of the original Wolfenstein 3D that I couldn't resist giving this game a shot. And although it's completely unrealistic and very far removed from the original, I was very pleasantly surprised.

You play as the same BJ Blazcowicz as in the original game, and you're once again tasked with bringing down the Third Reich who have yet again been tinkering with the supernatural and occult in an attempt to take over the world. Those crazy guys. Pretty early on, you'll find a medallion that gives you various powers over reality, beginning with vastly improving your visibility of enemies, secrets and speed, and extending onto slowing time, creating a shield, and granting extra damage to your weapons. These abilities come in very handy throughout the game, and will help you out a great deal in the later stages. However, as these abilities are so useful, you will probably find yourself using them more often than being in the 'real' world, and I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not.

Although very linear, the game does offer the illusion of choice by giving you a variety of missions from different factions in the game, and the world is pretty large, so you never really feel like you're on rails as much as you really are. Weapons are plentiful, reasonably varied and feel very satisfying to use, and there are plenty of enemies scattered around to use them on. Enemies become more and more varied as the game progresses, starting with regular nazi soldiers and working up to mutants and superhumans. This progression is steady, which feels nice; the game doesn't throw all types of enemy at you right away, so the game remains somewhat fresh all the way through. Bosses also, are very well done and fun to fight, and hark back to the original game (in more ways than one, as you'll discover!).

In summary, I thought Wolfenstein was a great shooter and was a great return to the franchise. It's refreshing to play a shooter that although familiar, mixes things up a bit and manages to keep things exciting from beginning to end.