Wolfenstein 2009 Full Game

[Kody Chavva]

Besidethe real world, there is also a parallel dimension called the Veil. Himmler's Paranormal Division knows about the Veil and has built several portals in Isenstadt to travel from the real world to the other, giving them an advantage in the battle over Isenstadt. However, in order to enter the Veil, one needs a special medallion, otherwise the trespasser shall turn into a monster upon his return to the real world. In addition, the medallion grants its wearer special powers. Naturally, the Office of Secret Actions can not allow the Nazis to get access to such powers and sends in their best agent: B. J. Blazkowicz. Although he manages to steal the medallion, the Nazis are already on the brink of being able to artificially create such a medallion in the lab. B. J. can't let them succeed and joins the fight.

Wolfenstein is a first-person-shooter that mainly consists of the player shooting his way through hordes of different types of Nazis, ranging from normal soldier to ninjas. To deal with the large amount of enemies, the player has access to many typical WWII-weapons like the German MP40 or K98 rifle. In addition, during the course of the game he finds the medallion and learns four powers. While at first entering the Veil only allows him so see enemies more clearly and use strange flying creatures as bombs, he is later able to slow down time, surround himself with a protective shield or make himself stronger. However, the medallion's powers drain its energy, which needs to be refilled at power-spots that are nearly invisible in the real world.

After each mission, the player is free to roam Isenstadt, talk to NPCs to get new missions and visit the Black Market. Intelligence material and gold are hidden in the levels. While the intel offers additional insights into the story and its characters, the gold is used at the Black Market to buy new weapons, ammunition and weapons upgrades like silencers or bigger clips. Collecting intel and gold unlocks additional upgrades.

The game also features class-based multiplayer-modes for up to twelve players. The available classes are the Soldier, who shoots first and asks questions later; The Engineer, who is the only one who can fulfill all the objectives; and the Medic, who can heal and resurrect fallen allies. The available multiplayer modes are Team Deathmatch, Objective and Stopwatch. In Objective the Resistance has to destroy research and experiments by the Axis with them having to stop them. In Stopwatch the objective is the same; however, the time it takes the Resistance to stop the Axis is counted, and after the round ends, the teams switch sides. In order to win the round, the other team then needs to be faster than the first.

The Good

This review will focus only on the merits of the Xbox 360 console version of the game. I didn't play any multiplayer only because no one was playing. For historic interest see: -group/castle-wolfenstein-seriesby year.

I usually don't play my FPS games on a console, but I couldn't refuse a complete copy of Wolfenstein for $7 on x360 at the local video game shack. I was late to the party with the PC release (perhaps an annoying DRM routine) and missed the Steam version (no longer for sale). I started this game one night and found the experience compelling enough that I went on to finish it 100%. The reviews from the so-called professional game sites are a mixed lot and I would advise you avoid them all. Go in with a fresh perspective like I did and see the reviews after.

Let me get right to it. The story was fun to watch in the cutscenes and hear play out in dialog in-game. The characters were interesting with some homage here and there. The sound design was nice - especially the weapons. The graphics are sexy with some nice post processing effects. Load times were really fast and frame rates were high, even in intense firefights.

The veil powers with you medallion are fun and make later foes meat when combined with empower. Pro tip: Buy all the scopes and magazine capacity upgrades as soon as you can. Buy all the empower upgrades also. With scopes and empower, scribes, assassins, jetpack bombers, and tanks are no problem.

They also give you collectibles in the way of extra gold, intel, and tomes. Gold gives you bonus mission currency to spend for your weapon upgrades. Intel are some nice art work or story elements that add a bit of narrative texture. And Tomes, which look like Tomes Of Power from Heretic. Each collectible offers a bonus to your game if you collect them all. Don't worry about missing any of the collectibles though, at any point in the game you can go back and revisit any previous section of the game and keep looking for the ones you missed. Even retaining you upgraded inventory!

The Bad

Some cheesy dialog is delivered poorly in a couple places. The AI is reactive most of the time, using cover well and coordinating - although I did see a few instances of a small group tripping around too close to one another and getting stuck in animation loops. The physics system and objects thrown around are cool and cast nice shadows, but can become a problem in an explosive exchange around opening and closing doors. Boss and sub-boss fights are fun and tie later story elements together, but the last one is really over the top and ends suddenly.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day it was fun blowing the Nazi forces up and into pieces. Being in BJ's boots felt like a high production sci-fi/action B-movie. There were some subtle side references to the older games too. If you're not too critical of your entertainment, I think Wolfenstein is worth playing.

If you are able to swallow the CoD-like gameplay elements and several other flaws this game has, you would surely have fun with it. I specifically recommend it to fans of id Software and Raven, also to Wolfenstein fans in general.

The Good

I've been with the Wolfenstein series my whole life. The original Castle Wolfenstein and its stellar sequel rocked my world back in the good ol' days when floppies were still floppy. When the now infamous Wolfenstein 3D made its debut, it and the Commander Keen series cemented id Software into my brain as gods. That hasn't changed, I've gobbled up everything ID has spewed out. I'm still devoted, and can't wait for RAGE and I was the first to pick up a copy of Wolfenstein 6 (I refuse to just call it "Wolfenstein") from my local game store.

The game follows a squashed, somewhat Serious Sam-ish looking B.J. Blazkowicz (Seriously, why is his head squashed, 20 years younger, and have black hair? If this game is so close to RCTW, why isn't his hair blond like it normally is?) after stealing a magical doohickey from a Nazi doohickey on water and he goes to a Nazi town filled with Nazi doohickeys and blah blah blah YOU KILL A BUNCH OF NAZIS WITH THE DOOHICKEY TO GET MORE DOOHICKEYS. Does the story in a Wolfenstein game really matter?

The game world is, in a way, a callback to Raven Softwares Hexen series that used a 'hub,' but Raven has definitely improved the Hub system. Basically, what that means is you are confined to a map and move around different squares on that map and then unlock levels as you progress. Raven makes other calls back to Hexen including the Ravens Nest, a bar that appeared in Hexen, and the Tomes of Power, items which originally appeared in Hexen as well. It's nice to see that Raven remembers their roots. The game world is detailed and fun to explore, as there are several secrets to discover which unlock power ups and weapons, as well as give you money which you actually need this time for more than just score value.

The single player campaign is yet another call back to the old days, while most shooters these days make a short single player with little focus, Wolf 6 actually cares about making an impression with its single player campaign and lasts you awhile, taking you through several levels and lots of missions. I was pleasantly surprised with the games length. There are also several boss fights which will turn your ass into gravy, but that's just how I like them. They are also all clever and well thought out, providing something unique to the challenge and occasionally freshening up the gameplay.

Upgrading weapons is worth your time, and sometimes can drastically change a weapon, almost enough to make them completely new or different weapons. The Mp44 can be converted into a repeat fire sniper rifle, the Mp40 can be converted into a stealth tool, and so on. The weapons for the most part are standard fare for World War II games, but they all sound good and are fun to shoot. As with any good Wolfenstein game, you will soon get more exotic weapons to work with, such as the Tesla cannon from the last Wolf game and the downright awesome... uhm, gun with a really long German name I can't pronounce with a '22' at the end. I just call it the flesh pounder, since it literally blasts your enemies skins right off their hides. While ammo for these guns are rare, they are really cool and fun to use.

The Nazis are fun to shoot, unlike some, the novelty of shooting Nazis hasn't gone away for me, although this might be because the only WWII shooters (I have played a few WW2 RTSes, like Company of Heroes) outside of the Wolfenstein series that I have played are Day of Defeat Source and Call of Duty 1/2. No Medal of Honor or other such games to spoil it for me. They are also fun to shoot because the gore is silly, over the top, and cool. If you are feeling bloodthirsty, Wolf 6 is for you.

While I know some may not like it, this is one of the rare games where respawning enemies works and makes sense. It works because you will roam the streets of the town a lot, both to get to your mission and to search for secrets, and having the respawning enemies means you will always put up a fight so the action keeps going. The reason I say it is justified as well is the fact that in real life, the Nazis often called in reinforcements and there were always patrols, and they "respawn" in patrols so it actually makes sense here.

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