The game is also unabashedly violent. Blood spurts in large amounts every time you shoot an enemy and even more when you blow a soldier’s head off with your rifle. The enemy AI isn’t too bright, but it’s serviceable. Most of the time, they will actively seek out cover or man stationary turrets, but every once in a while they would rather prefer to stand out in the open and fire at you. Some enemies, such as the invisible assassins, are rather annoying as they are really quick and can kill you in a couple of hits. Still, running and gunning is the order of the day here. You can enter an area guns blazing and kill everything in sight before they have a chance to shoot back. Regardless, it feels quite satisfying to blast multiple enemies away with weapons such as the Lightning gun or pulling off bloody headshots with the Kar98 rifle.
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The single player campaign should take a seasoned FPS player about 10 to 12 hours to complete and more if you choose to explore each level for items and gold. At 12 hours, the game doesn’t overstay its welcome. There is a lot of fun packed in those 10 to 12 hours and very little filler. There are no repetitive side missions to grind through or levels which feel like a repeat of the last. Consequently, the replay value of the campaign is definitely on the lower side.
Much like the gameplay, the visuals also feel quite dated. The game runs on a modified version of id’s Tech 4 engine, which is beginning to show its age. While the game looks decent enough, it still cannot be compared with the likes of Crysis, Far Cry 2 or the recent Call of Duty games. It could have been quite a looker had it come two or three years ago, but for a 2009 game, it is somewhat underwhelming. While some of the levels are quite large and feature some impressive architecture and design, they are still marred by some low resolution texture work and an overall hazy look. Same goes for the character models and animations; they’re right out of a three year old game. On the plus side, the Veil effects are rather impressive. There is a very neat “peeling” effect every time you activate the Veil as the colours fade and the environment around you starts looking strange and otherworldly. If you’ve ever played Clive Barker’s Undying, the effect is very similar to the Skrye spell from that game.
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The levels feature a sizeable number of destructible objects and, coupled with the devastating weapons in your arsenal, there is usually a lot of stuff getting blown up on screen at a time. However, it’s not always perfect as many objects are not affected by your weapons. For example, I tried shooting at a poster on the wall and there were no decals where I hit.
The worst culprit, however, comes in the form of the poorly rendered cutscenes. With the exception of the opening cinematic, the rest of the cutscenes in the game are done in-engine. The cutscenes themselves are not badly executed, but it’s the poor compression in combination with the slightly dated graphics engine that makes them look low resolution and choppy. This is a shame considering the story is presented rather well. The voice acting is decent enough, although the dialog itself is quite cheesy, which is expected considering the nature of the plot and the setting. There are lots of fake German accents and it’s rather strange to hear Nazi soldiers speaking to each other in English. But authenticity isn’t exactly what this game is aiming for anyway, so I can look past that. The music is also passably good; nothing memorable, but feels appropriate whenever it kicks in during the action.
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The game also features a separate multiplayer component, which is developed by Endrant Studios and not id or Raven. Consequently, it isn’t as good as the single player campaign. Although there is some basic class selection such as Soldier, Medic and Engineer (with each class getting specific Veil abilities), the multiplayer still feels quite bland. For starters, Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch aside, there are only two other game types – Objective, which involves attacking or defending specific targets and Stopwatch, where players need to complete certain tasks in a fixed amount of time. None of these gameplay types feel particularly interesting or fun. It’s a shame the developers did not choose to model the multiplayer component on the Enemy Territory expansion for Return to Castle Wolfenstein. It’s a widely known fact that Endrant Studios laid off most of its staff after the game’s completion. Go figure.
Conclusion
Aside from the disappointing multiplayer and some technical issues with the single player campaign, I had a blast playing through Wolfenstein. While it doesn’t stray away from familiar territory and features a rather traditional design, it’s still a very well made game. It may not win any awards for originality or innovation, but what it offers is a surprisingly entertaining single player campaign and a somewhat flawed but playable multiplayer component.
(+) Well paced and refreshing single player campaign
(+) Nice selection of weapons and upgrades
(+) Boss fights are fun and engaging
(-) Bland, uninspiring multiplayer
(-) Visuals are slightly dated
(-) Not much replay value once you finish the game
Title: Wolfenstein
Developer/Publisher: Raven Software/Activision
Genre: First-person shooter
Rating: 18+
Platforms: PlayStation3 (Rs 2,499), Xbox 360 (Rs 1,999), PC (Rs 999)
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