Wolfenstein 3D

Most people playing this are either older people playing for nostalgia, or younger FPS fans interested in its historical value. These are both perfectly good reasons to play this game, but I have a slightly different perspective. When I was a kid in the 90s, I mostly played games like The 7th Guest and Day of the Tentacle. I didn't like action or shooter games at all, mostly because I was (am) absolutely terrible at them. Whenever my friends and I played Bond on the 64, I was usually (always) the guy who died within 2 min, spinning around in a circle trying to figure out where the shots were coming from. However, as an adult, I've expanded my horizons a bit, and I've found that a lot of the games I skipped over when I was 12 are actually really great. My advantage here is that I'm basically coming into this game as a 40 year old noob, so I can actually enjoy this game at about the same level as a brand-new player would have circa 1992 (it also means I can only play when no one is watching me). A seasoned FPS player might find this game frustrating or dull due to its repetitive environments, low selection of guns and enemies, and overall low challenge compared to what they're used to. A nostalgic player might find it dated and less entertaining than he remembers. However, if you try to come at it with fresh eyes and play it the way someone would have played it back when games like this just didn't exist, you'll find that there's actually still a lot of genuine entertainment value here. This game was highly creative and revolutionary when it came out, both in terms of technology and design, and there's a lot to enjoy. I recommend reading the book Masters of Doom by David Kushner concurrently while playing through this. I also recommend keeping a set of level maps handy, as it's easy to get lost.

Yes it does, but you have to consider the time it was developed and released. Military shooters are ten-a-penny now, but in 1992, nothing like this had been done before. The simplistic design might not seem like much these days, but at the time, exploring these things in a 3D environment was something new, exciting and fresh. Also, the addition of Nazi symbolism and propaganda throughout the game, not to mention the opportunity to kill Hitler himself, was a hitherto unexplored and controversial design decision. What I find impressive about Wolfenstein 3D, and why I feel it remains a good game to this day, was the way the development team managed to make it work within their limitations. You only had three weapons, but if you find the Chain Gun, (the best of the three,) you have to be very careful with managing your resources as the rapid rate of fire drains your ammo very quickly. There are only five enemy types (not counting the bosses,) but each enemy presented its own challenge and needed strategic thinking in order to defeat, especially when they started appearing in significant numbers. While the levels could only be designed on a flat grid, there was a massive amount of thought put in to their design, and except for a couple of clangers, the layout of each level was bang on point. Wolfenstein 3D doesn’t look particularly good these days, and while the gun sound effects were meaty enough, the voices were tinny and distorted (more to do with the hardware limitations of the time than anything else.) But – and I’ve said it before – all the bells, whistles and graphics in the world can’t replace good level design and a solid core gameplay loop. With that in mind, if you like first-person action games, you could do far worse than try Wolfenstein 3D to experience the core of this style of game – and make up your own mind as to how little or far video games have come since 1992.

At this point I think I gonna write this review just for the sake of habit. Anyway, since I really don't think any explanation should be given since it's utterly impossible that you, dear reader, never heard of Wolfenstein 3D ( should like a bible for any proper gamer, or even for a casual one). Best I can say without repeating what has been repeated a thousand times : the game itself has, of course, aged badly ( if we were to give a more '' contemporary'' vote, I'd give it a 3 star) but it is still enjoyable ( ep 1-3 are the OG and the best, the mission packs are entertaining but not mind-blowing). On top of that, the pack GOG offers is complete with even the sequel (spear of destiny) so I strongly recommend buying it: I believe it is vital that these games must be play at least once in life, they are the structure in which the entirety of the fps (although I'd not call Wolfenstein 3D an FPS game) genre stands on and its simplicity is the reason it still manages to be fun and enjoyable. So, yes: the third installment of the Wolfenstein series (nobody considers the first two for Apple II) is not the first first person shooter ( mmmm feels wrong call it like that, not in a contemporary meaning, I... mean) but it is surely the very first that brought the foundation for an entire genre that dominated and still dominate the market today, and just for that it is worth to trying at least once for understand how the genre evolved.

A classic, if the controls are too stiff, try the strafe mod. I hate it when people complain that the game is dated... yeah, obviously, so what?

This game was made at a time when computer games were still made by nerds, for nerds; they were trying to do new things with software and games were made to be fun to play, not just milking a franchise for money ad nauseam. It's simplistic and silly--going around enemy bases shooting Nazis, searching for hidden rooms and collecting treasure--but it's also fun and in fact quite hard. Some levels are pretty straightforward, but many feature mazes that are easy to get lost in. I played this game only once so far, and went in 'blind' (no referring to maps) so it was pretty intense sometimes, especially if you're trying to hang on to that last 1% of life while enemies might be waiting round the corner. The enemy types are few but they are not to be underestimated, as they like to sneak up on you and shoot you in the back, or wait in ambush round the corner. There are times when you'll need to use different tactics than just brute force, because you're either out of ammo or nearly dead and need to pick off that enemy horde one by one. To make things harder, the enemy can hear your gunshots, and often they will rush at you from nearby rooms, so it's always prudent to save your game if you are entering an area with many doors. This behaviour, however, isn't always predictable and you can easily clear a room with a dozen enemies rushing at you, just to get shot in the face by the one guard who remained in hiding. I was actually quite impressed by the enemy behaviour overall, because I was not expecting it from such an old game. Overall, a fun and challenging retro shooter that doesn't take itself too seriously. Maybe a bit repetitive as you get through chapter after chapter, but still worth playing at least once. If you feel the price is too high (as I've seen many reviews to complain), you can always wait for a sale to grab it at a price you can agree with. :)