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| *Image Provided by Google; Property of ID Software |
The
1990s could be seen as a major turning point for video games. Arcade machines
began to vanish as gaming grew into a more ‘home-oriented’ experience and 3D
graphics gradually became more and more prominent. This evolution also gave
birth to whole new genres of games; one of the more popular being the
First-Person Shooter (or FPS for short) with Id Software leading the charge with their release of Wolfenstein 3D (or Wolf3D for short).
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Wolfenstein 3D
draws heavily from both the original top-down Castle Wolfenstein games and the Catacomb 3-D engine. Apparently, it was supposed to sport a heavier
emphasis on stealth rather than action before it was dumbed-down to help speed
up the game and simplify the controls. The result is a very simple shooting
experience, focused entirely on moving and shooting. Considered to be
‘Grandfather of all FPS’, Wolfenstein 3D laid the groundwork for every other
game in its respective genre to follow; much like what Super Mario Bros. did for traditional platformers. However, has it
aged as well as other games in different genres?
This
game was released the same year I was born, but I wouldn’t hear about it until
early into my teenage years, and I wouldn’t come to play it for the first time
until…actually a few months ago. After having completed the game twice, I can
say that I can definitely recognize the influence that this title had on the
genre as a whole; but whether or not the game holds up to this day, well...
This
will be the first part of a series of reviews as a sort-of lead-up to Doom 4 (or Doom). For this review, I’ll be covering the original MS-DOS
version of the game using DOSBOX – given how much more it closely resembles the
original version. Besides, it’s not like anyone uses floppy disks anymore.
HISTORY
First,
a bit of history regarding the game and its developers.
Id
originally began as a group of four guys (John Carmack, Adrian Carmack *no
relation*, Tom Hall, and John Romero) who broke away from their positions at
the internet company Softdisk after
designing their remake of Super Mario
Bros. 3 for the PC. After having their project rejected by Nintendo, they were approached by Apogee Software who offered to
distribute more of the group’s games via shareware - which was the model used
for demos back then. After developing Commander
Keen - their first original title; the team formed their own company – Id Software, and would go on to release
their first breakout title: Wolfenstein
3D.
Id’s
name has been apparently been attributed to a number of important technical
developments in video games; primarily FPSs and primarily on the PC. It was
probably the only company at the time who developed a new engine for each one
of its succeeding games and saw a remarkable level of success for each release.
It wasn’t until Id Tech 4 that the company’s success started to lessen, but I’m
getting ahead of myself.
PLOT
Like
many games at the time, Wolfenstein 3D
had a very simple plot and almost no story; focusing almost entirely on
gameplay. That said, the entirety of the plot revolves around an American spy
named William “B.J.” Blazkowicz fighting against Nazis during World War II.
The overall plot is split between three episodes, with episode revolving around a
different scenario, and is only ever brought up in a text box at the end of each
of them. The first episode deals with B.J. escaping from Castle Wolfenstein
after having been captured, the second has him stopping a Nazi plan to develop
mutant soldiers, and the third has him assassinating Adolf Hitler (yeah,
historically accurate).
You
have access to all three episodes from the get-go, but I would recommend
playing them in numerical order for a consistent difficulty curve. Upon
choosing an episode, you are given an option between four difficulty levels –
each one determines how many enemies can appear in a given level, how much
health most of them have, and how much damage they can inflict. Bear in mind
that not all of the enemies are affected by the change in difficulty, but a
large number of them are. The labels for the different difficulties are meant
to reflect the tongue-and-cheek nature of the game (mostly represented by the
different B.J. avatars shown next to them (wow, that sounded gross), but they
all represent the standard ‘easy/medium/hard/very hard’ IDs so pick one and get
psyched!
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
Now
as I said before, Wolfenstein 3D’s gameplay is very simplistic.
The
name of the game is to travel from stage to stage (or floor to floor as they
are called), shooting all manner of Nazi in your way.
The
controls are simple and ‘mostly’ customizable. Use the predefined keys to have
B.J. move forwards and backwards, aim left and right, open doors, and (most
importantly) shoot. You can also strafe left and right, but that requires the
use of two keys and may feel awkward at first for those used to natural
strafing, but shouldn’t take long to get used to. Also bear in mind that you
can’t aim up or down, which isn’t all bad given the nature of the game, but more
on that later.
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The
H.U.D at the bottom of the screen (if you can’t tell by the labels) shows the
current floor B.J.’s on, your total score, the number of lives he has (capping
out at 9), his health level, his ammo count, two empty slots which I’ll get to
later, his current weapon equipped, as well as a small facial animated image
taking the center. I actually like the center image as it presents a more
visual representation of the condition of the protagonist that numbers can’t
match; like becoming increasingly bloodied and bruised when losing health or
even a simple shifting of the eye during general gameplay.
Every
stage plays like a traditional 3D maze, a non-linear structure with lots of
rooms and hallways – many of which lead to dead ends.
Beating
a stage will require you to reach an elevator located somewhere within the
stage and flipping the switch, which takes you to the next one.
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As
I touched on earlier, each stage is littered with Nazis – guard dogs, guards,
SS, and officers. Among the more out of place enemies are mutants which appear
after the first episode and the fake Hitlers that appear at the end of the
third episode – sporting dark robes and magic fireballs; I guess reflecting
whatever abnormal elements that the Nazis were associated with. Many of the
enemies are encountered either patrolling the halls or just standing at
attention. They aren’t too spectacular mechanically – merely walking and
shooting; with the only standout mechanics being that they can open doors and
that their corpses can block door frames, preventing doors from closing. However;
it’s their presentation that allows them to stand apart because, aside from
each class having their own unique designs, each one has its own sound cues
both when they spot B.J. and when they die – with the most iconic being the SS
screaming <“my lieben!”> upon their death. The former allows you to
orally recognize enemies in the room and which ones you’ll be dealing with. It
may not sound like a big deal, but believe me when I say that it’s far more
useful than you’d think.
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Bosses
typically mark the end of an episode and don’t sport any dissimilar mechanical
other than dual chainguns. The fight with Hans Grosse is more intimidating than
it lets on given how it’s the only boss fight without any ammo or health
storages and his loud entrance made me jump the first time I encountered him. Dr.
Schabbs trades his chainguns for syringes which CAN be dodged, but are very
hard to notice coming towards you. Also, I like how the syringes mutate B.J.
upon death. Perhaps the most iconic of the bosses is Mecha Hitler who is
actually two bosses in one as you have to deal with his mecha suit before
dealing with the leader of the Reich himself. There are only two endings split
across each of the bosses, with B.J.’s jump for joy being used only once. The
death cam is the common ending – showing the boss keeling over in a pool of
their own blood. This is gruesome in and of itself and the ending for the
Hitler boss is just…damn! I mean, I know he was a bad guy and all (one of the
worst), but having your body literally melt away is something that I think no
human should go through – video game or otherwise.
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Scattered
alongside the enemies are a number of different collectables; each serving a
different purpose:
You’ve
got your health items in the form of first aid kits, plates of food, and even
dog food. Just remember to pick them up when you really need them as neither
they nor does B.J.’s health regenerate at any point.
You’ve
got various gold trinkets (Crosses, Chalices, Crowns, and Chests), each
granting a different amount of points upon picking them up, and only serve as a
means to increase your score.
Hidden
within many of the stages is either a silver and/or gold key, which are used to
unlock the silver metal doors which tend to be placed prior to the elevator
door. Just remember that if a door doesn’t open, then you either don’t have any
of the keys or don’t have the right one.
There
are also the incredibly rare 1-UPs – floating blue circles with B.J.’s face
plastered on them which, aside from granting an extra life, also maxes out
B.J’s health and gives 25 ammo (however THAT works).
**
B.J.
begins every episode with a useless knife and a far-more useful handgun, but
will eventually pick up a submachine gun either laying on the ground or from
the corpse of an SS. Finally, there’s the chaingun which is the most powerful
weapon in the game; as noted by B.J.’s sinister grin upon picking it up. Ammo
is typically replenished via blue magazines which B.J. can pick up off of the
ground or from dead enemies, just remember that enemy drops give less ammo
since the magazine is technically used. Also beware that, aside from the knife,
every weapon in the game shares the same ammo cache; so you may want to hold
off on laying the hammer down with the Chaingun.
**
Perhaps
the most ‘secretive’ aspects of the game are the secrets, which are typically hidden
behind pushable walls. Most of the time they’ll hold extra goodies; though some
secrets can hold entire stages. However, the secrets are just that – SECRET!
Granted, there are some that are quite easy to find if you keep your eyes open
and keep your wits about you; but the other entrances look no different from
regular walls – meaning that you will need a guide if you intend to find them
all.
Aside
from hidden goodies, there are also a few other hidden items; like the hidden
“Call Apogee” message in Episode 2, Floor 8 that has been replaced with a
regular bone pile. This was apparently part of a contest that Apogee was going
to have given how insanely difficult the process of finding it was, but the
release of a number of cheating programs essentially made the process of
finding it worthless; not to mention the sheer amount of phone calls that the
company must have been receiving as a result.
There’s
also the secret Pac-Man level in Episode 3, Floor 10. That is to say, a level
resembling a Pac-Man maze; complete with the respective theme and ghosts. The
ghosts, aside from looking derpy as all hell, are completely invincible, and
can eat away health at an alarming rate if they get too close. It’s a nice
tribute, though I’ve read that the console ports replaced the ghosts with fake
Hitlers – most likely due to copyright issues.
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Upon
completing a stage, you are taken to the results screen showing you your completion
time (in relation to the par) and your percentages of enemies killed, secrets
found, and treasure collected. All of these contribute to the bonus at the top
of the screen, which gets added to your overall score – which itself is earned
by killing enemies and collecting treasure. Honestly, unless you are a
completionist or have a thing for high scores – you probably won’t care too
much about this and will most likely just skip to the next stage.
So
far, much of the game seems like pretty standard stuff – at least for back in
the day. It sounds pretty good, right?
<sigh>
GAMEPLAY ISSUES
Starting
with my disdain for the controls; I don’t like how precise they are. Granted,
it’s nice how fast B.J. can move (even when walking), but his split-second
acceleration makes movement far more of an annoyance and completely invalidates
the option of treading softly – at least when using the keyboard.
Also
for some odd reason, you can only walk through the EXACT center of door frames
– which is clunky as hell.
**
The
level design, while a nice change of pace from modern shooters, can get VERY
confusing and convoluted. This is due to the 3D maze-like structure – with
rooms that look very similar to one another. The placements of various
decorations and furniture attempt to differentiate each room from one-another;
but the limited variety only helps to amplify the problem. This could’ve all
been mitigated by some sort of in-game map; bearing in mind that the original
Wolfenstein 3D came with a guide, much like the original Legend of Zelda on the
NES, and I found it to be damn near essential in order to beat the game without
constantly getting lost!
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Enemies
can also become very frustrating to deal with; mostly due to their placement
within the stages. More often than not, I’d enter a room or turn a corner only
to find myself blindsided by guards who ‘just happened’ to be waiting on the
other side.
Also,
a number of the enemies can be quite frustrating to deal with. I’m mainly
talking about the Mutants which appear after the first episode. They would
appear to have the greatest damage output, fastest reaction time, fastest
rate-of-fire, and fastest movement speed. Combine this with the
‘impossible-to-dodge’ hit-scan nature of the weapons and you have the making
for what is perhaps the worst enemy in the entire game!
**
The
damage model certainly doesn’t help as I found it to be either very inconsistent
or very worrisome in various situations. Even on the lower difficulties,
enemies can do a lot of damage. For some reason, enemies do more damage
whenever they shoot B.J. from behind and do far more damage up close than they
do from a distance. Enemies can take anywhere from 1-5 hits at any range and
can even be shot from around corners – no doubt a side effect of the auto-aim.
It’s just odd to look at and, considering that enemies can also shoot around
corners, quite infuriating.
**
Some
of these issues can be mitigated by the save/load anywhere system that was
commonplace for FPS back then, but that in-and-of itself presents another issue
– this time regarding the lives system. You might have been able to figure this
out already, but the ability to quick save and load at any point in the game
completely invalidates the need for a life count.
PRESENTATION
Visually
is where the game definitely shows its age. The pixelated graphics are one
thing, but the constant tearing as well as the lacking floor and ceiling
textures are just horrible. The overall texture quality isn’t bad, but the lack
of variety only adds to the issue that I have with the level design.
**
The
frame rate, while not the worst I’ve ever experienced, isn’t as smooth as I
would’ve liked it to have been; though it stays consistent for the most part.
**
The
audio presentation is pretty good. The atmospheric soundtrack, while a bit
limited, fits the overall environment well.
The
sound effects are also pretty good, though some sounds do have a habit of cutting
each other off. Still, this was commonplace for games back them so it’s not
entirely unexpected. Much like the enemies, just about everything else in the
game has its own unique sound effect. My only real gripes are with the weapons
which, aside from maybe the chaingun, don’t sound very powerful. Also, there’s
this hum that appears whenever you hug a surface becomes increasingly
irritating as the game progresses.
MISC.
In
addition to the main three episodes, there are also three more episodes
released called “The Nocturnal Missions”. This takes place prior to the first
episode, where B.J. thwarts a Nazi plan to introduce chemical weapons into the
war.
Finally,
there is a prequel to Wolfenstein 3D titled “Spear of Destiny”, where B.J.
recovers the stolen Spear of Longinus from the Nazis before being transported
to Hell and battling the Angel of Death. This also comes with two MORE
expansions: Return to Danger and Ultimate Challenge; damn, that’s a lot of content!
Ultimately,
the extra content is more of the same as many of them use the same design
elements as the main game. The only exception are the Spear of Destiny
expansions, which use new textures, sprites, and sounds – but why this is ONLY
limited to the expansions is beyond me. The only other notable changes are the
introduction of collectable ammo boxes – which replenish more ammo; and
redesigned bosses - like the robot which, aside from having a very loud
entrance, sports both dual chainguns and rocket launchers.
However,
it’s in all of the expansions where my issues with the levels become
exacerbated to a VERY high degree. The levels in hand are far too large and
confusing and only become more so as you continue through the expansions. Seriously,
look up the maps for some of these episodes; they’re ridiculous!
Also,
a number of them incorporate the secret pushable walls into their level design;
meaning that you’ll HAVE to find them in order to find the exit, and some of
them have segments where if you push the wrong wall, you’ll block off a part of
the level and will have to reload the file – which are both just plain
bullshit!
CONCLUSION
Overall,
I don’t think that Wolfenstein 3D has aged particularly well. The sprite design is top notch, but the level designs are too
confusing, and the overall gameplay is very archaic. I guess this is to be
expected for a game that’s more than two decades old and it’s not as if other
games at the time didn’t have similar issues. Still, I can't deny that much is owed to the game for its contribution to the medium and the genre as a whole, and; while I may not enjoy the game as much as other people, I am grateful for its existence.
