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- Jan 2, 2007
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Believe it or not, there once was a time when shooters were something new, and the concept of shooting Nazi's was a new and exciting concept. ID software introduced the genre with Wolfenstein 3D, an update of the Apple ][ classic that first introduced the FPS genre to a wider audience and gave them the joys of mowing down history's most hated villains. Now, 17 years later, Nazis and Shooters are getting a little stale, but Wolfenstein has returned with it's 6th official entry. How does it play out? In a sea of samey shooters, can it live up to it's legacy? Well, that's what we're going to find out.
Story
The story is a strange mishmash of good and bad, when it's really trying to show itself and give exposition, it's painfully boring and stupid. But all the little ideas running in the background are quite neat, and there are lots of pieces to a good Nazisploitation story with tons of weird crap that's sure to intrigue. Once again you play as B.J._Blazkowicz, who has apparently squashed his face and dyed his hair black since we last saw him, who works as a spy for the OSA, or Office of Secret Actions. He's recently just discovered some medallion thingy that the Nazi's wanted. Then he finds another medallion thingy and :cursing: hits the fan as bizarre things are unleashed thanks to the medallion thingy. Am I the only one who questions B.J.'s attributes as a spy? Sure, he'd make a great super soldier seeing as he can wipe out HALF THE NAZI ARMY on his own but this is how bad of a spy he is: His disguise is compromised before anyone even knows he has entered the country. I'm serious! Not even the resistance knew he was coming, yet everyone in Germany already knows hes a spy and they even know his name. B.J._Blazkowicz: Worst. Spy. EVAR. The story isn't that great, but I didn't really expect it to be.
5.0/10
Presentation (Graphics/Audio)
Wolfenstein 6 isn't exactly a looker. Bizarre pop-in issues and the lack of any form of anti-aliasing (And this was the PC version, there was NO ability to add in FSAA) makes it seem somewhat blurry, and textures are usually rather bland. There is some nice lighting effects and a few decent special effects, like the chunks that come out of your foes when you blast them or a few good explosions, but otherwise it comes off as relatively poor, but we can forgive the game because it does have a steady framerate even on my older than you computer and the enemy animations are relatively good.
Conversely, the sound is much better. From the satisfying gun noises to the hilariously horrendous shrieks from dying Nazis(My favourite is still "MEIN LEIBEN!" 17 years later it's still funny to hear a Nazi shriek "MEIN LEIBEN!":biggrin_old
the game sounds pretty good. The music is OK, standard fare for most WW2 games, but good. The voice acting is meh, but it gets the job done, ironically the best voice actors are the bad guys that usually end up dying so quickly, but oh well.
7.0/10
Design
The design and structure of Wolfenstein 6 is quite archaic, and I wouldn't have it any other way. While there are some modern twists to the gameplay, it plays much like the other Wolfenstein games: You are in a big area with lots of Nazis, gold, secrets, and you have a gun, SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT! In fact I saw an advertisement for the game that had the tagline "DESTROY THEM ALL." which is pretty much what Wolfenstein 6 is like. If you like to use your brain a little more often, and prefer modern-style shooters... Wolf 6 is not for you. If you're an old school fan of the series and can forgive that, Wolf 6's simplistic design will appeal to you. Most of the levels are well designed and fun to play through, and like any other game in the series there are lots of hidden goodies, secrets, and gold to collect and this time they actually have more of an effect on gameplay. Long time fans of Raven's games might like the nod to their first game, "Heretic" because one of the new secret items to collect are the tomes of power, which spruce up your weapon in some manner or another. It was cool to see them from the aspect of a long time fan and to know they haven't forgotten their roots. My biggest problem with Wolfenstein 6's design is that there are some times where I felt like I accidentally stepped into "Call of Duty 2: Sci-Fi edition" with the compass leading to your next objective marked with a star, the regenerating health and "You're hurt! Get to cover" message and even a little grenade indicator when an enemy lobs a grenade at you. Thankfully, save for a couple spots, the gameplay does vary itself and isn't as linear and rail-esque as CoD2 and you're never leading dumb AI's forward against more Dumb A.I.'s (Although the AIs are pretty dumb.)
8.5/10
Gameplay
As always, it all boils down to this very important category. Here, the gameplay and the design go hand-in-hand, it's decidedly old school and I thank god for it. Basically, eradicate the Nazis and have a blast doing it. Over the years and after a million WW2 games people are getting tired of shooting Nazis, but Wolfenstein 6 actually makes it FUN to shoot Nazis again! Maybe it's the sci-fi element and the fact that you will actually dispatch Nazis with some fake weaponry as well as dispatch extremely fake and unrealistic Nazis with said fake weaponry, which makes the game feel fresh compared to just about every other WW2 shooter out there. Think about it. When was the last time in a Call of Duty game you were able to use a gun that turns Nazis into bones and ash? Or how about the time you fought a Gestapo general who turned into a glass skeleton? How about the psychic scientists that lob concentrated psychic energy at you and shield their buddies? It's all very, very silly, it's all very very bloody, but it's all very, very fun. Wolfenstein 6 tickles a very primitive part of the brain, that little part that's still very much a barbaric monkey, and I even founded myself laughing a few times when I'd blast a Nazis jaw off and watch him try and stop the bleeding. It's very cathartic in a way. But obviously, catharsis can be a good thing. There are a few gameplay elements that do bug me, namely 3 things in particular:
Checkpoints. UGH. I know this is more common with consoles, but come on guys! Even on consoles, this ISN'T ACCEPTABLE. Every modern console has a hard drive or some form of saving data. PC's require the harddrive to run the game. DO THE MATH. GIVE US A SAVE FEATURE.
Regenerating health: UGH again. It makes the game a little too easy, and when I think of old school shooters, one of the things that comes to mind is how frantic it was trying to find anything to save yourself with. Remember in Wolf 3D when you had to resort to eating Dog Food because it was all you can find? Or how about the ultra-rare instance where you had to drink pools of blood if you only had 1 health point left. I know it's not the most realistic way of measuring health, but then again, I'm pretty sure in real life people don't just heal up in 5 seconds.
and the veil powers. Yes, that's right, one of the games primary "new" features is one of its worst. While the veil can be used for puzzle solving and finding secrets with is cool, the "Powers" that come with it are contrived and about as new as the church of Christianity. Thankfully you CAN have the option never to use these powers save for the aforementioned puzzle solving, secrets, and places that force you to use it, but this combined with regenerating health can make the game feel too easy and it's something that also bothers me about the coming of multi-platform gameplay is that they are dumbing it down for people that aren't quite as good at hardcore old school shooters, which is STUPID when you're making a sequel to a game that often gets called the GRANDDADDY of all shooters! You can't get much more old school with shooters unless you played Hovertank 3D which was coincidentally made by the same people.
One of the things that did really impress me though in terms of "new" are the boss battles, which are actually really quite fun. The one that stuck out for me the most was the battle with the Assassin in the Hospital. It was both cool and creepy, it was in a way like being in the movie "Predator." Except inside a hospital and replacing the alien with a Nazi. Having him move around all over the damn place invisible and laughing at you was pretty darn creepy, yet it made it all the more satisfying when you finally kicked his ass. Each boss enemy has a different weakspot, both in the veil and out of the veil and they almost never repeat the bosses so each one feels fresh and merges seamlessly into the game. Another positive I should note is the length of the game. So many shooters these days can be completed in 7-8 hours, 12 if you are lucky. Wolfenstein 6 clocked me in at 28 hours, and when I take out the parts where I kept dying or that stupid glitch that makes you replay a mission, I'd say it took me a good 23 hours. Finally, a good length for a shooter. If I hadn't been playing it so adamantly it may have taken me more than a week, unlike most modern shooters. Too bad I for once wasted hour upon hour on this game, but as negative as that is, that's also a positive.
8.9/10
Multiplayer
Ehhhhh... Just download "Enemy Territory" for the real multiplayer Wolfenstein experience. Once again they dumbed it down for the console people, and only allow 12 players in a game. 12! Are you serious? Most modern PC games require 32 players or they get laughed off the block. Now, to be fair, Wolf 6's multiplayer CAN be fun, but it's a let down compared to RtCW's multiplayer as well as the excellent Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory which is still a free download and still one of the best multiplayer experiences out there.
6.0/10
Final Verdict
People who don't like these kinds of games will hate Wolfenstein 6. People who do like these kinds of games, might get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It's not going to set the world on fire, hell, it's a step backwards for shooters, but that means it stays true to its roots in more ways than one. It's not perfect, it's definitely flawed, but when you're having fun turning Nazis into mush, you tend to ignore those flaws.
8.7/10
Story
The story is a strange mishmash of good and bad, when it's really trying to show itself and give exposition, it's painfully boring and stupid. But all the little ideas running in the background are quite neat, and there are lots of pieces to a good Nazisploitation story with tons of weird crap that's sure to intrigue. Once again you play as B.J._Blazkowicz, who has apparently squashed his face and dyed his hair black since we last saw him, who works as a spy for the OSA, or Office of Secret Actions. He's recently just discovered some medallion thingy that the Nazi's wanted. Then he finds another medallion thingy and :cursing: hits the fan as bizarre things are unleashed thanks to the medallion thingy. Am I the only one who questions B.J.'s attributes as a spy? Sure, he'd make a great super soldier seeing as he can wipe out HALF THE NAZI ARMY on his own but this is how bad of a spy he is: His disguise is compromised before anyone even knows he has entered the country. I'm serious! Not even the resistance knew he was coming, yet everyone in Germany already knows hes a spy and they even know his name. B.J._Blazkowicz: Worst. Spy. EVAR. The story isn't that great, but I didn't really expect it to be.
5.0/10
Presentation (Graphics/Audio)
Wolfenstein 6 isn't exactly a looker. Bizarre pop-in issues and the lack of any form of anti-aliasing (And this was the PC version, there was NO ability to add in FSAA) makes it seem somewhat blurry, and textures are usually rather bland. There is some nice lighting effects and a few decent special effects, like the chunks that come out of your foes when you blast them or a few good explosions, but otherwise it comes off as relatively poor, but we can forgive the game because it does have a steady framerate even on my older than you computer and the enemy animations are relatively good.
Conversely, the sound is much better. From the satisfying gun noises to the hilariously horrendous shrieks from dying Nazis(My favourite is still "MEIN LEIBEN!" 17 years later it's still funny to hear a Nazi shriek "MEIN LEIBEN!":biggrin_old
the game sounds pretty good. The music is OK, standard fare for most WW2 games, but good. The voice acting is meh, but it gets the job done, ironically the best voice actors are the bad guys that usually end up dying so quickly, but oh well.7.0/10
Design
The design and structure of Wolfenstein 6 is quite archaic, and I wouldn't have it any other way. While there are some modern twists to the gameplay, it plays much like the other Wolfenstein games: You are in a big area with lots of Nazis, gold, secrets, and you have a gun, SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT! In fact I saw an advertisement for the game that had the tagline "DESTROY THEM ALL." which is pretty much what Wolfenstein 6 is like. If you like to use your brain a little more often, and prefer modern-style shooters... Wolf 6 is not for you. If you're an old school fan of the series and can forgive that, Wolf 6's simplistic design will appeal to you. Most of the levels are well designed and fun to play through, and like any other game in the series there are lots of hidden goodies, secrets, and gold to collect and this time they actually have more of an effect on gameplay. Long time fans of Raven's games might like the nod to their first game, "Heretic" because one of the new secret items to collect are the tomes of power, which spruce up your weapon in some manner or another. It was cool to see them from the aspect of a long time fan and to know they haven't forgotten their roots. My biggest problem with Wolfenstein 6's design is that there are some times where I felt like I accidentally stepped into "Call of Duty 2: Sci-Fi edition" with the compass leading to your next objective marked with a star, the regenerating health and "You're hurt! Get to cover" message and even a little grenade indicator when an enemy lobs a grenade at you. Thankfully, save for a couple spots, the gameplay does vary itself and isn't as linear and rail-esque as CoD2 and you're never leading dumb AI's forward against more Dumb A.I.'s (Although the AIs are pretty dumb.)
8.5/10
Gameplay
As always, it all boils down to this very important category. Here, the gameplay and the design go hand-in-hand, it's decidedly old school and I thank god for it. Basically, eradicate the Nazis and have a blast doing it. Over the years and after a million WW2 games people are getting tired of shooting Nazis, but Wolfenstein 6 actually makes it FUN to shoot Nazis again! Maybe it's the sci-fi element and the fact that you will actually dispatch Nazis with some fake weaponry as well as dispatch extremely fake and unrealistic Nazis with said fake weaponry, which makes the game feel fresh compared to just about every other WW2 shooter out there. Think about it. When was the last time in a Call of Duty game you were able to use a gun that turns Nazis into bones and ash? Or how about the time you fought a Gestapo general who turned into a glass skeleton? How about the psychic scientists that lob concentrated psychic energy at you and shield their buddies? It's all very, very silly, it's all very very bloody, but it's all very, very fun. Wolfenstein 6 tickles a very primitive part of the brain, that little part that's still very much a barbaric monkey, and I even founded myself laughing a few times when I'd blast a Nazis jaw off and watch him try and stop the bleeding. It's very cathartic in a way. But obviously, catharsis can be a good thing. There are a few gameplay elements that do bug me, namely 3 things in particular:
Checkpoints. UGH. I know this is more common with consoles, but come on guys! Even on consoles, this ISN'T ACCEPTABLE. Every modern console has a hard drive or some form of saving data. PC's require the harddrive to run the game. DO THE MATH. GIVE US A SAVE FEATURE.
Regenerating health: UGH again. It makes the game a little too easy, and when I think of old school shooters, one of the things that comes to mind is how frantic it was trying to find anything to save yourself with. Remember in Wolf 3D when you had to resort to eating Dog Food because it was all you can find? Or how about the ultra-rare instance where you had to drink pools of blood if you only had 1 health point left. I know it's not the most realistic way of measuring health, but then again, I'm pretty sure in real life people don't just heal up in 5 seconds.
and the veil powers. Yes, that's right, one of the games primary "new" features is one of its worst. While the veil can be used for puzzle solving and finding secrets with is cool, the "Powers" that come with it are contrived and about as new as the church of Christianity. Thankfully you CAN have the option never to use these powers save for the aforementioned puzzle solving, secrets, and places that force you to use it, but this combined with regenerating health can make the game feel too easy and it's something that also bothers me about the coming of multi-platform gameplay is that they are dumbing it down for people that aren't quite as good at hardcore old school shooters, which is STUPID when you're making a sequel to a game that often gets called the GRANDDADDY of all shooters! You can't get much more old school with shooters unless you played Hovertank 3D which was coincidentally made by the same people.
One of the things that did really impress me though in terms of "new" are the boss battles, which are actually really quite fun. The one that stuck out for me the most was the battle with the Assassin in the Hospital. It was both cool and creepy, it was in a way like being in the movie "Predator." Except inside a hospital and replacing the alien with a Nazi. Having him move around all over the damn place invisible and laughing at you was pretty darn creepy, yet it made it all the more satisfying when you finally kicked his ass. Each boss enemy has a different weakspot, both in the veil and out of the veil and they almost never repeat the bosses so each one feels fresh and merges seamlessly into the game. Another positive I should note is the length of the game. So many shooters these days can be completed in 7-8 hours, 12 if you are lucky. Wolfenstein 6 clocked me in at 28 hours, and when I take out the parts where I kept dying or that stupid glitch that makes you replay a mission, I'd say it took me a good 23 hours. Finally, a good length for a shooter. If I hadn't been playing it so adamantly it may have taken me more than a week, unlike most modern shooters. Too bad I for once wasted hour upon hour on this game, but as negative as that is, that's also a positive.
8.9/10
Multiplayer
Ehhhhh... Just download "Enemy Territory" for the real multiplayer Wolfenstein experience. Once again they dumbed it down for the console people, and only allow 12 players in a game. 12! Are you serious? Most modern PC games require 32 players or they get laughed off the block. Now, to be fair, Wolf 6's multiplayer CAN be fun, but it's a let down compared to RtCW's multiplayer as well as the excellent Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory which is still a free download and still one of the best multiplayer experiences out there.
6.0/10
Final Verdict
People who don't like these kinds of games will hate Wolfenstein 6. People who do like these kinds of games, might get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It's not going to set the world on fire, hell, it's a step backwards for shooters, but that means it stays true to its roots in more ways than one. It's not perfect, it's definitely flawed, but when you're having fun turning Nazis into mush, you tend to ignore those flaws.
8.7/10
I think that so many people are forgetting the single player experience and only focusing on the multiplayer, I actually think that's why so many games like this these days are shorter is because the dev's want more work into the muli than the single player, I remember back in the day you could count on these games to last you a few months before you even cared or noticed whether or not it had multiplayer and it's rare to have a fully crafted SP experience in FPS games these days.
