Wolfenstein 2009 Game Review with Screenshots

When Building a game with a name like Wolfenstein, you better come correct or hardcore gamers are going to knock you to the ground and stomp you to dust with the heels of their well-worn combat boots pretty freakin’ ricky-tick. 

Wolfenstein 3D is really the great granddaddy of all good modern FPSs and together with Doom made it impossible for gamers (or game developers) to ever take a step backward into side scrollers again—at least until the Nintendo DS hit the streets.  It’s been 8 years since we last saw B.J. Blaskowicz the badass spec-ops grunt tasked with single-handedly uncovering Hitler’s nasty obsession with the occult so you’d expect the action (and everything else) to be kicked up a notch.  But did Id get it right or is Wolfenstein just another cookie-cutter shooter destined to waste our times and money?

Gameplay

The plot is pretty much what you’d expect.  B.J. is back “in country” and doesn’t have long to wait before he stumbles upon yet another one of Hitler’s nefarious and misguided attempts to harness arcane powers to rule the world.  This time, the fuzzy-lipped little Fuhrer has discovered a new dimension called the Veil in which a funky Black Sun gives his scientists the ability to engineer some seriously sick super soldiers and a handful of extremely deadly weapons.  Of course B.J. is going to jump into the mix.  Of course he’s going to get some of those cool powers, and nasty toys.  Of course he’s going to save the day.  Really, I was hoping for something more but the story never delivers. 

Still, it’s not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.  In fact, it’s actually quite stylish and entertaining.  The addition of Veil sight and the superhuman powers players will soon be mastering make the game very fun indeed but we’ve seen those powers a dozen times in a dozen different games with a dozen different names by now.  Mire slows time, Shield produces a protective “force field,” and Empower boosts the destructive force of your firearms.  Still, it’s neat to see these powers translated into the World War II setting and the transition in and out of the Veil looks like something straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster complete with the Wow factor.

The development team also tried to add a bit of RPG into the game but the results aren’t all that great.  They added an upgrade system to your weapons and powers (which sounds cool) but that system depends on the cash you find laying about and therefore makes things a bit awkward when you’re able to upgrade your super weapons and powers for some coin.  However, the upgrades really do feel like they make a difference (most of them anyway) but the good ones are extremely costly so you’ll definitely have to pick and choose the perks that most closely match you style of play.

The enemy AI however makes it rather easy for you to sit back and pick them off with all of your fancy powers and cool weaponry.  In fact, you can often drop enemies who are standing right next to others without raising alarm.  You’ll also find the AI controlled Nazis lining up like ducks in a shooting gallery on occasion.  How does the game compensate for the semi-moronic bad guys?  By throwing hordes of them at you.  While they don’t generally come in waves, the enemy’s only recourse against the super powerful B.J. Blaskowicz is to overwhelm him by sheer force of numbers.

Graphics

Graphically the game is pretty.  The character models are exceptional.  The special effects are spot on.  However, there’s none of the envelope-pushing you’d expect for a game-changing franchise like Wolfenstein.  Still, you might not notice if you let yourself get caught up in the solid gameplay.  One of the areas where the graphics (especially the set design and layout) come into sharp focus is during the amazing boss battles. Often these take place using elaborate set pieces which grounds the otherwise out-of-this-world feel of the game.  Also, it’s very clear that the developers paid lots of attentions to the weapons and weapon effects.  Let’s face it, Wolfenstein without cool guns would just be Doom.

Sound

While the graphics are just okay the soundtrack and voice acting are really above board.  The musical score definitely matches the pace of the game and stays tight with the action while being just cheeky enough to let you know you’re playing a sci-fi shooter not a WWII reenactment.  It’s also great to hear characters actually speaking with authentic (or seemingly authentic) German accents.  There’s nothing more annoying than having to sit through dialogue that sounds as if it’s spoken by a Saturday morning cartoon character and there’s really none of that here.  Although, if you pay close enough attention you will notice that several actors are “recycled” and used for several characters.

Value

As you might expect from a shooter with such a limited storyline, the action is rather simple and short and most people would be hard pressed to spend more than 8 hours in the single player mission.  Unfortunately, after that there’s not much to keep most folks interested in the game.  There really aren’t any achievements, unlockables, or collectibles with searching out and the multiplayer is a bit boring.  Indeed, there are only three gameplay modes in multiplayer and one is just a timed version of the other!  However, there are eight maps, which is a solid amount but it might be hard to find anybody playing on any of those maps in six months.

While the game is a solid entry into the Wolfenstein family, the lack of a solid multiplayer and the shortened story arch really drag the value of the game down.  Also, because there’s really nothing new here, the only aspect of this release that puts it at all above any of the other contemporary shooters out there is the name.  How many times can we see Hitler try the same tricks over again only to be thwarted by the same hero in very nearly the same fashion as the time before?

Final Verdict

Although the entry remains solid, several rather sticky “issues” unfortunately keep the game from being as cool as it should have been.  In the end, the game feels more like Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2.0—even with the Matrix-like Veil powers thrown in.

Pros:  Nostalgic gameplay, solid graphics, A+ sound effects and voice acting.

Cons:  predictable story, little replayability, boring multiplayer.


Overall Score: 7.5/10


 And as promised in title, the screenshots (click to expand):






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