(Review originally written at 19 May 2006)
It was already very hard for this game to live up to its hype. It's based on the classic and immensely popular, WW II first person shooter, "Wolfenstein 3D", from 1992. It's was already quite hard to live up to the success of its predecessor and with the Medal of Honor games already out on the market, it became even harder to make a both original and impressive enough game, to please the Wolfenstein fans as well as offering something new to the players of other WW II shoot such as the Medal of Honor games. Even though the game is not bad, it still is a disappointing one to both of these groups of gamers.
The game has a solid story-line and both the story and atmosphere remain loyal to the classic "Wolfenstein 3D". Even though the game-play is more like the Medal of Honor games, the atmosphere was really like "Wolfenstein 3D", which gave the game a certain degree of originality and playability.
The game at first begins as every other WW II shooter but as the story and the game progresses, the game becomes more and more dark, especially when the first occult elements are introduced into the game. The occult and monstrous elements of the game make sure that the movie is a really scary one to play at certain moments. Some the monsters really pop out of nowhere at times and the sound effects are what make those moments even more creepy. Some of the creatures in the game are very well constructed and also hard to beat. Especially the Uber Soldat, who is half human, half machine and is extremely hard to beat is one scary opponent. Normally characters like these are used as level end-bosses but in this game they pop up regularly, like any other monster. Just the sound of an huge Uber Soldat slowly approaching and just knowing that he's ready to fire a missile or his Venom-gun at you is reason enough to crap your pants. The game is filled with 'crapping-your-pants' moments like these, also especially with the characters known as Lopers. I especially remember playing this game late at night, with the lights off and the sound turned up was a quite scary experience.
But has the game more to offer than just original opponent and a good atmosphere? Unfortunately not really. With the Medal of Honor games already out on the market at the time, this game falls flat as a WW II shooter. The game-play and levels are not as good and also the weaponry is lacking, with the excepting of a few 'futuristic' weapons such as the mini-gun and Tesla gun and original weapons such as the flamethrower. The game just doesn't play as easy and familiar as other first person shooters
Some of the levels are really great to play but as a whole the game doesn't really have a very high re playability value. I remember maybe finishing this games about three times and after that I was already fed-up and bored with the game and just went on playing the Medal of Honor games, of which I never grew tired (still play those games occasionally).
Most of the level end-bosses are good and hard to beat. So are most of the other normal characters in the game. The Nazi's have a good gaming intelligence and the monsters are scary and original enough to enjoy playing against. The game has some more original characters besides just monsters, such as elite troops and Nazi-women who are quite hard to beat in the game. Unfortunately the end boss is a disappointing one. Beating a guy who has just a sword, when you have a mini-gun, machine guns, rocket-launchers and other explosive isn't a very hard task. I had more trouble beating the other level end bosses than the final one. I even expected the game to continue and was really surprised that I had finished the game after I had beaten Heinrich I. It was really quite disappointing to be perfectly honest. Like many other Wolfenstein fans I had hoped to fight Hitler in a mechanical suit just like in "Wolfenstein 3D".
"Wolfenstein 3D" is still the best Wolfenstein game ever made, even despite the fact that this game has still more to offer the gamer.
7/10
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