Wolfenstein - PC, 360, PS3
Historical accuracy and Wolfenstein have never been the best of friends but in this newest version of the franchise they have become mortal enemies. The past Wolfenstein games have seen you battle Robot-Hitler and genetically modified supersoldiers but these seem positively sane compared to plot for this game.
As always you play the unstoppable Nazi killing machine B.J. Blazkowicz who arrives in charming Isenstadt, Germany to investigate some strange goings on involving Nazi's and the occult. It's a solid story that holds the game together well and the cut scenes help to progress the story along nicely but it's not the story that you buy a Wolfenstein game for, it's the shooting, blowing up, electricuting, burning, dismembering and disinigration of Nazi's. Wolfenstein has a twist of RPG in it as Isenstadt is not just used as a setting but as a central hub where you get missions from safe houses and weapon upgrades from the black market. It's not a huge area with much to do apart from travel from mission points, collect intel, gold and tombs but it does have a couple of side quests which are a nice addition. You use the gold and tombs you find in Isenstadt as well as on missions to buy upgrades for your weapons and powers. The upgrades to make a substantial difference so it's worth taking your time on missions to find all the gold rather than just rushing through.
The heavily modified Doom 3 engine makes the killing of Nazi's a very pretty place to do it with the vivid emerald world of the Veil making Wolfenstein a rare exception in the modern FPS in that it's at times bursting with colour. One slight niggle with the graphics is that at times your shots will clip the environment when it would seem you should hit the enemy, it's not the end of the world but it really shouldn't happen especially with Raven being the developer who have lots of FPS experience.
Onwards to the fun stuff! As previously mentioned you get to kill Nazi's in the Veil which is another dimension or something, it doesn't really matter but what does is that while in the Veil you gain improved vision and speed as your base power as well as being able to use hidden ladders and doorways. These hidden doorways are quite prevalent at the start of the game but fade out in the middle of the game and are totally absent from the end game which is a shame because they added a nice extra game play element.
As well as the speed, vision and wall walking powers you gain 3 additional powers during missions in the first half of the game, they are mainly used to aid in combat but in certain cases you need them to overcome minor puzzles or boss battles. The three additional powers you gain are Mire which slows down time, Shield which does exactly what you think and Empower which gives you a damage boost and allows you to penetrate enemy shields. You will find yourself using all 3 powers regularly during the course of the game which is nice as at times in games, such as Crysis, that allow you to choose powers you end up just using one all the time and the others when you only really need too.
Aside from the Veil and it's powers the combat is pretty straightforward but lots of fun, in addition to the traditional fare of MP40, MP44, Flamethrower and Panzerfaust you are treated to some extraordinarly overpower weapons such as the Particle cannon, a Ghostbusters pack on steroids that turns enemies into green skeletons then explodes them and the Tesla cannon which electrocute's several enemies at once...then explodes them.
The enemies that you will be exploding are nice are varied with the traditional Nazi footsoldier being your main opposition to begin with but as the game progresses the difficultly curve increases nicely inline with your new powers and weapons until you are fighting invisible assassins and undead skeleton Nazi's.
Whilst the game is lots of fun it's just too darn short, one play through on Hard doing all the side quests took about 10 hours. You do get a cheat mode unlocked once you've completed it so you have all weapons, powers and upgrades from the start which gives a slight incentive to play it though again if only to use the Tesla cannon on the packs of easy enemies.
Overall it lives up to the Wolfenstein name in delivering lots of violence involving Nazi's but because it's so short and doesn't really have much replay value I'd say wait until it's reduced in price to enjoy a nice weekend of Nazi slaughtering.
Note: I know there is a multiplayer mode