![]() ![]() Wolf 3D was not the first FPS, let alone the earliest game with a first-person perspective, but it was the first one that seemed to know what it was doing and certainly the first one to break through to a mainstream audience. I now understand that the world was 2D with a 3D presentation, achieved through clever programming and manipulation of the first person perspective, but it looked convincing at the time, and it was a feat that my child brain thought impossible. The controls feel a bit awkward, but I have to cut some slack as there just wasn't much of a framework or blueprint to go off. ![]() The gameplay is likewise simple, consisting of just running, shooting, and opening doors, but who could blame them in those days for sticking to the fundamentals. I think id knew how to work within the confines of the systems of the day that many developers did not, and they avoid looking dated as a result. The visuals are simple but somehow still artful. Nowadays, it isn't that impressive, and I would much rather play DOOM, but this was tapping into something that I did not think possible, and even now it has its charm. I was used to playing the 2D games on the Nintendo (or the NES as it is usually called now), and here was this realistic, three-dimensional (or so we thought) world. My uncle owned a copy of this game, and during a family reunion in the early 90s, on his IBM-compatible laptop, he showed it to myself, my siblings, and my cousins, perhaps against some protestations by our parents, and it floored me. I won't pretend that I was a PC gaming enthusiast when it came out, because I was but a child, but it was one of the first PC games that I remember playing and thinking that it had something over the consoles to which I was so accustomed. Although it may seem harsh, the game could be called something of a dry run for DOOM, but for those of us who were able to play Wolf 3D in its day, it was jaw-dropping. Today, Wolfenstein 3D has become something of a footnote, and perhaps for good reason. Its a classic game worth playing at least once, but once Doom came out, this game sort of became a bit obsolete. But it still had some cool things that would revolutionizing the genre, and the hidden secrets were cool along with having Hitler as the final boss. Back in 1992, this game would have nothing short of amazing and revolutionary and its crazy thinking a game of this calibur could come out in an era where 2D games like Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog were at their peak, but the game just doesn't have a big variety of weapons and most of the weapons in this feel way too basic, the same old enemies get old, the level design gets pretty repetitive and tedious, the music isn't anything too special, and there were many better FPS games to come in the years following. I mean my biggest gripe with the game is the design, and how limited it feels and that's more due to the time it was made. I guess you have dogs and mutants too but they aren't as common, but compared to Doom that had at least double the amount of enemies than this game. Plus the enemies also don't have much variety, you have your normal troops, the big troops with machine guns, then the fast troops. Ocasionally the game will throw in a level that has a different and more unique design and it is the most exciting thing after going through many generic levels to get there. 80% of the levels in this game just felt so similar to each other that I felt like I was in one of those old dungeon crawler RPG games going through a dungeon. Now the problem I had with Wolfenstein is the design, so many levels just felt and looked so similar, where Doom had a variety of environments and design choices, Wolfenstein has the same textures and very similar design on almost every level. Wolfenstein has actually aged alright, the gameplay is solid, mainly just face an enemy and shoot until they die and most enemies use guns which go on the hitscan method of damage, which can be a little annoying since there is a randomness factor involved in how much damage you'll take from a shot. Wolfenstein is a classic shooter, very similar in style to Doom, but instead of fighting demons and zombies in hell you are fighting Nazi soldiers and mutants (which were sort of the precursor to Nazi zombies) in bases. Wolfenstein 3D is the true godfather of FPS games, yeah Doom took the genre and perfected it, and Doom ended up being the more memorable game that people still reference today, but Wolfenstein still has a reputation and to this day there are still new Wolfenstein games coming out that people are getting excited about. ![]()
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