There is
something refreshing about comfort food; you know, that food that you can go to
in almost any restaurant and order it knowing that it should taste good. I mean
how hard is it to grill a burger? Comfort food – yeah, that’s the ticket. Well,
like comfort food, there is a well recognized but under-used phrase (that I am
currently making up) called comfort gaming. Games that make a buyer and player
comfortable because they know exactly what they are getting themselves into. The
Madden series is a good example of this; there is nothing so forward thinking in
a Madden game that should surprise anyone (dude, you can actually throw in the
latest Madden). So I think you can tell where I am going with this – the
Wolfenstein series of games (cause there have been so many) fall into this
category.
The last
time we saw our man , B.J. Blaskowitz, he had just completed a successful
campaign on the original Xbox and PC> He has since become a standing member of
the bureau of special shenanigans (not really) and it seems is regularly called
upon to deal with anything that has to do with the occult. True fact: Hitler was
an avid fan of the occult and because of this fact, we get to experience games
featuring undead Nazi zombies and other other-worldly oddities that would like
to turn our man B.J. into a hat.
"Ya know, I think that tanning pass you bought is starting to have some odd side
effects Bill…"
Ok, so
here’s the deal, once again, the Nazis and Hitler’s Germany have unearthed some
nasty magical items. Naturally they possess an other-worldly power that could
turn the tide of the war so it’s up to you to stop them. And by you, I mean B.J.
again. Being smuggled into Germany, you begin working with a resistance group
that intends on making things as difficult as possible for the Nazis and hey, it
may just help out the war effort as well. The game plays out as a pseudo
open-ended adventure. I say that because while the illusion is that you can roam
around town and collect missions they are, in fact, really linear and all pretty
much need to be completed. Speaking with NPCs helps drive the story forward, but
when it comes down to it, you get these games to shoot all sorts of stuff. And
in this game you will shoot all sorts of bad guys and monsters and other weird
stuff.
And that is
where the game actually disappoints. While a good looking first-person shooter,
the game never really takes any chances and moves the genre forward. We expect
that the game will play well and will be entertaining, but there are certain
titles that make gamers stand up and take notice. If it has Doom, Half-life,
Quake or Wolfenstein in the title, I believe there is a certain expectation that
the genre will be moved forward. And that really never happens. Again, the game
makes you think initially that you will have free rein to take on missions as
you see fit in an almost RPG way, but it never is fully realized. What’s worse
is that they actually went as far as to introduce a upgrading system to the
weapons you collect and give you mystical powers with which to do battle with
the other supernatural oddities you face.
"Reinhart, quickly, the dogs are getting into the garbage again!"
Now
controlling this monster is exactly what you expect; you will need to
reconfigure the controls to your liking and while the game isn’t a problem for
modern systems, if you have been waiting for a good reason to buy some
additional memory or get a new video card then this isn’t a bad game to do it
for. Yes, I know one paragraph up it would seem that I was beating this title
up. But in reality, it is a decent title with good graphics, but more on that in
a moment. It is a big game coming in at 8 gigabytes, so get yourself a snack as
you wait for it to load. Interestingly enough, the game comes with the "Punk
Blocker" software that helps online player detect those players using cheats and
other unfair tactics. There is also an updated patch for online gaming as well.
Not that this is any real surprise, but I thought you should be aware.
It’s a treat
when your system gets a game that has been lovingly created by programmers who
know what they are doing. Wolfenstein is a very smart, very well-put-together
game graphically. The level designs look like they should: burnt-out
Nazi-occupied hell holes full of destruction and recent warfare. The cut scenes
run smoothly and I appreciate how the game’s story unfolds within them.
Lighting effects, physics and the real destruction that weaponry produces all
look good. I really liked how some of the monsters came out and scared the crap
out of me (yeah there are a couple of creepy moments) and their design, while
somewhat expected, looked really cool. To me, games like this really need to get
the bad guys and monsters just right, and they do.
The game
actually has you select one of two icons to play either the single-player game
or the multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode currently has a healthy amount of
players doing battle on it but, as of this writing, the game seems to lack the
same spit and polish that the single-player campaign has. Instead, going for a
grittier, last-generation look to it. Also, the multiplayer mode seems to be
lacking in actual modes. Deathmatch is there as well as a mode called
"stopwatch," which pits teams against one another in a series of who can
complete the objectives the fastest in a timed winner-take-all format. And then
there is a mode simply called objective where one team needs to complete tasks
and the other team has to prevent them from doing so. It’s a decidely light
multiplayer selection and I was left wondering where the alway-popular
capture-the-flag mode was as well as anything that allowed players to play as
the actual baddies in the game. People are playing right now, but they won’t be
for long as there really isn’t anything that will drive them to keep playing
online.
"Call
the Super, the heat’s gone out again!"
Voice acting
throughout the game is also above board. You can make your system’s speakers hum
with all the action you are put through in this title. Personally, having
characters actually speaking with German accents is a good thing. It is also one
of the best games in terms of sound effects that I have heard in recent months.
Good voice work and good sound effects equals a good sounding game. The hum of
weird weaponry powering up, the sound of something with evil intentions making
guttural noises add to the ambience, which is a big part of any game, and the
musical score helps make this one even better.
You can
probably beat this title in about seven or so hours and you may or may not want
to go back and look for all those things you missed.
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Gameplay: 8.0
While the
game controls just fine and is fully customizable, there are certain
expectations that are met and others that were not. The game fails to move the
bar higher.
Graphics: 8.6
Sharp
looking, dressed to kill, the game makes no bones about it, it is fun to look
at.
Sound: 8.0
Good musical
score gives the game some gravitas as well as good sound effects and voice work.
Difficulty: Medium
A challenge
for those new to the genre; not much of a challenge for those of us who have
already saved the world multiple times.
Concept: 6.0
This is
where I was most disappointed. The game never moves the series forward and
actually takes a step backward in the multiplayer mode. Expectations were
running high on this one and I felt a bit robbed.
Multiplayer: 6.0
Very
disappointing, especially when the last Wolfenstein multiplayer game is way
better than this one.
Overall: 7.5
I am back
and forth on this one; while it is an entertaining and good-looking game, there
isn’t anything new or ground breaking, and the multiplayer stinks.
