Wolfenstein 3D (Video Game 1992) Poster

(1992 Video Game)

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8/10
Classic!
swedzin2 July 2012
This one is a real childhood treat. Still playable, still fun and still cool. You are an American agent trapped in the castle of Wolfenstein, which is full of Nazi soldiers, ghosts, dogs, robots and Hitler himself! You got 5, 6 episodes and you can chose to play a classic cube like stories, just go around and shot Germans... I enjoyed this very much and other spin offs and 2001 video game. While the 2009 game, ruined the impression. Wanna play this? Go ahead. Have fun. Classic at best.

This game came out before Doom and it was perfect first person shooter to practice on it, before other games came out. This one has a special place in your heart, if you are a fan of first person shooters.
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8/10
A classic in so many ways
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews24 June 2006
Many neglect that this isn't just a classic due to the fact that it's the first 3D game, or even the first shoot-'em-up. It's also one of the first stealth games, one of the only(and definitely the first) truly claustrophobic games, and just a pretty well-rounded gaming experience in general. With graphics that are terribly dated today, the game thrusts you into the role of B.J.(don't even *think* I'm going to attempt spelling his last name!), an American P.O.W. caught in an underground bunker. You fight and search your way through tunnels in order to achieve different objectives for the six episodes(but, let's face it, most of them are just an excuse to hand you a weapon, surround you with Nazis and send you out to waste one of the Nazi leaders). The graphics are, as I mentioned before, quite dated and very simple. The least detailed of basically any 3D game released by a professional team of creators. If you can get over that, however(and some would suggest that this simplicity only adds to the effect the game has on you), then you've got one heck of a good shooter/sneaking game. The game play consists of searching for keys, health and ammo, blasting enemies(aforementioned Nazis, and a "boss enemy" per chapter) of varying difficulty(which, of course, grows as you move further in the game), unlocking doors and looking for secret rooms. There is a bonus count after each level is beaten... it goes by how fast you were(basically, if you beat the 'par time', which is the time it took a tester to go through the same level; this can be quite fun to try and beat, and with how difficult the levels are to find your way in, they are even challenging after many play-throughs), how much Nazi gold(treasure) you collected and how many bad guys you killed. Basically, if you got 100% of any of aforementioned, you get a bonus, helping you reach the coveted high score placings. The game (mostly, but not always) allows for two contrastingly different methods of playing... stealthily or gunning down anything and everything you see. You can either run or walk, and amongst your weapons is also a knife... running is heard instantly the moment you enter the same room as the guard, as is gunshots. Many guards are found standing with their backs turned to you, meaning that you can walk up behind them and stab them... nearly silently. In your inventory, you can get no less than four weapons and two keys... more about the weapons later. The keys unlock certain doors. Most doors in the game aren't locked... only two kinds need keys, and these keys are only introduced in later levels(you restart in levels, resetting weaponry, health, score and lives in each chapter). Much of the later game is spent looking for them. Now, as I just alluded to, this game, like many of the period(late 80's, early 90's), is based on collecting extra lives... personally, I think it's completely and utterly useless(it was mercifully dropped from here on end... I think(?), from the next 3D shooter and onwards), since you can save anytime you want and 'using a life' resets weaponry, health and ammo, like starting on a new chapter(which is a real pain in later levels, where you *need* heavier artillery). Now, I shall beat around the bush no longer... moving on to the guns! You start with aforementioned knife(which is silent but only effective up close) and a pistol... nothing special, but good for conserving ammo, unlike the next two bad boys. Your third weapon is a German SMG... a sub-machine-gun. It's faster and automatic, and some later enemies use it. And the last one... is nothing short of a Gatling gun! Oh yeah! Think T2. Think Predator. Think about unloading massive amounts of lead into Nazi fiends with such a gun. It's every bit as entertaining as it sounds. Most of the boss enemies use this, though, so be prepared. I won't reveal the identities of these boss enemies, however... that's for each player to discover for him(or her)self. The sound is excellent... very crisp and realistic. As you hear the tear of a machine-gun firing, the deafening metallic clank of a door slamming shut behind you or a Nazi yelling surprised or a warning in German, you truly feel like you are there, trapped in these dark and depressing bunker systems. That segues me nicely into the level design... as you run through seemingly countless, nearly identical hallways towards the next elevator leading you further, you are grasped by the claustrophobic mood. I almost got motion sickness more than once(though that might also have something to do with little sleep, lots of humidity and unusual warmth...) from playing. Though the level of detail isn't terribly high, what there is is great. Remains of victims, guards' quarters and countless Nazi symbols... the list goes on. The game also features quite a bit of gore... for it's limited graphics engine, John Romero and crew certainly put in all the blood and guts that they could for the game. What is there left to say... the first of its kind, and it's no wonder this spawned countless others 3D shooters. Sure, weapon bobbing and different height levels(stairs and such) didn't come around until the next entry into the genre... Doom... and it was Duke Nukem 3D that introduced the feature of switching your view(so it goes beyond simply left and right, adding vertical dimensions to it), and jumping didn't come around until a third, later title(the first Quake, possibly? Fellow gamers, help me out here)... but all of those games, as well as the rest of the genre, owe their existence to this one. So load up the Luger, open the door to enter the bunker and step into B.J.'s shoes... he deserves the recognition, even(or maybe even especially?) nearly fifteen years after he first appeared. I recommended this to all fans of 3D games. 8/10
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8/10
Shots heard around the world
BroadswordCallinDannyBoy4 December 2006
You play as B.J. Blazkowicz, a US secret agent soldier tough guy who is sent to uncover Nazi secret and turn the tide of World War II. That means everything from breaking out of a Nazi dungeon to thwarting Hitler's war machine and even the Fuhrer himself.

This is quite possibly the most influential game of its time. That's because it literally inspired obsession. Many games existed at the time and even more do today, but every so often you get a real grabber. This is one of them. Just like Tetris before it and more recently GTA III in 2002. Yes, Doom is better in almost every respect, but the shots heard around the world which led to one of gaming's biggest tidal waves were fired by B.J. Blazkowicz. The Space Marine, Duke Nukem, Max Payne, Serious Sam, John Mullins, JC Denton, Agent 47, Gordon Freeman and legions of others owe their existence to the guys at ID. Whether directly or, in most cases, indirectly, but they still do.

Even with its old look, very aged graphics, super simple gameplay (this is really a game, games now border on the "experience level") and highly rectangular levels, the scope of all six episodes provides lots of fun. Especially discovering those secrets with treasure and a chaingun in them.

Also: "Halt!" *bang! bang! bang!* "AARRRGH!!!" never grows old. --- 8/10

Voluntarily rated PC-13 for "profound carnage." However, it's exceptionally tame when compared to what games have today.
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THE 1st Person Shooting Classic!
erwan_ticheler15 November 2002
Wolfenstein 3D is one of the best and one of the most enduring games ever. the graphics are good(for that time) and the tension and excitement is perfect. Of course the idea behind it is very effective,killing of Nazi's in all their forms even the evil AH himself.

I've played this game millions of times but it still doesn't get boring or easy because of the difficulty levels. This game was the starting point of 1st person shooters and made other classics like Doom and Unreal(my personal favorite!) possible.

TRIBUTE!! 10/10
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8/10
85% -- an id Software game that truly defined the FPS genre (PC version)
FreeMediaKids6 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
PROS
  • In 1992, id Software, the creator of the groundbreaking Commander Keen games, did something unusual, again, but this time, it is unique. Instead of traditional platform or top-view games, they released what would then go on to be called a first-person shooter and the first one to be successful. It chose the style that lets one play right from the eyes of a character named B.J. Blazkowicz, an anti-Nazi spy of the Allies. It, along with Doom turned out to be the game that would popularize the genre and subsequently influence and inspire numerous other developers to write their own beloved first-person shooters.
  • As a game that pioneered the first-person shooter genre, it allows players to view things from one character in first-person and truly act like the character. Additionally, the gameplay is casual and fast, with the basic formula being killing Nazis for defense or points, finding health sources, robbing treasure for points, numerous pushable walls to secret areas, secret levels, sometimes finding a key or two, elevators to the next floor (which is what the game calls its levels), ratios for kills and treasure and secrets for bonus points, repeat, and finally defeating bosses. Surprisingly, it is not at all an easy game. If you stand too close to an enemy or are unsuspecting about your 6 o'clock or run out of gun ammunition with a maximum capacity of 99 bullets (which would require you to use a knife to kill or find more ammunition), they can really beat you up and may destroy you. Fortunately, there are four difficulty levels from "Can I play, Daddy", depicting B.J. in a bonnet and sucking on a pacifier, to "I am Death incarnate!". On the note of debate, the floors could be argued to actually be in 2D since there is no elevation within floors and the ceilings and floors are actually two solid colors, but by calling the levels floors and by generating a successful illusion of an actual 3D game in 1992, I find that it has its justification for the title. Also, they may argue that Wolfenstein 3D is a mass-murder simulator due to its unusual violence, but for a game that clearly portrays Nazism as evil and does not really take anything seriously, I say that the violence is rather humorous than gritty.
  • The general tone of this game is historically accurate and not anachronistic, and it is also hilarious. Apart from Nazi elements all over the place, we see that text is in German and that the font is also stylized to look German. There are a few humorous quotes in German ("Mein Leben!", "My life!"; "Nein!", "No!"), the technology is appropriate for the time period, the Horst-Wessel-Lied plays in the background, the dying enemies are not the type one would pity since they are to be taken comically for making preposterous comments, and fighting Hitler is probably the best parody of any boss fight. Even his death animation, which instead of falling down is his body literally melting into a pool of blood, is glorious. There are obvious exceptions to the accuracy, such as the mutants, but those exceptions add a twist to the alternative history and a break from mere Nazi-killing. Also, B.J. may not like dog food, but it at least heals him by 4 points of health.
  • As a benefit for being a PC game, Wolfenstein 3D was designed to be modded, meaning that there are near-infinite possibilities in map design and gameplay mechanics.


CONS
  • Due to the casualness and simplicity of the gameplay as its formula, the player may find doing mostly the same thing in the later, different floors of a total of 30 to become old. At least, it does not last so long, considering the game's length and minor differences in textures and enemies in different levels and episodes.
  • I find some of the controls for movement to be unusual. Unlike the first-person shooters we normally play, the mouse can be used to go forward or backward when moved vertically, and the "WASD" keys as we know it are actually "move forward", "turn left", "move backward", and "turn right", respectively, instead of them all being "move", with the only way to strafe being a key or button that makes the "turn" keys become "move" keys for as long as it is pressed. Let us be fair about this classic: it is unlikely, given the obscurity of the very few first-person shooters before this one, that there was such a standard at that time or that id Software would ever have thought of configuring the controls similar to "WASD". Unfortunately, that does not change the fact that it is harder to play it as it is, but one can at least master them in most cases.


CONCLUSION: Wolfenstein 3D brings on action-packed, swift-pace violence in a definitely unique experience, honorably created in 1992 by id Software, the creator of the successful Commander Keen games.
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8/10
In The Beginning...
zkonedog12 March 2017
In today's video game culture, first-person shooters reign supreme, from the classic "Goldeneye" of Nintendo '64 fame to current titles such as Halo and the Call of Duty series. There was a time (early 1990s), however, when this was not the case, and it took one game to begin the revolution...Wolfenstein 3D.

Set in a prisoner-of-war camp in the heart of Nazi Germany, early 1990s gamers were introduced to the FPS genre in the form of one B.J. Blazkowicz and this single sentence: "You crouch over the guard's body, hoping that the others didn't hear his muffled scream...". From there, gamers were given almost total control of the character in order to complete each stage (primarily accomplished by finding the elevator door after taking out room after room of Nazi baddies).

In hindsight, the game had a few flaws, primarily being the maze-like environment that turns some levels into nothing more than prolonged searches for keys to enter the locked doors, as well as some levels that will test even the most patient of gamers with their enormity. But all told, it was nothing short of revolutionary in its treatment of the video game platform. It even "guessed right" in using a wartime scenario to detract from some criticism (the same reason why COD is so popular, yet other FPS's are so demonized).

Thus, this game (provided you have a computer old enough to run it, or know how to install DOSBox!) really can be enjoyed by two different types of gamers: 1. For nostalgic purposes; and 2. For those who currently enjoy the genre to see how it all began (and still play a heckuva game in the process!).
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10/10
A classic
ThunderKing623 January 2023
This was one of the first games I beat as a snot-nosed punk kid. It was violent, hardcore, scary, and I LIKED IT.

I loved shooting and killing the dogs. They tried to mess with me and I didn't play around.

This game had some sweet fire arms such as a pistol, machine gun and a bazooka. There is an ammo limit, therefore you must always stay stocked up. Every NPC has a weapon, though you can go through a few levels with your knife only.

The game was mainly trying to escape a Hydra Base, going through various levels versus various bots that were mostly unintelligent yet funny.

I liked the health bar of William Joseph "B. J." Blazkowicz.of him going from healthy to beat up.

Another cool thing is the secret entrances in every level. Some were small others were big others were creative.

The graphics were great for its time. The gameplay was also phenomenal.

W3D is a legend and a father of 1st person shooters.
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Wolfenstein 3D!
Movie Nuttball18 November 2004
Wolfenstein 3D is one of the most exciting first person shoot em up video games! The characters, monsters, and the action makes this game a fun non-stop playing time! Below is a brief look how I think the game is!

Game Play: The game play is very good. There is really basic controls here and is easy to perform. Novice gamers should have a good time here!

Graphics: The graphics are wonderful especially for the PC and Super Nintendo. The backgrounds are really beautiful!

Difficulty: The game is easy but as it goes on you find out that it will become more difficult!

Music: The music is great! Just fantastic catchy tunes through out the game! In My opinion its some of the best music ever in a video game!

Sound: The sound is great. Nuff said!

Overall: I have always loved Wolfenstein 3D! If you like excellent shoot em up games then I strongly recommend you play this game!

To purchase this video game check out Amazon.com!
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The first RPG
Quackle23 February 2003
In my opinion, this was the first role playing game that deserved attention. I remember playing this at work, and boy, I remember how my boss nearly fired me! In Wolfenstein 3D you are BJ Blazkowicz, and in the most known episode, you have to escape Castle Wolfenstein after being taken P.O.W. For nostalgic players like me, this still has soft spot in my heart for when I first played it 11 years ago. I'm still more used to playing Doom (which I still do all the time), but Wolfenstein 3D was the game that triggered amazing feats like Doom. I remember being terrified by zombies in this game, but then I look at the year after (1993) and when I was scared out of my socks by man eating Demons in Doom.

Wonderful game, and it will get 10/10 from me.
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