A while ago I talked about how I was excited about the new Wolfenstein game.  I picked this up and played through the games so I thought I'd share some thoughts with you.  I completed the game in 12 hours, making a conscious effort to take my time, enjoy it, try to find as much gold as possible and get a well rounded view of the game for a review.  I played it through on hard and if you weren't in the mood to hang around and take your time you could walk through it in 8 or 9 hours.  The Hard difficulty wasn't particularly challenging and I'd recommend experienced FPS gamers going straight to the hard or hardest setting.

So, starting right at the beginning, the opening sequence is a nicely put together video.  The 360's HD capability is really shown off here with smooth action, great textures and lighting, and a realism that I was genuinely and pleasantly surprised by.  Very good initial impression then, granted it's not in-game, but it's a good opener and as well as looking pretty, sets the scene for the game by introducing the context, the main character B.J. and the traditional Wolfenstein occult/paranormal elements.  The opening sequence ends by being sent back into the action by your superiors to meet up with resistance fighters behind enemy lines, to investigate the new paranormal weapons the Nazi's are developing, and what exactly is the thing that saved your life on that ship in the opening sequence. For more info on the backstory you can read the preview, but briefly; the Nazi's have learnt how to harness the dangerous power of the Black Sun, bringing them powers and creatures from the Veil.  B.J. Is plunged into the breach once more to disrupt their progress and confront them head on.

In-game, the first level sees you fighting your way out of the train station you arrive in and stumbling into/blowing the $hi7 out of a container carriage transporting occult-type-zero-gravity-blue stuff.  This level will introduce you to the standard non-paranormal elements of the game and controls as well as the Gold and Intelligence pieces you can collect from each map to upgrade and research your weapons/powers.  From here you enter one of the two central areas (Midtown and Downtown) from which you access other parts of the map and missions and in which you'll find Nazi's getting in your way, gold, intelligence, Tomes and various sewers, streets, rooftops, backstory characters and blackmarket traders which you could easily waste a couple of hours investigating.  This area isn't a mission per se, it's a middle area from which you reach other missions and sub missions.  If you've played Mario 64 (which I'm sure you have) it's basically the same as the castle in that.

This is a nice idea, which also allows you to revisit and replay missions but feels a little old fashioned and clunky compared to the genuinely open worlds we've seen in games.  Never-the-less it does work and it's different to a lot of other FPS I've played recently. It provides a level of continuity between missions and breaks up the Mission-cut scene-Mission-cut scene routine.  The following few missions will introduce you to the paranormal elements of the game, including the controls, characters and weapons that go with it.  It'll also guide you to the black-market area in which you purchase upgrades and will allow you to investigate the central area more and discover hidden gold.

The single player game is solid and well worth your time to play.  It isn't ground breaking and isn't going to rock your Xbox/PS3 like a new Halo or Gears of War would.  It's a good FPS experience which looks nice, recreates the era well and adds in the paranormal stuff without looking weird, tacky or out of place.  It plays well and in-game feels nice and of good quality (this is an odd thing to say but gamers who have played a lot of FPS's will know what I mean, e.g. if you compare say a COD game to something like Army of Two).   It does the Wolfenstein name proud and if you're a fan of the older games, you should play this too.  It lacks the depth, features and elements, both in-game and in terms of things like a co-op mode, for it to stand the test of time or become a game of especial noteworthiness that you'll look back on and pinpoint as a class game, but that doesn't make it a bad game by any mean.  

It's like a Bond film.  It's comfortable, familiar and in some ways nostalgic and if you're totally honest if it wasn't a bond film it probably wouldn't be that good.  But it is a Bond film and you carry all of that history, emotion and pedigree into the film with you.  The same goes for this Wolfenstein game.

There's one more thing I have to spend some time on for the single player games and that's the guns.  FPS's can be made on the guns and the team behind Wolfenstein seem to have understood this because this game has some of the best, most fun and most satisfying weaponry I've seen in a game for years.  Whether it's disintegrating bad guys with the Particle Cannon, electrifying multiple enemies, raising them off the floor and exploding them with the Tesla Cannon, setting them alight with the Flammenwerfer or exploding them with a zero gravity shot from the Leichenfaust, you will have loads of fun playing Wolfenstein! I was a little disappointed by the lack of the shotgun, but after disintegrating some more bad guys with the Particle Cannon I got over it.  

As well as some top notch firepower you will through the game discover and utilise 4 Veil powers  that will let you enter the veil, throw up a shield, slow time and enhance your firepower.  You will need to use them all from time to time and they become a comfortable and pivotal part of the campaign.  All weapons and powers are upgradeable via the Black Market, making it worthwhile hunting round for gold.

So would I recommend picking up a copy of Wolfenstein? I would recommend you playing this game but not brand new for £39.99. I would either rent it, or I'd wait and get it in a while when the price is reduced or there are pre-owned copies available.  As I've said, an experienced gamer will probably rattle through this on Hard in around 10 hours, plus another 10 hours if you want to do it again on the hardcore/hardest setting.  You might get another 10 hours out of the multiplayer.

I've missed out multiplayer so far and that's not an accident.  I am still not sure what to make of the multiplayer but my initial impressions are not great.  Searching and joining games reminds me of the COD2 days, a confusing, slow, tedious process that you feel you have little control over.  It's slow to react can hang a long time without you really knowing what's going on and from what I've seen so far there doesn't seem to be the option to just play with European players to try and cut down lag.  Does that even matter these days?

In-game I found the multiplayer to be a little slow and jumpy and generally a little stale. I compared just afterwards on COD5 and the laggy feel I had wasn't replicated so I am assuming it isn't anything to do with my broadband. I'm on a good connection and haven't had this problem before but everything just seemed a bit behind what I wanted it to be doing.  Weapons and classes are quite limited, with minimal differences of actual ability or differentiation. You can upgrade weapons and other attributes but this is a clumsy and confusing experience and they seem to have missed the idea that levelling up and unlocking new stuff and upgrades can be one of the best bits of an online FPS.  If you compare what you'll see in COD4/5 to this, it just feels like a bizarre set-up. The game modes are standard enough – team deathmatch and objective related games are present but nothing too radical or amazing that we were hoping for from the new studio that developed it.

If I had to describe the multiplayer in one word it would be unsatisfying.  Studios putting together online FPS elements have a lot to live up to these days and I'm not saying for a second that it's easy or I could do a better job.  Truthfully though, you wouldn't buy or keep this game for the online mode and it feels old fashioned in its clumsiness  and leaves me frustratingly unsatisfied!

Lets be fair though I will definitely be checking it out again and if my opinion changes, you'll be the first to hear about it.  Let's also note that I have never been a fan of the Halo multiplayers but everyone seems to bang on about them like they're something special.  It's not big scores on the doors from me for the multiplayer developers but there are good points.  The maps look great, they feel balanced, they're not too big or small, they cover a range of locations and contexts, inside areas, outside areas, there is a levelling up element of sorts and you get to shoot a Kar98.  The gold element of the game, which is what is used to increase your rank and for upgrades, is perhaps the best part of the multiplayer and you'll be rewarded with more gold for better kills or the amount of life you take off an enemy, rather than the annoying possibility of having your kills poached by someone else in your team and having to setting for an assist.  However, all things being equal, if you want to run around as a WWII soldier shooting at stuff you'll be much better off playing the COD5 multiplayer or downloading Battlefield 1943.

If I had to score this game I'd give the single player a solid 7/10 and the multiplayer a 4/10. Keep your eye out for this in the cheaper or pre-owned sections of your video game shop/website or rent it for a week.