Wolfenstein Catch-All

Wolfenstein

IMAGE(http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4333/image001lrg.jpg)

This may indeed be the last time we see Raven do an id franchise given that they've been brought under the ZeniMax label. Any planning to pick it up?

Official Site
Platforms: PC, PS3, 360

I'm very curious to see some reviews on this game. Right now I have no plans on picking it up, but that could change with some very positive reviews.

Additionally, Game Trailers has posted their (always well done) Wolfenstein Retrospective

Unless Activision price it stupidly or initial feedback is not great then yes, probably. Raven shooters are normally always worth a gamble.

My only hesitation is the utter lack of any reviews and very few previews this close to release, which is never a good sign.

At the very worst it will be a fairly generic FPS with some enjoyable moments.. so yeah I have it pre-ordered for the 360.

I don't know if I'll pick it up on release date, but I do plan on playing it at some point. As I said in the Wolverine thread, Raven may not make mind-blowing games, but I think they consistently make solid and fun ones. Looking forward to Singularity as well.

Any word on the multiplayer? I can't find much about it.

If its cut from the same cloth as RTCW and ET then this is an instant buy.

TrashiDawa wrote:

Any word on the multiplayer? I can't find much about it.

If its cut from the same cloth as RTCW and ET then this is an instant buy.

From what I hear, that's what they're trying to replicate. From some of the leaked beta footage that's been out there, it seems like they're going for the old Enemy Territory gameplay

Headwound wrote:
TrashiDawa wrote:

Any word on the multiplayer? I can't find much about it.

If its cut from the same cloth as RTCW and ET then this is an instant buy.

From what I hear, that's what they're trying to replicate. From some of the leaked beta footage that's been out there, it seems like they're going for the old Enemy Territory gameplay

What? I didnt know that.. that just upped my anticipation significantly.. though Splash Damage did the original ET.. but vanilla RTCW MP was still pretty good.. SD just made it uber with ET.

Damn.. this game isnt getting released on Steam.

DUMB!

Well, I wasn't very far off, looks like it's a cross between the old RTCW and ET multiplayer modes. Here's Shacknews' impressions

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle....

I saw the trailer for this game this morning and I thought to myself "I've played this what seems like 1,000 times before". I'll probably get it at some point because of Raven's track record, but it just feels so tired.

I saw that they gave BJ lines. Once I can grab this for 20 bucks, I am in.

I think most of us agree, Return was OK, and Enemy Territory was the real gem. Very much a case of a mod being well beyond the quality of the base game.

I just think that, based on trailers, we have moved from a wink at the camera to just patronizing. Like Return is Connory Bond, this Wolfenstein is Peter Sellers in Casino Royale. It is just a joke of itself, on the fans rather than for the fans. Return was certainly Sci Fi movie quality, and the series has always been silly, but this just seems to go a few degrees too far.

There is no shortage of more appealing shooters I think I should play before this one. Still have yet to play Crysis, Warhead, Red Faction, Fear 2.

You guys are crazy talkers! I'm chomping at the bit for the game! But the only issue I have is trying to convince the wife that I would DIE without a copy asap! Ohh well I have a few hours yet, drop suggestions if you want.

I mean Nazi's! Zombies! One can pray for mecha-Hitler!

Amen!, I'm with you on this one Pharacon...nothing beats shooting metric @ss tons of Nazis/Zombies or any combination thereof.

I'm on the fence with this one. Actually, shine it, I'm going for it. I'll spend a few hours with it this afternoon and post some impressions this evening.

Looks like they let some of the MP dev team go. This doesn't bode well for MP support going forward.

TrashiDawa wrote:

Looks like they let some of the MP dev team go. This doesn't bode well for MP support going forward.

yes and no.. we can't be sure who exactly was let go and what they exactly did.

For the most part what really matters is how well the game sells.. if it sells well and theres a community around it then it will get supported.

I'm itching to buy it, but I promised myself I'd restart the Red Faction single player tonight.

Decisions, decisions....

TrashiDawa wrote:

Looks like they let some of the MP dev team go. This doesn't bode well for MP support going forward.

I'm wondering if they had a contract with Activision rather than with Raven. I doubt Act would want to support MP on a title they have no plans to exploit.

$2 Redbox rental for me.

Picked it up at lunch today. After I install my memory, I'm gonna be all over this. Will also post impressions later tonight.

Headwound wrote:

Picked it up at lunch today. After I install my memory, I'm gonna be all over this. Will also post impressions later tonight.

Gamestop have it in stock? They are being lame and saying they wont have it until tomorrow around here.

If you pick it up in Bestbuy you get a 10 dollar gift card!

TheGameguru wrote:
Headwound wrote:

Picked it up at lunch today. After I install my memory, I'm gonna be all over this. Will also post impressions later tonight.

Gamestop have it in stock? They are being lame and saying they wont have it until tomorrow around here.

Oddly enough, a Walmart is where I picked it up.

Pharacon wrote:

If you pick it up in Bestbuy you get a 10 dollar gift card!

Sold.

Pharacon wrote:

If you pick it up in Bestbuy you get a 10 dollar gift card!

This is what I did. Was a pleasant surprise.

Initial Impressions after an hour on my oldish PC: Performance is great considering I have an older machine with an upgraded graphics card (GTS 520mb) and some extra RAM (4mb). I'm not running it at full 1920x1200 but all other settings are on "high." I also haven't been too annoyed with any "consolishness" (which was my biggest fear) but I only just made it through the tutorial mission. Responsiveness is a little sluggish...resistant...not sure what the best adjective is. I increased mouse sensitivity and that seemed to help a little. Head bob is annoying but you get used to it. Graphics are good. Pretty standard. Storyline is not coming off as "a parody of themselves" like some may fear, at least so far. It's just campy gritty nazi funtimes kill the nazi bastardos so far. But like I said, that's an hour in. I'll post more later tonight.

We should get an multiplayer game night going. Just picked up my copy, will be installing this afternoon.

Analysis so far: Loving the singleplayer at the moment. Graphics aren't the most cutting edge, but man, Raven has squeezed every bit of power they can out of the Id Tech 4 they can, I can't believe this is the same engine that Quake 4, and Doom 3 ran on. Explosions and particle effects look amazing. The weapons feel good, especially the Particle Cannon.

If you guys were expecting a ground-breaking new title, don't. As others have said, it's a very old-school feeling shooter with nice new mechanics like the hub-world and Veil Powers. Speaking of which, from now on "The Mire" shall henceforth be referred to as "Hammer-Zeit", (think night-vision Nazi bullet-time).

Also, it should be noted that this game does feel a little console port-ish (if you're playing it on a PC, that is). A lot of the interface seems like it was designed with a controller in mind.

Like I said, it's not the most inventive shooter out there, but I could really see this fitting somewhere in the realm of gaming comfort-food.

Ok...sounds like it's going to be worth a look then. Guess I'm grabbing a copy Friday.

Didn't realise it would be sort of hub-based,which is interesting.

Nice impressions, Montalban.

Sounds like the single player will be worth a decent run through. I'm not sure the multiplayer will have legs, but that's not a deal breaker.

I might grab a copy for 360 this week.

Did I mention how much I love the Particle Cannon? Because I really, really do. Evaporating Nazi's is so much fun.

Some more impressions:

PC Specs: 3.2ghz dual core Pentium 4, NVIDIA GTS 520mb, 4gb RAM, Windows XP.

Settings: All "high" at 1680x1050

Disclaimer: The first thing I heard about this game was the Week Ahead column yesterday and maybe one Gametrailers video a few weeks ago. The last Wolfenstein game I played was the original 3-D version. These are all just my personal opinions, etc. etc.

Drink of choice: Abbey of Leffe Blond A good German blonde beer works well for this game, although darker drinks are appropriate as well considering the mood of the game.

Played so far: About 4 hours = The tutorial, running around the mission hub, and two more “quest” areas completed.

Heads up: Minor Spoilers are present below, especially with game mechanics. No plot points are revealed.

Single-player: Performance is good. No major hiccups or jaggies. I haven’t played many fps games on the PC in a while so I can’t compare it very well to anything recent. It’s fine. I’ll leave it at that. On my 24” widescreen monitor things seem a tad large, but that is probably just the resolution I have it set at.

The major impression this game leaves me with is that of an emphasis on story and an attempt at open world options compared to the original Wolfenstein. Think Half Life 2 for the story and cutscenes meets Call of Duty World at War meets the old Wolfenstein motifs meets Tomb Raider meets Indiana Jones with a tinge of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and a mission hub like STALKER’s main town area. New “quest” areas are opened as you complete older ones, so so far it feels relatively linear, although I appreciate the attempt at giving me a sense of choice.

Taking cover and upgrading weapons, chucking grenades and listening to the Nazis shout things at you is all very satisfying. The middling implementation of the mission hub idea and upgrade system leaves something lacking. This may be my main PC vs. console sticking point. The UI is fine compared to some ports from console to PC (I’m looking at you, Viva Pinata) but the game seems a bit shallow from a PC point of view. Maybe that’s just the trend and I’m behind the curve, but I expect more depth from a PC game.

Combat is satisfying. Enemies die in satisfying ways. The same issues crop up at the beginning as in STALKER: Clear Sky. i.e. Since a lot of the game is about upgrading and improving weapons, your first few hours with the guns leaves you feeling that they are sluggish. It’s because they are. You are meant to upgrade them later to make them more responsive and powerful. Be patient.

The gold and intel exploration amounts to “exploring” the extra one or two rooms in a building and running off into the dark corners of alleys, safely betting there will be something there to “discover.” There doesn’t seem to be much alternative space (based on my 4 hours), so the exploration is light. That said, I have yet to complete an area and find all the intel and gold, so I can see myself going back to those areas, if that’s even possible. I haven’t looked into that yet.

The implementation of supernatural powers is interesting and I can see it adding some strategy, but so far I’m just using them to advance the levels. I haven’t encountered any major bosses yet. Voice acting is excellent and really adds to the ambiance.

Multi-player: I’ve only spent about 40 minutes in the multiplayer. “Quick match” crashes to desktop, but the regular server search-and-join works perfectly. The performance is good. Like any new multiplayer experience, it boils down to just running around shooting people, without knowing why or how. It’s not entirely intuitive, but with enough trial and error you can figure things out. There are three classes to choose from, but so far people are mostly just shooting and not worrying about strategy. I imagine classes will matter more once things settle in. There are unlocks and you get cash for each kill, so that keeps the sense of purpose going when you keep getting killed over and over. Much like COD4 or its followers. Cash unlocks better powers and weapon upgrades, although I haven’t made enough scratch to experiment with them. I played for about 15 minutes before I had enough cash for my first unlock.

Overall, it’s a solid game, but not for everyone. I’m not entirely sold on it myself, but I’ll give it a few more days and several more hours. I get the sense that I have only scratched the surface, and the game mechanics are good enough to make it an enjoyable push toward more content. Whether it’s a rental or a buy, I can’t say yet. A lot depends on how the multiplayer pans out. I’m a sucker for the storyline, so that has my approval, although I’m sure many will say it’s just cheesy filler.

Post-Disclaimer: I have the feeling that like many upgrading fps games, the real fun comes once you start feeling like a badass later in the game, after you have upgraded your weapons and powers, so no doubt they are saving some great stuff for later in the game.

Edit:
Here are a few early spoilerific screenshots:
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/3...
http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/263...
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/3...
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/2...
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/8...