Wolfenstein Review

Conclusionstein

So, that's the singleplayer and, again, just to clarify, it probably isn't as bad as we make it sound. It has problems, yes, and there are elements of it which actually are quite bad, but it can still be pretty fun. It's just fun in a way which isn't at all interesting, new or really even all that engaging.

If you're playing single player then it's going to be a case of switching your brain off and acting on instinct, occasionally getting annoyed that the game doesn't have a proper save system and forces you to rely on checkpoints. It certainly won't be the type of thrill ride that has you holding on to the edge of your seat purely with the strength of your sphincter, nor will it really challenge your intellect or anything either.

Disable brain. Overclock trigger-finger. That's as deep as it gets.

The multiplayer meanwhile is a more noticeably wonky affair, as is often the case when separate developers are put to work on the multiplayer portion of a game. It's probably not a good sign that the multiplayer developer reportedly laid off a huge portion of staff as soon as the game had shipped either. Or that this was that studios first game. Or that there were day one patches available.


The multiplayer, like the single player, is a predictable and class-based affair just like every multiplayer game of recent years – but it's critically undermined by a lack of options and variation. There are just three different classes for players to get stuck into, Soldier, Medic and Engineer, whom are really only distinguishable by their different medallion abilities and special powers – all of which are self-explanatory. All the classes suffer the same general problems of the game as a whole, proving unimaginative and ultimately too few and too uninteresting to provide the multiplayer with an real depth or strategy.

Not that that much strategy is called for though, as the three modes available in multiplayer are pretty basic and uninteresting and the whole game suffers from not having a basic deathmatch mode. Instead, the whole game is team-focused and the only straight-up combat mode is a team deathmatch mode. The other two modes are a basic base attack/defence mode and a slightly more interesting Stopwatch mode that sees you trying to complete objectives at speed.


It's unfortunate that more couldn't have been made out of the multiplayer side of Wolfenstein, especially considering how popular the Enemy Territory mod was for the last game, but it's fairly obvious that only the bare minimum of effort was put into Wolfenstein multiplayer. The features feel like they've been added in so that they can be ticked off on the back of the box; 'exciting team based multiplayer', 'thrilling class-based strategies'. It all looks good on the packaging, but it doesn't really go into detail or communicate how skeletal or tired these things are.

In the end, that's a philosophy that could likely be applied to Wolfenstein as a whole. It's all been built to look good and sound great, but once you actually take it home and play it there's nothing here that anyone is going to really fall in love with – bar the occasional die-hard fan who'll probably read this review ten years from now and start sending me hate mail. Well, tough luck to you, because I systematically change my entire identity every nine years! Ha!

There's plenty here to like, but there's also plenty here to loathe – so the balanced reaction is one of ambivalence. The idea of a more open world and upgradeable weapons and magic powers and killing Nazis all sound good, but they've not been tackled with any real gusto. Take the name Wolfenstein off and this would be an unidentifiable FPS in a sea of similar titles, so the Wolfenstein brand has only really been slapped on to increase recognition and awareness. Yet from an unbiased and fair point of view, Wolfenstein really is the definition of a "meh" 6/10, especially since it feels it might have been a little too streamlined for the console market.

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