Wolfenstein 3-D (May 5, 1992)[]
Story[]
It's late 1944, and the Allies are closing in on the Nazi Regime, William Joseph (BJ) Blazkowicz has been captured and imprisoned in the German Castle of Wolfenstein, it's his duty to escape from the castleand stop the Nazis once and for all.
Gameplay[]
The game has set the benchmark for first person shooters. Though, unlike the earlier Castle Wolfenstein games, this doesn't rely on stealth or opening up treasure chests, your job is simple: finish the episode and shoot any Nazi sldier that gets in your way. Though, in this game there's more than just shooting Nazis, there's also guards dogs and Mutants to also shoot. There's also secret areas to find, and when they're found, they're usually full of either ammo or gold treaures that give you a significant point boost and maybe even a weapon or first aid kits. Speaking of weapons, BJ uses a pistol (or a knife when he's out of ammo) but he can also use a sub-machine gun and a minigun, and they can be switched to preserve ammo. BJ also faces bosses that are big and strong as well.
Reception[]
Along with it being the Grandfather of first person shooters, it also brought along some controversy with its depictions of blood and even Nazism.
Wolfenstein: The Spear of Destiny (September 18, 1992)[]
Story[]
Taking place some time before BJ was imprisoned by the Nazis, he was on another mission, and it's to steal back the Mythical Spear of Destiny from the Nazis.
Gameplay[]
The game is fundimentally the same as it is in the last game, only difference are that there are new items to collect such as the huge Ammo box so you can collect more ammo, and new bosses such as a super mutant warrior and even a super Knight like enemy.
Reception[]
Just as received as it's predecessor, Spear of Destiny was given updated versions (called Mission Packs) which give you more missions to do as well as new enemies to fight, and even redefined enemies and weapons.
Fun Facts[]
Wolfenstein 3-D[]
- While the game was in development, it was originally a generic shooter game where you save humans from monsters, and it went through many titles such as Die Mutants, die and 3-Demons as well as others.
- But game developer: John Romero who loved playing the Castle Wolfenstein games in the past wanted to improve on the idea, they even began developing the game before they had permission from Muse software. Even with the concept in place, the game still went through several title names just in case if they didn't get permission to use the name Wolfenstein such as Castle Hasselhoff, Adolf's Bane, Deep in Germany and some German names as well: Dolchteuful (Devil Dagger), Eisenschwert (Iron Sword) and Shattensendeder (Shadow Sender).
- Apart from the heavy depictions of Blood in the game, there are also depictions of Nazism such as the infamous Swastika flags to Hitler's Portraits on the walls, because of this the game was censored in other nations around the world (namely in Europe) and (ironically) banned outright in Germany due it it's laws against any depiction of Nazism.
- In Japan (which got the Super NES version), the story is entirely different, instead of it being in Nazi Germany during World War 2, it was taken place in a different world where BJ Blazkowicz must stop a man named Adolf Trautman who created what is known as the "Medicene LDD4" a virus which can revive the dead.
- The Blood depictions also played a key role in the history of Wolfenstein, because blood and gore was still considered unacceptable in a video game, id Software's then retail publisher: FromGen. Infact, they sent a message to business partner Scott Miller warning that the game won't sell and only cause controversy due to the blood and Nazism. Miller responded by telling the developers of id Software to present more graphic details to the game such as putting blood on the floors and walls, have skeletons hang from the cileing and even have something called "DeathCam" where you again see the death animation after you defeat a certain boss such as Hitler or even General Fettgeischt.
- The game's most distinct feature which are the pushable walls which hide the secret rooms almost didn't make it into the game. Tom Hall suggested this idea, but John Carmack disliked the idea because he thought the pushable walls were a glitch and would only slow the game down and also bring down the efficiency of the game, unfortunately for Carmack, John Romero would agree with Hall and the 3 men would argue about this for months. It wasn't until the game was nearing completion that Romero and Hall to keep the pushable walls in the game, but Carmack already put them into the game as well as the secrets in (ironically) complete secrecy.
- In Episode 2 on the 8th floor there is a huge area filled with the pushable walls, this was supposed to be a part of a contest sponsored by id Soaftware's sister company Apogee and that if any player finds a sign that says "Call Apogee, say Aardwolf" and they would receive a prize. According to Apogee, almost immediately after the game was released, there were cheats on clipping through the walls as well as mapping out the area to know where the exact location of the sign is, they felt that it was unfair to give it to somebody who would use a cheat to find the sign, despite this the sign remained in the game's early versions, but the sign was eventually taken out and replaced with another image such as a pile of bones.
- Oddly enough, Apogee was even received letter regarding what exactly and Aardwolf is, it may be an African mammal of some kind.
- Episode 3's secret level is a nod to PAC-MAN where BJ would face the ghosts of PAC-MAN (Inky, Pinky, Blinky & Clyde) who are invincible and can kill you nearly instantly, the level also features a re-mixed version of the famous start up song of the PAC-MAN arcade game though the pellets and super pellets are replaced with gold items and 1-Ups respectively.
- Possibly due to copyright, the PAC-MAN ghosts were replaced with Fake Hitlers in re-releases for PlayStation 3 and X-Box 360.
- The Knife animation during development had BJ wearing a tan shirt rather than grey as in the illustratons.
Spear of Destiny[]
- The Spear of Destiny in the real world is known as the Holy Lance, according to Christian legend, it was the lance that implaed the Christian Messiah: Jesus of Nazareth during the Crucifixion, and according to Nazi conspiracy theories, Hitler coveted the artifact.