With Thanksgiving out of the way, it's time to get back on track with new blogs and reviews. Wolfenstein 3D made its way to the PlayStation 3 around 2009. The closest version that resembled the PC original was the Game Boy Advance version in 2001, but suffered quite a bit in a few aspects. While this isn't a perfect port, it's a great one considering how well some of the Doom ports were handled on other systems and that not many played the other versions.
As in the original, you are B.J. Blazkowicz. A spy for the Allies in World War II, he is thrown into a prison cell. Now he must find a way out of Castle Wolfenstein and finish his mission of stopping a new form of weapon capable of Germany winning the war. He also had other missions, which included stopping a general hell bent on wanting chemical warfare. Id Software has never been good with stories, but it's doable here and competent without sounding over the top.
Nothing changed with Wolfenstein 3D's graphics. Everything is the same. The textures, enemy appearances, and animations all follow the PC original. It looks a little primitive today, but still a technical achievement considering how computers were back around 1991 and 92. Audio, while the same, is a bit different. The music goes at a slower pace, and the sound effects and voices are lower pitched. That's the thing with porting over computer games from a long time ago. You don't know how well they will be on modern systems. It's not anything to worry, but purists might not like it. Still, it's not as big as Doom, so caution is needed when encountering enemies since they can attack from behind without you knowing.
As for the gameplay itself, nothing changed. As Blazkowicz, you have to find your way out of a floor by finding an elevator exit. Typically, there is a key or multiple keys to find scattered in a level. Find those and you can get out and do the same thing again and again. There are six episodes with 60 levels altogether. Nine regular levels are in each one and a secret one as well. The end of each episode features a boss and defeating it either gets a key to finish the level or you get an interesting death cam showing the boss dying again.
The controls are simple. Analog sticks control your movement. Upper shoulder buttons allow running and using weapons. Face buttons switch weapons and do stuff like open doors, push walls, and exit a level. All four weapons are present. The guns share the same ammo, so caution is needed and strategy is important before holding down the button and going on a rampage of 10 plus bad guys. Speaking of which, the roll call includes dogs, officers, and SS. There are a few other interesting ones, but overall, you're seeing the same ones over and over. You got health and lives, so healing includes medkits, (which were altered because of the Red Cross complaining) dinner plates of chicken, and even dog food. There are a few other methods of healing, but it's usually when health is very, very low. Lose a life, you are stuck with a pistol and 8 rounds. Lose all lives and you are sent back to the title screen It plays like most other genres since you're scoring points for beating the par time, collecting treasure that is scattered around, killing enemies, and how well you did a level. Do well enough, (which you will) and you can put your name on the high score list.
Wolfenstein 3D's level designs are not altered. They are the same as they were in 92. Anybody with excellent memory will know where the enemies are and when to attack. You do feel like you are in the bowels of Germany. There are a lot of Nazi stuff on the walls, which is a big negative for the country. It has a labyrinth look at times, but it's smart with placing enemies, their movements and when they go after you if they hear shots. Finding all the secrets gives the game a little bit of replayability. Maybe the first time, you didn't get everything, but you could the second time or whenever you want to play. Options include changing volumes of music and sounds, screen size change, and loading and saving games.
As I said, it's not a perfect port. It's still easy to get lost, especially in some of the later levels of the game. There might be times where the game is unforgiving, but it's not like they deliberately made it that way. I noticed the movement being a little slower, but I'm not too bothered by it. Other than those complaints along with maybe enemies sneaking up on you, it's still a great port. You are going to get some hours out of this, whether just going through the levels, trying to beat the par times, or seeing how quick you get 100 percent on every level. Check out Wolfenstein 3D on PS3. It's very cheap for a digital download. You will not be disappointed with the content.
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