Wolfenstein RPG Review

Costas Stephanides’s Review

Die hybrid zombie mutant scum

Following on from Doom RPG, I'D Software and EA have released another RPG version of a classic First Person Shooter. It's been a while since Doom and in the meantime Orcs and Elves has been doing the rounds and keeping the genre alive. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of Orcs and Elves - well designed but difficult to engage with. Thankfully Wolfenstein grabbed me from the beginning.

The story is set during World War 2 and you are sent deep into enemy territory to discover and ultimately destroy the secrets that lie within Castle Wolfenstein. Wartime will generally provide the biggest advances in technology and science. Without giving too much away, German scientists are dabbling with cloning, mutations, the undead and anything else that may look good in a game (including kicking chickens).

In the PC version you would freely roam the levels blasting everything in sight. With the made for mobile RPG version things are slightly slower. You can still walk around nd smash up crates and tables at your will but when you enter a gunfight, the action becomes turn-based. You take a shot and then all the opponents take theirs. The action is still very quick and there's no messing about with extended cut scenes or superfluous details about the enemy stats.

The quality of the graphics haven't changed much since Doom RPG; they are quite blocky but somehow it gets away with it. Rather than waste file space on the graphics, I'D have filled the space with huge levels which will give many hours of game time and is comparable in size to its big brother.

The controls also haven't changed much. The usual arrow keys move your man around; 1 and 3 strafe to the side and 7 lets you scroll through your weapons.

As you can tell, the basic mechanics of the game haven't changed much since Doom RPG. Any fan of Doom should get plenty of enjoyment from Wolfenstein RPG. There is a little more of a plot here and a fair amount interaction between yourself and the prisoners and scientists; usually with a humour injection.

The overall difficulty seems pretty low but that allows for a high enjoyment factor. As long as you keep an eye on your health and top up with health packs you should do ok while blasting Axis scum. A large chunk of the plot deals with experimental drugs and you even get the chance to have a go yourself. Defensive, aggressive and just plain weird syringes are strewn around the levels, save them up for the end of level showdowns and you should be fine.

The only real niggle I have is the power drain on the phone. If you're the sort of person, like me, who likes to keep games open in the background then Wolfenstein will punish you for it. If the game is running in the background, your phone won't last overnight unless it's being charged.