Casual thoughts on Wolfensten 3d

[DollarStoreChili]

Hello all. I'll spare you the long intro, but I've recently decided to play through all the shooters from

my youth. This'll be written stream of consciousness style with light formatting where appropriate.

Warning: this will be long. There's a TL;DR of sorts at the bottom starting with "Would I recommend".

 

Previous experience: The earliest shooter I can remember watching / playing is Wolfenstein 3d. This game

was released in 1992 when I was 6 (currently 35). I've never played through the whole thing, but have had

glimpses at certain things (mostly episode 1) throughout the years so this isn't a completely blind playthrough.

At time of writing I have not played through any of Spear of Destiny and only completed the base game last night.

 

Mods used: ECWolf for widescreen support. It may also tighten up the graphics a bit and allow for a few

other options I largely didn't take advantage of.

 

How I played: Control scheme was WASD with mouse turning, y-axis disabled. For the first half I used

the strafe key bound to right click, but swapped to A-D strafing near the end of the first episode. Automap

is included in ECWolf and is not a vanilla feature, so I limited its use to checking what level I was on. I

only saved at the start of each level. If I died, I pistol started the current level.

 

Gameplay: The gameplay can be fast or slow depending on the player. Playing fast will result in lots of damage

taken, especially in the second or third episodes where enemies with really fast reaction times are introduced.

I opted to slow play using a "tag and drag" approach. I'd open the door to a new area, shoot the first few enemies,

and wait for the others to come and investigate, then gun down the rest.

 

There's a lives system tied to your points. You start with three (iirc), and every 40,000 points you receive another.

You get points for killing enemies and picking up treasure. I never ran out of lives even after copious deaths in

episode 3 because I meticulously hunted for secrets and treasure. Episode 1 and 2 I finished with 8-9 lives,

episode 3 with 5. Ending levels with receiving 100% completion any category of kills, secrets, or treasure

results in a bonus 10,000 points (iirc) during the intermission screen.

 

The only activatable items I discovered were doors and secret walls. No switch hunts or puzzles as far as I'm

aware. This keeps the gameplay focused on killing and secret hunting. No environmental traps other than

guards hiding in blind corners.

 

Difficulty: I played on the second to last difficulty. Tag and drag is successful for most encounters at this

difficulty, I did however experience lots of deaths (mainly in episodes 2 and 3). Most of my deaths

occurred when I got too confident and blitzed into a room and got overwhelmed by hidden enemies,

corner campers, or reinforcements from the next room. Pistol starting after a death proved very challenging

and required a completely different approach to the level than my previous equipped start. I had to remember

previously discovered secrets containing weapons in safe places, or lone blue guards that could offer

up a machinegun.

 

Enemies: The brown shirt guards and the blue uniform machine gunners are the slowest to react of the bunch,

offering a fairly predictable attack pattern and lower dps. The mutants and officers move more erratically and / or 

fire faster,  creating the most difficult encounters (especially after a pistol start). The dogs are cannon fodder with

only a melee attack, but can move erratically too if they have room. All enemies will give chase over several rooms

if alerted.

 

Bosses are the "shoot until dead" variety, with enough cover and resources in level to make them relatively straight

foreword. Only the final boss has phases.

 

It was only after reading the wiki that I discovered that this game has damage rolls, both the player and enemies

alike. Sometimes the brown shirts hit like a truck, sometimes the officers hit for only a few points of damage. The

same goes for the player as far as I'm aware. Some weapons appear to do less damage as range increases as well.

 

You cannot circle strafe enemies as they are all hitscan. Tag and drag or abuse corner fighting to avoid damage. 

Playing fast you'll take boatloads of damage, unless you're a super twitch god. Enemies, by accident or design,

will flank you from the side if there's two doors on the same side of the room you're peeking into.

 

Weapons: Do not use the knife, even if out of ammo. You're better off disengaging and running back to search

for more. Pistol is fine as a last resort. You can fight 1-2 brown shirts, or a single blue guard. Larger engagements

should be avoided. Explore different areas until you find a higher tier weapon. If you have no other options, abuse

corner fighting and peek between enemy shots. Note: it only fires one shot per click.

 

The machinegun is  a workhorse for medium size engagements and conserves ammo well for an automatic weapon

due to its low-ish rate of fire. The minigun (venom gun?) is a bullet hose for large engagements and bosses.

Note: you receive a machinegun when you pick up the minigun. 

 

Graphics: It's an old game so the visuals won't blow your hair back, especially people whose only experience

are modern games. People who have been around awhile may be able to appreciate the visuals and what they

were able to accomplish given the year it was released. Myself, I think the character models are charming.

Especially considering they were hand drawn in an mspaint style program. Especially the brown shirt guards.

There's something about their design I find attractive.

 

Sound: Every enemy has a distinct and recognizable alert sound, except for the mutants. Doors opened by

enemies are audible from very far away. For those paying attention, this offers a great deal of tactical awareness.

Mutants having no alert sound requires the player to approach rooms very differently if mutants are present in the

level. There is an ear bleeding midi fart sound the developers used to signify "nothing happened" when you press

the use key (which continues as long as the button is held). Get used to it if you're a fan of secret hunting. I chose

to jack my sound down and turn on a podcast for extended secret hunting expeditions in safe areas.

 

The music is on point. There was only one track I disliked to any degree, and it was only in episode three.

The weapons sound appropriate to their design.

 

Level design: Playing without the use of an automap proved its own unique challenge. I never became totally lost,

but there were a many moments of "wait, which hallway is this". After a few levels your brain starts cataloging the

environment better and navigation becomes easier. Secrets are all (as far as I'm aware) wall activated. Mostly

smallish, one room affairs. There are a few later on with extended wall pressing and branching paths, always

with a good or bad "surprise" at the end. I found one secret level.

 

The first episode has the toughest navigation as there's less visual distinction in the textures and wall decorations,

and the levels are composed of samey hallways and square rooms. Episodes 2 and 3 are somewhat easier to navigate

because they deviate from the standard square rooms and have the most visual distinction between areas.

 

Episodes 1-2 levels took me roughly 25 minutes a piece due obsessive secret hunting. Episode three levels are

roughly half the size and as a result took half the amount of time to complete. I found the most secrets in the

first two episodes, the least in the final episode. Mostly due to my wanting to finally finish the main game so

there was a bit of rushing and less meticulous secret hunting.

 

Complaints: I'd like there to be one or two more weapons, and maybe some more enemies. The maps could've

used a little more TLC to prevent them from feeling like mazes. I hate wall activated secrets. I understand that

these issues could be caused by technology limitation of the time, or relative inexperience of the developers

given this was one of their early releases, but these are my opinions. Also I wish the knife did more damage

and prevented enemy alert sounds, so there was an option for stealth where possible. 

 

Would I recommend: I would only recommend a full playthrough of the base game to people who have played

the game before, or those interested in gaming history and want to see the grandfather of all shooters as most

people know them. 

 

Will I play it again: There's a 50% chance I'll come back for a playthrough on the hardest difficulty, if only for

street cred or completionist satisfaction. I have dabbled with some mods that add weapons (LZWolf and demolition

weapons packl) and will likely continue for a short while. I will play through spear of destiny.

 

 

Final thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game, despite me rushing the 3rd episode a bit. So much

so that I often caught myself daydreaming about finally getting to play after work. There's something attractive about

returning to basics. No grinding, unlocks, audiologs, collectible spam, achievements, and multiplayer. Just shoot nazis

and hunt for secrets. Total playtime on steam is 11.1 hours currently, 9 of those for one continuous playthrough.

 

Thanks for reading. I may edit this with further thoughts later on after mulling it over, or after completion of Spear of Destiny.

Edited July 17, 2021 by DollarStoreChili

[hybridial]

I grabbed the game on gog last week and tried it for a while on ECWolf as well, which is a decent port, has controller support and everything. 

 

I got to I dunno, the fifth or sixth level of the first episode I think. I got lost, I found a locked door which I think probably had the exit not far after it, but after a while of not being able to find the key, I decided I'd had enough forever. It really is only a curio at best now, and really, part of a series I never liked all that much. 

[Charlie Love]

I'm currently reading through the wolf 3d black book. It was definitely a product of quantity over quality. There's a ton of levels sure, but you're doing a ton of the same repetitive maze crawling over and over with little variation. Not a bad game, but by the time I finish off Mecha Hitler I'm usually ready to put the game down again. 

[out_of_service]

I played Wolfenstein 3d back in the day. It's good, but it failed to hook me like Doom did. I do enjoy Return to Castle Wolfenstein though. I never bothered with the modern ones.

[Woolie Wool]

One important thing to know is that guards have a greatly reduced chance of hitting you if you are moving at full speed, regardless of direction. The "Wolfenstein dance" of rapidly oscillating back and forth (unlike Doom, the Wolf3D player moves at a constant speed without slowing down during the change of direction) will save your life when fighting multiple enemies and is essential when playing harder maps that may not allow you to pick off enemies one by one.

[Doomkid]

Really good review overall, and Woolie Wool beat me to the punch about how darting around erratically definitely trips up the aim of the guards. I will say I disagree with the (extremely common) idea that Wolf3D is only interesting as a historical curio - it has at least as much replay value as the average "lauded classic" NES game like SMB or Zelda. I guess it depends on what era of gaming you come from/most enjoy. I'll take Wolf3D any day over the vast majority of late 2000s/early 2010s stuff, which nowadays is mostly relegated to the proverbial bargain bin.

[MidnightMage]

I love Wolfenstein3d and Spear of Destiny. They are a concentrated formula of basic FPS elements which even to this day is still fun to play.

Although the FPS genre has evolved in time, I still enjoy occasionally falling back on the basics such as Wolf3d. I certainly wouldn't play through all the episodes in a sitting but I love occasionally playing through a random episode. With modern source ports having a map, even the Spear of Destiny Lost Episodes are fun.

 

There is something incredibly beautiful about the games simplicity and the pixel artwork is really quite fantastic even to this day.

[TasAcri]

I did play this game back in the day, before DOOM was a thing. I remember being impressed by the first person "3D" view at first. And how smoothly it moved. But i got bored of it quickly. I couldn't tell why it felt so repetitive to me. But now i know:

 

It's the game engine. As we know, it can only do orthogonal rooms and corridors, always at the same height. There's really not much you can do with such restrictions. You can make longer or shorter corridors, branch them with other corridors and some small or big rooms in between. That's it. That's the whole game and every other game that uses a similar engine.

 

Basically, the only thing that mixes up things a bit are the textures and sprites. These are the only things that give a visual flair and makes areas look different than other areas. But the level design is always the same boxy rooms and corridors.

 

DOOM's engine changed all that and made proper level design a thing. Unlike in Wolf3D, Doom's maps were actually interesting to explore. There was a sense of place. And even though it has it's own restrictions, it's still a viable engine that can render impressive architecture at times. With DOOM, you could finally make areas that really look and feel different as you explore. Thus, i quickly forgot about Wolf3D and never looked back.

[hybridial]

7 hours ago, Doomkid said:

it has at least as much replay value as the average "lauded classic" NES game like SMB or Zelda.

 

 

I would vehemently disagree with that. That is because of a point someone else made

 

14 hours ago, Charlie Love said:

It was definitely a product of quantity over quality. There's a ton of levels sure, but you're doing a ton of the same repetitive maze crawling over and over with little variation. 

 

Just to use your examples, SMB and LoZ are much more varied experiences that in being shorter, actually enhances their replay value. I did not even finish episode 1 of WOlfenstein 3D, I would probably never play the game again, and I do think I would have just got sick of it fairly quickly even if I had played it back in the 90s. I'd play LoZ again, and if I was into SMB I likely would though that game isn't really my thing (though it is one of the few NES games I actually finished albeit on All-Stars).

 

But I'm taking what you said as a general statement, if you feel that way, fine, but I really do not. I guess I just wanted to make the point that replay value tends to be inherent for me in games that are efficient, varied and tightly designed.

 

Wolfenstein 3D is just none of those things. Luckily, id's followup is in spades. 

[Naarok0fkor]

One of the reasons why I bought my first computer. That 386 PC took me through college. It was had a colour screen & speakers...I also had Faceoff, NHL93, Xwing, Pool of radiance, Ultima 3/4/5...Wolfenstein3d gave me this thirst for more FPS but my machine didn't have enough RAM for Doom when it came out. I had to pay 400$ for 2megs of RAM to make it work in low details, without Windows & the mouse driver...

[Jayextee]

Spear of Destiny is fantastic tho IMO.

[Liberation]

15 hours ago, Woolie Wool said:

One important thing to know is that guards have a greatly reduced chance of hitting you if you are moving at full speed, regardless of direction. The "Wolfenstein dance" of rapidly oscillating back and forth (unlike Doom, the Wolf3D player moves at a constant speed without slowing down during the change of direction) will save your life when fighting multiple enemies and is essential when playing harder maps that may not allow you to pick off enemies one by one.

I've always wondered about that, I find that rambo like charges into rooms can be pretty effective sometimes with little damage.

As for Wolf3d? It's a cracking game and is still pretty fun today, all 6 episodes are pretty good. SoD is alright as well, the mission packs are a bit of mixed bag however. 

[Woolie Wool]

One problem with Wolf3D as most people have played it is that the original Id maps are pretty sloppy and amateurish, especially for the first three episodes. Spear of Destiny is a lot better than Wolf3D, despite having exactly the same features and gameplay, simply due to having better levels.

[Teo Slayer]

I love Wolf 3D. It's the second FPS I played after DOOM. I really like its details, colors, music and other stuff it has. The problem I have is that it's all flat, not so many decorations and it gets repetitive in conclusion getting bored easily. It has great content afterall, but it failed to hook me like how DOOM did. I also prefer it more than the Machine Games series, they are good but kinda boring in my opinion

[xdarkmasterx]

I enjoy it for what it is. I think the gunplay is better than Doom's is due to the absence of damage-sponge enemies (bosses aside), higher hit responsiveness and overall more powerful feeling and sounding weapons, but it's so repetitive I struggle to play it for very long. It has its' niche, I'll give it that.

[DollarStoreChili]

20 hours ago, Woolie Wool said:

One important thing to know is that guards have a greatly reduced chance of hitting you if you are moving at full speed, regardless of direction. The "Wolfenstein dance" of rapidly oscillating back and forth (unlike Doom, the Wolf3D player moves at a constant speed without slowing down during the change of direction) will save your life when fighting multiple enemies and is essential when playing harder maps that may not allow you to pick off enemies one by one.

 

I had no idea about that, I just assumed they had perfect aim. These old games aren't great about communicating important mechanics.

[Koko Ricky]

The engine is so fundamentally limited that no argument will convince me that there's anything particularly engaging about psuedo-3D block mazes with uniform height and lighting. It reminds me of those old tile-based games that only allow movement per block, versus later games that allowed levels to have more thoughtful, organic designs. 

 

That said, I invested plenty of time into the original game back in the 90s, and even toyed with modding. But it was ultimately a pretty barren experience. It's worth noting that people still mod it, and some of the videos I've seen are at least impressive to gander at.

Edited July 20, 2021 by GoatLord

[reflex17]

9 hours ago, Liberation said:

I've always wondered about that, I find that rambo like charges into rooms can be pretty effective sometimes with little damage.
 

looks like an RNG element to hit and then calculate damage along with distance, speed and LoS factored in.
From the wolfenstein fandom wiki entry on "Damage":
 

The following variables will be referred to:

[DIST]

Distance between enemy and player (in number of squares).

[SPEED]

160 (if player is running) or 256 (if player isn't).

[LOOK]

16 (if player can see the shooter) or 8 (if the player can’t).

[RAND1]

A random number between 0 and 255 (inclusive). Used for hit calculation.

[RAND2]

A second random number between 0 and 255 (inclusive). Used for damage calculation.

(Playing on S1 divides all damage you take by four.)

[Artman2004]

Eh, it's more of a historic novelty than an actually fun game. I think the main problem I have with Wolf3D is that it's too basic. The level design is basically literally nothing but identical-looking mazes and more identical-looking mazes. There are only four weapons in the entire game, two of which are machine guns except one is literally better in every way. Most of the strategy is spraying and praying and bottle-necking enemies in doorways, and the boss fights consist of hiding behind cover and shooting them until they die. Overall, the game is fun at times, but really repetitive. 

 

To be fair, I've only really played the first episode and half of the second episode, but I can't imagine playing through all six episodes. That must be a really draining experience.

[DollarStoreChili]

On 7/17/2021 at 3:57 PM, Charlie Love said:

I'm currently reading through the wolf 3d black book. It was definitely a product of quantity over quality. There's a ton of levels sure, but you're doing a ton of the same repetitive maze crawling over and over with little variation. Not a bad game, but by the time I finish off Mecha Hitler I'm usually ready to put the game down again. 

 

I'm strongly considering moving past it for now and returning later for the spear of destiny content. My primary goal is to do a first time playthrough of all the games I never completed as a kid. I'm chomping at the bit to finally play through doom, and spear of destiny isn't something I touched as a kid. But I know if I move on now I won't come back after doom.

[Hawk of The Crystals]

It's okay, not good, but not bad either. I'll play it every once in a while, but then I get bored of it.

[CorianderCastor]

On 7/17/2021 at 2:23 PM, DollarStoreChili said:

Do not use the knife, even if out of ammo.

It can stunlock SS though.

 

On 7/18/2021 at 6:44 AM, hybridial said:

SMB and LoZ are much more varied experiences

Mario literally reuses levels and Zelda has the same few rooms that dungeons are built from, but okay. I could see an argument that The Hyrule Fantasy is more replayble than Wolf, (even though there are barely more weapons (six in total?)) but SMB aged like the ton of bricks its movement feels like and I have never wanted to go back to it after beating it for the first time.

 

My problem is I can't get used to not having decoupled turning and strafing. I hate when my inability to get comfortable with the controls prevents me from enjoying a game. A Good example is Crime Crackers, especially since it's one of the few free-movement shoobers in existence.

[hybridial]

7 minutes ago, CorianderCastor said:

Mario literally reuses levels and Zelda has the same few rooms that dungeons are built from, but okay.

 

Even given that being true, the gameplay variety is still far above Wolfenstein 3D. It's not that those games are spectacularly varied, but Wolf 3D is still far below them. And well, I'm not really trying to trash the game, I do respect it, it has its place, but I think even by the standards of the day it would have been really repetitive.

 

And the amount of levels definitely make the idea of finishing it a serious problem which is far less true of those other games. 

[CorianderCastor]

What, pray tell, exactly makes Mario much more varied? Lakitus? Tangent: Sonic has less abilities than Mario, but Sonic 1 is still more replayable than Super Mario. (I'd even rather play Mario Bros. and Wrecking Crew.) Re levels: There's what, 123 compared to Doom's 172/236? (That's not even counting console levels like Doom 64.) They're shorter too. (And it's easier than SMB1.)

 

A better argument, really, is SMB v. Hovertank 3-D or Catacomb 3-D, since SMB2:USA and SMB3 both blow SMB1 out of the water. (I actually like Hovertank and even the Catacomb Adventure Series though. In fact Catacomb 3-D is the only Catacomb game I didn't enjoy playing.)

[hybridial]

1 hour ago, CorianderCastor said:

Re levels: There's what, 123

 

Yeah, 123 levels in Wolfenstein 3D is far too many for that game, when I feel that malaise of repetition come over before the end of the third level. But given I haven't played SMB in years, and I don't even like it or any of the 2D Mario games all that much I'll take your word on it. LoZ I hold in much higher regard, to the point it's my third favourite game in that series and it was my favourite series for years, I would still enjoy playing it now. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by hybridial

[CorianderCastor]

The Hyrule Fantasy is really the only Zelda game I do replay. Can't stand the tiny annoyances that add up in the other games. Could probably replay Twilight Princess tough, since I haven't played it since the GameCube release. (And maybe Wind Waker someday.) I mean talk about "malaise of repetition": Skyward Sword didn't need to be nearly as long as it is. (And it's still probably the best, or maybe second best, 3D Zelda game.)

 

That was a problem circa the mid aughties to the mid tens in crpgs, games that were stretched to sixty hours that should have been thirty or less. (e.g. Neverwinter Nights 2 OC.)

[hybridial]

2 minutes ago, CorianderCastor said:

I mean talk about "malaise of repetition": Skyward Sword didn't need to be nearly as long as it is. (And it's still probably the best, or maybe second best, 3D Zelda game.)

 

Ah... it was the last one I actually played, because I haven't bought a console since the Wii. 

 

I think Ocarina of Time was the best one by far and Nintendo never even really got close to it again. It is in fact the only one outside of LoZ and Link to the Past I played more than once, I played through it at least half a dozen times, on the N64 and on the Gamecube using the port they released. I think the rest are just... okay. Well, I kind of disliked Wind Waker and Skyward Sword was horribly uneven (stuff I liked in it and stuff I really hated). I'm getting a Switch but I don't even know if I want to even play Breath of the Wild, I like the dungeoneering aspect the most and they practically removed that.   

[The_Trve_Raith]

Wolf3D for me is more fun to study and talk about then actually play.

 

Historically it's a really important game, as it laid the foundations for Doom. But as something you would play for entertainment, it's.... Not that great? There's no real huge game breaking bugs, but it gets boring, as Charlie Love said, it's a product of quantity over quality. There's over 60 levels but those 60 levels are little more then running through maze after maze killing enemies until you reach the end.

 

A historically important and respected game for me, but I don't see myself coming back to it.

 

Brutal Wolfenstein 3D is fun as hell though.

[Noiser]

19 hours ago, Artman2004 said:

To be fair, I've only really played the first episode and half of the second episode, but I can't imagine playing through all six episodes. That must be a really draining experience.

The first episode is the worst one. If your only reference was these levels, I think you should give another chance to the game. Or even better - go straight to Spear of Destiny :-)

[Liberation]

I do like e3, but e2 was nastier/more of a challenge. The best episodes I think being 5 and 6. E1 is iconic, much like Doom's E1, but too easy and played to death.