Wolfenstein Overview
It has been approximately one week since the official release of id software’s new Wolfenstein. Gamers around the world are familiar with the successes of the Wolfenstein franchise; Wolf3D, Spear of Destiny, RTCW, Wolf:ET. The Wolfenstein games not only provided a unique single player experience, but are widely considered to be some of the best multiplayer games ever created. It is no surprise that gaming communities around the web have been anxiously anticipating the release of the next game in the series.Talk about the game really began to heat up months before its release. Many people, including myself, planned to transition into the new Wolfenstein from either the previous games, or dying games such as ET:QW. The game was expected to take the best moments of RTCW and Wolf:ET to the next level, bringing back the beloved game play and create a strong online community. Unfortunately, a number of things occurred prior to the game’s release that have had Wolfenstein fans in a rage ever since. Amidst the ensuing flame wars, is there still hope for the future of the new Wolfenstein or has one of the greatest multiplayer experiences of all time come to an end?
If we back track to the first few months after the announcement of the new Wolfenstein, we can see where people’s concern began to grow. There was little information about the game to be found on the web, and the closest things you could find were either artist renditions or screenshots of green Nazi zombies. New game additives such as “veil” and sneak previews of the powerful futuristic weapons arsenal looked for a promising single player, but the multiplayer of the game was immediately called into question. “Will we everyone be blasting eachother with high-tech energy weapons online? Iron sights, we don’t want another COD! Ewww green is my least favorite color…” I could sit here and read off a list of quotes all day, but I digress. In the early phases no one knew what to expect for the multiplayer portion of the game, except that the previews that had been released to the public were looking like what some referred to as a COD clone. From then on, the majority of information regarding the game was purely single player.
It wasn’t until a few months before release that information regarding the multiplayer was leaked. An interview with Carmack gave fans hope, as quoted in an interview about MP, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Gamespot coverage of the console MP gave insight as well, but restless wolf fans were still left in the dark. It wasn’t until a leaked beta version of the game hit the net, that people got a good look at what the multiplayer was going to be like. Within days there were numerous youtube videos, impressions on forums around the web, screenshots, you name it. This was the point when the Wolfenstein forums hit an all time high of chatter. Names were called, fingers were pointed, and all caps were abused. Id were definitely not happy about the leaked beta or the responses they were getting regarding the multiplayer, but it may have been the most successful beta test I have seen in a while, in terms of the output of information regarding bugs and demanded changes. An official public beta was definitely in order much earlier in the development, as the game was due to come out only weeks after the leak, but it gave the developers some things to think about in the meantime.
Only a week after release we can draw some solid conclusions about the game. One, the single player kicks ass! Two, the multiplayer needs some serious attention and quick. Why did this happen? It seems that the single player and multiplayer were separately developed, and the majority of the MP team were laid off (fired) shortly after release, reasons unknown. At this point someone purchasing the game for the multiplayer may be asking themselves why they should buy the game with all the disappointment. Here are a few reasons why the new Wolfenstein may not be as bad as many portray it to be, and why it may have a hopeful future. 1. Wolfenstein community manager stickies a constructive community feed back thread on the forums (hundreds of posts and views within only a few days). I can only hope that this collection of feedback is an attempt from id to keep their famous franchise alive, and give the game back to its fans. 2. Promod beta announced after the first week. Hannes=God. ET:QW could have used his expertise this early on, and I know that many people are depending on this guy’s work for Wolfenstein if the developers can’t deliver. 3. Gaming leagues announce ladders with promises of big rewards. Competitive communities always provide a new form of entertainment to a game. WolfTV anyone?
In all seriousness, this game is going to be worth the buy and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The single player has gotten great reviews all around, and although the multiplayer is not what people wanted it to be, that may very well change soon. Either through intensive patching, community modding, or the combination of the two, the hardcore wolf fans do not want to see this game fail. Even now, simple tweaks to the game bring it one step closer to the feel of the original Wolfenstein and previews of Hannes promod are getting people excited. I am personally making my buy to contribute to the further development of the game, and am hoping that the Wolfenstein series continues into the years to come. *Detailed Game Review to Come*
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Nice overview, Inferno! I look forward to getting this game soon.
Sounds good man, well written IM PROUD OF YOU!
ferno is all grown up, nice write up
Game is an epic FAIL
> The single player has gotten great reviews all around
It’s hardly been perceived as great across the board.
A few good reviews, plenty however seem to think it’s a pretty average SP game on a dated engine.
That said, obviously they are just reviewers opinions. It just seems to take away from your otherwise good write up and your own valid opinions about the game when you make a claim about these other opinions that seems to me to be false.
TBH I think the (MP) game will quickly die. It’s clear ID software and Activision have no future together – clear when they used EA for Rage, and set in stone when they were bought out.
This doesn’t immediately suggest either party will worry too much about the fate of this title. Activision have Modern Warfare 2. ID have Rage and a new future where they’ll be developing 3 AAA titles.
At best Carmack will rationalise in an interview before long, as he often does, perhaps putting the mistakes down to a small project that was started when they still had too few resources on their projects for a modern title.
This is something they have resolved for rage. And the same problems they cited with console versions of other D3 engine games – i.e the porting to the consoles costs in resources and time detracting from actually developing the game.
Again, this porting issue, is something they’ve solved for Rage and ID tech 5. See how all the issues in this game simpy no longer exist for their future games?
He might even consider that the game should have waited and used ID tech 5.
So I don’t think they will care too much. That’s my guess. They’ve plenty to keep themselves busy anyway.
Like any other good artist / director or author, they will make at least one bad album or a bad film or write a bad book or, in this case, put out a bad game…no matter how good they are otherwise. That’s life..and ID didn’t even write it.
Carmack said at QC 2009 that, even when they will be developing three AAA titles at the same time, which they intend to do, they still have more potential IPs than they can develop (i.e they could do doom, wolf, quake, rage etc) – so they probably won’t lose much sleep over one poorly received MP game nor will it make much difference if this game killed wolf because of it, because they are going to have to drop something anyway (and it won’t really happen – if the next wolfenstein is truly brilliant it won’t matter how bad this one is or was)
I can agree with a lot of what your saying. I was drawing the conclusion regarding the SP portion of the game from review sites, various forums, and my own personal contacts. Most of the dislike pointed towards the game as a whole (that I have seen), including the SP, is by those who were so outraged by the MP that they wanted to nay say as much as possible (it is possible some feel the SP is great, in comparison to the MP as well). I can agree that the game is not as polished as it should be, and it is on an “older” engine. Then again no game I know of is loved by all (except HL2), but I think that most can agree that this game has a pretty entertaining SP. That aside, the MP portion has had a very weak start and was lacking from the very beginning as I mentioned, but I think there’s some hope. id could very well abandon it, and by the time the game is “fixed” the player base may be gone. All very likely possibilities, but I am willing to give the game my support and see what happens. It may take a miracle to keep this game from going down in flames, but I for one have waited to long to see this game fail. We were all disappointed by the MP part of the game and the best thing I can do, is to perceive the future of the game optimistically. Thanks for the response
, I always appreciate a valid second opinion (I probably should have included it in the official write up). I truly hope id separates themselves from Activision.
Single player really is good, although there’s not really anything innovative about it. The graphics are bioshocky, and the veil abilities are doomy.
The real strength of the sp is it’s gameplay style: well paced combat, open world elements, and with a little collecting on the side(I love collecting…). Also there are cool guns, but not very original there either.
All I have to say about the game is that I have seen much better MP and MP that just plain sucks and I think it is right in between. With a little patching it will I hope be able to rise back up to the way it should of been. Towards the SP I think this has to be one of the best I have ever played. I think this games SP is much better than mw2’s SP.