Tear Nazis a new one in Wolfenstein, the latest in id Software's proud franchise. As series' hero B.J. Blazkowicz, your mission is to prevent Hitler from finding a dangerous artifact known as the Black Sun. With machine gun in hand, you'll travel to numerous locations mowing down enemy soldiers. Instead of aiming for realism, however, publisher Activision has given this game a sci-fi vibe that separates it from other World War II-themed video games.
Much like previous Wolfenstein adventures, this one retains the fast and furious first person shooting we know and love. You won't stand around solving puzzles or speaking with characters. You just grab the nearest weapon and take off on a homicidal rampage, both in the "real" world and an alternate dimension called the Veil. In this green-tinted Veil place, you'll see monsters, hidden pathways, enemy weak points (highlighted in red) and move slightly faster. You'll also see grenade trajectories, allowing you to easily squeeze a grenade through a tight area.
In addition to those perks, you can use special abilities that drain energy from B.J.'s magical amulet. Thus far, Activision has only revealed Mire, an ability that lets you slow down time (and your foes) but allows you to move at normal speed. This comes in handy for not only killing large groups of Nazis, but also tougher enemies like the Scribes, super thugs that can dodge bullets and unleash balls of energy. Fortunately, you can refill the amulet's power by walking through Veil pools littered about the environments.
To better illustrate Mire, Activision demoed a battle with a heavy trooper, an armored Nazi carrying the destructive particle cannon (one hit from that will kill B.J.). After slowing time, the player easily targeted the trooper's three weak points and made short work of him. The reward? B.J. gets the particle cannon.
Although details are scarce, we know that gamers can upgrade B.J.'s weapons and abilities on the Black Market, trading collectibles for perks. At this point, however, Activision has yet to reveal much about it.
Wolfenstein seems like a fun and mindless shooter, much like its predecessors. That said, we've come to expect a little more from today's games, so it remains to be seen whether the old school fun will keep us interested. Since murdering waves of Nazis never gets old, we have a good feeling that Activision will offer plenty of gun-toting thrills when the game ships this fall.
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