One of the best things to ever come from the PC world, the Wolfenstein series isn't as strong as it was 15 years ago, but is still popular. This game has a very interesting story behind its games with the original Wolfenstein being a different type of game from the Wolfenstein today. Also, we can probably all agree that the Wolfenstein series didn't become mainstream until Wolfenstein 3D.
Before:
The company Muse Software was founded by Ed Zaron in 1978. Initially publishing games, the company also produced non-game software such as word processers. In 1981, Muse produced the game, Castle Wolfenstein, for the Apple II and later ported it to DOS, the Atari 8-bit family, and the Commodore 64 thus starting the Wolfenstein series.
“Generic Nazi is generic.”
Castle Wolfenstein is a stealth game taking place during World War II. The main objective of the game is to go around the levels of the castle to find the secret war plans and escape alive. Higher military ranks are achieved with every successful escape starting at Private and ending at Field Marshall. The player is to go around the levels by sneaking past guards, impersonating Nazi soldiers and sometimes even killing opponents if necessary. Castle Wolfenstein was one of the first computer games to have crude, but innovative digitized voices which involved the Nazi guards shouting commands such as “Halt!” (Stop!) and “Kommen Sie!” (Come, you!).
In 1984, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein was released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and DOS in 1984.
“I’m gonna getcha!”
This game is set in World War II during Hitler’s reign as Chancellor of Germany. The main objective is to go around the levels of the secret bunker in Berlin where Hitler is holding secret meetings with his senior staff. The player must retrieve a bomb that the operatives have placed in the bunker and put it outside the door of the room where Hitler is holding his meeting.
The game is basically the same as its predecessor, but with updates. The guards now use a pass system which the guards periodically call the player to show the correct pass (varies by floor), or offer a bribe. If an incorrect pass is shown or the bribe is rejected due to a lack of money, the guard will attempt to activate the bunker wide alarm or attempt to kill the player.
The company of Muse Software shut down in 1987 allowing the Wolfenstein gaming title to be used without copyright restrictions. Thus, inspired by the Muse Software Wolfenstein games, id Software released the father of first person shooters, Wolfenstein 3D was released for the MS-DOS in May of 1992.
“Go kick a Nazi in the face today.”
After:
Wolfenstein 3D has three episodes to it. The episodes mainly focus on William “B.J.” Blazkowicz’s attempts to escape from Castle Wolfenstein and overthrow the Nazi regime. The first episode, Escape from Castle Wolfenstein, B.J., an Allied spy, was captured while trying to find the plans for Operation Eisenfaust, and was imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein. B.J. tries to escape the castle prison while taking on SS guards, he then finds himself face to face with the head prison guard Hans Grosse.
The second episode, Operation: Eisenfaust, B.J. discovers that the operation is real and the Nazis are actually creating an army of undead mutants in Castle Hollehammer. B.J. goes into the castle and confronts the mad scientist, Dr. Schabbs, creator of the mutants. The defeat of Dr. Schabbs signals the end of this biological war.
Die, Führer, Die! is the chronologically last episode. Fighting Nazi soldiers and attacking the bunker under the Reichstag, B.J. finds himself against Adolf Hitler equipped with a robotic suit.
The Nocturnal Mission creates a prequel storyline, focusing on Germany’s plans for chemical warfare (Giftkreig). A Dark Secret deals with the pursuit of the scientist responsible for the development of the weaponry. B.J.’s task is to infiltrate the weapons research facility and take down another mad scientist, Dr. Otto Giftmacher (Poison Maker translated to English).
Trail of the Madman takes place in Castle Erlangen. B.J.’s goal in this episode is to locate the maps and plans of the chemical war, guarded by Han’s sister, Gretel Grosse.
The story finally comes to a close in Confrontation, set in Castle Offenbach. The final battle is fought between B.J. and the leader of the chemical war initiative, General Fettgesicht (Fat Face translated to English).
Each episode features ten levels, or missions, which have to be finished sequentially. The game had some drastic changes made to it when ported to the SNES. They made a downgrade in graphics, they switched all Swastikas in the game with crosses and removed Hitler’s moustache along with many other things.
“It’s not as fun killing regular soldiers.”
I’m going to skip over a couple games in the Wolfenstein series to talk about the most recent game in the series. Wolfenstein was released for all retail platforms in August of 2009. The story takes place in the fictional town of Isenstadt which the Nazis took complete control of in order to mine rare Nachtsonne crystals needed to access the “Black Sun” dimension. As the game progresses, things that happen in Isenstadt become very strange like German patrollers are replaced with supernatural creatures along with other things.
The plot is basically the same as every other Wolfenstein game, shoot Nazis and stop them from doing weird supernatural things. Also, like every other Wolfenstein game it takes every Nazi myth and tall tale and cranks the dial up to 11. The whole game itself is like watching a B-rated movie, it was good but you could have missed it. The graphics are amazing compared to Wolfenstein 3D and shows really how far the series has come, but over the years the series has become less popular and doesn’t have the same fan base that it had 15 years ago.
“It’s almost sad really.”
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