article

Wolfenstein 3D (commonly abbreviated to Wolf 3D) is a video game that is generally regarded as having popularized the first person shooter genre on the PC. It was created by id Software and published by Apogee Software on May 5 1992 for DOS. The game was inspired by the 1980s Muse Software computer games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. It has been ported to many systems, including 3DO, SNES, Game Boy Advance, Acorn Archimedes, Atari Jaguar, and the Apple IIGS.

Overview

In Wolfenstein 3D, the player is an American soldier named BJ Blazkowicz attempting to escape from the eponymous Nazi stronghold; there are many armed guards, as well as attack dogs. The building has a number of hidden rooms containing various treasures, food supplies, and medical kits, as well as three different guns and ammunition.

Wolfenstein 3D was originally released as shareware, which allowed it to be copied widely. The shareware release contained one episode ("Escape from Wolfenstein"), consisting of 10 missions (levels). The commercial release consisted of three episodes including the shareware episode (the new ones being "Operation: Eisenfaust" and "Die, Führer, Die"), and a mission pack called "The Nocturnal Missions" (consisting of "A Dark Secret", "Trail of the Madman", and "Confrontation") was also available. Like the shareware episode, each commercial episode contained 10 levels, bringing the game to a total of 60 missions.

Each episode had a different boss who had to be killed in the final mission in order to complete the episode. In order to complete an episode, only 9 of the 10 missions needed to be completed; hidden in one of the first eight missions was an entrance to the tenth, secret level. The secret level of the third episode was notable in that it recreated one of the original Pac-Man levels, complete with ghosts, seen by the player from Pac-Man's perspective.

A prequel, Spear of Destiny, was also released.

The game was originally released on the PC and then ported to Macintosh computers, Apple IIGS, Acorn Archimedes and Risc PC, Super NES, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Advance, and 3DO. The source code of the game was published by id Software on July 21 1995 under a non-profit EULA, starting the long tradition at id Software of opening the entire source code to an old game. Some enhanced ports to different platforms like Linux and add-ons have been developed.

Wolfenstein 3D was the first game to use the ExMx map/level identity.

Storyline

The first three episodes of the game focus on the character of William "B.J." Blazkowicz's attempts to escape from Castle Wolfenstein and overthrow the Nazi regime.

Initially armed only with a knife and a pistol (obtained by overpowering the guard in his cell), B.J.'s initial goal is merely to escape the castle prison. Taking on SS guards, stealing their machine guns and ultimately acquiring a chain gun, he eventually finds himself face to face with the Episode One boss, the ultimate prison guard Hans Grosse.

Having defeated Grosse and escaped the castle, B.J. moves on to Operation: Eisenfaust. Immediately the episode begins, it becomes apparent that the environment is no longer that of a prison; the walls are covered in mulch, and the first enemies found are mutants with machine guns in their chests. The Operation of the title appears to be the creation of these mutants; the episode boss, the scientist Dr Schabbs, throws syringes at you. His defeat signals the end of this biological war.

Die, Führer, Die! is, chronologically, the final episode. Fighting through Nazi soldiers, and attacking the bunker under the Reichstag, the major centerpiece of the game is reached in the final mission, where the boss is none other than Adolf Hitler himself (equipped with a robotic suit).

The Nocturnal Missions form a prequel storyline, focusing on the Germans' plans for chemical warfare.

A Dark Secret deals with the initial pursuit of the scientist responsible for the development of the weaponry; B.J.'s task is to enter the weapons research facility and hunt down Dr. Otto Giftmacher (Poison Maker) that fires rockets at him.

Trail of the Madman is a rather ornate episode taking place in a clean and stylish castle. Ostensibly, the episode's goal is the maps and plans of the chemical war (Giftkrieg), guarded by Gretel Grosse (Hans' sister; essentially the same character, only in a pink suit instead of a blue). Hitler's image appears throughout this episode, as posters and wall mosaics, symbolising his imminent rise to power. All levels are designed with fashion, much decoration and opulence.

The story comes to a close in Confrontation; a summation of everything that has gone before, including the mutants (in the secret level only), Hans Grosse (in the secret level only), and the overall "feel". The final battle is fought between B.J. and the leader of this war, head planner and all-round very bad guy, General Fettgesicht (Fat Face).

It should be noted that, despite the presence of Hitler as an episode boss, the game bears no resemblance to any actual Nazi plans or structures. Indeed, many of the level designs are highly fanciful; at least three levels heavily feature swastika shaped room layouts and maps, going as far as having one level built entirely of a tessellation of them. However, the overall premise could be said to be loosely based on the frequent and elaborate escape attempts made by Allied POWs from such Nazi prison strongholds such as Colditz Castle.

Legal issues

Due to its use of Nazi symbols and the Horst Wessel Lied as theme music, the PC version of the game was confiscated in Germany in 1994, following a verdict by the Amtsgericht München on January 25, 1994 (Az. 2Gs167/94); the use of these symbols is a federal offence in Germany unless certain circumstances apply (see articles 86 StGB and 86a StGB (in German)). Similarly, the Atari Jaguar version was confiscated following a verdict by the Amtsgericht Berlin Tiergarten on December 7, 1994 (Az. 351Gs5509/94). *

Due to concerns from Nintendo, the Super NES version was modified to not include any swastikas or Nazi references; furthermore, the attack dogs in the game were replaced by giant mutant rats, and blood was replaced with sweat to make the game seem less violent. (The dogs were removed due to complaints from animal-rights activists that it was immoral to have a game in which it is required of the player to kill dogs. Employees of id Software are quoted in The Official DOOM Player Guide about the reaction to Wolfenstein, ironically observing that it was morally acceptable to shoot human beings, but not dogs.) Three new weapons were added as well. However, the Super NES version was not as successful as the PC version. Many reviewers and Wolfenstein enthusiasts believed that the censorship of elements regarding Adolf Hitler and Nazis made the title incomplete and almost an entirely different game.

Technical implementation

To render the walls in pseudo-3D, the game used ray casting, a special case of ray tracing. This technique sent out one ray for each column of pixels, checked if it intersected a wall, and drew textures on the screen accordingly, creating a one dimensional depth buffer against which to clip the scaled sprites that represented enemies, powerups, and props.

Before Wolfenstein 3D, the technology had already been used by id Software in 1991 to create Hovertank 3D and Catacomb 3D for Softdisk, albeit using only EGA 16-color graphics. Other games using the Wolfenstein 3D game engine or developments of it were also produced, including, Blake Stone, Corridor 7, Operation Body Count, Super Noah's Ark 3D, Rise of the Triad, Shadowcaster, and Hellraiser.

According to id Software programmer John Carmack, the game's engine was inspired by a technology demo of Looking Glass Studios'/Origin's first-person CRPG, The Stygian Abyss from 1991. Carmack claimed he could make a faster renderer. In this he was successful. The Wolfenstein engine lacks many features present in the Underworld engine, such as height changes, sloped floors and lighting, but it runs well on relatively weak hardware.

Legacy

Wolfenstein Series:

Wolfenstein 3D is generally credited as being responsible for the first-person shooter craze that continues to this day. Released at the height of the 'Interactive CD-ROM' era, there were surprisingly few clones until Doom's release in 1993, the most notable being Rise of the Triad in 1994 and Duke Nukem 3D in 1996. Most of these games were distributed via the same shareware strategy as the original.

The game success ensured that id Software quickly became a high profile developer. id's development efforts were closely watched by fans of the game, and when it released its next first-person shooter, Doom, it was guaranteed a receptive audience. Rather than rely on the technology that made Wolfenstein a hit, however, Doom introduced several technological leaps over Wolfenstein 3D. Doom's technology outdid that of Wolfenstein by providing multiple levels of detail and characters with more detail and animation than those in its predecessor. Wolfenstein would later be recreated in a Doom II fan modification aptly titled WolfenDoom. id again later revolutionised the FPS genre with the release of Quake in 1996, the first FPS to feature full 3D graphics.

A new first-person shooter, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RtCW), a loose sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, was released in 2001. The gameplay and the setting are similar to the original, but the graphics and audio elements receive an upgrade due to the Quake III Arena rendering engine. RtCW begins as the first game does, but from there the two games' storylines diverge. A spinoff to RtCW, Enemy Territory, was released in 2003, which was a free full-version multiplayer-only game, featuring elements from RtCW.

Overall, RtCW bears little resemblance to its predecessor, beyond the title and the setting. A small bit of nostalgia is available to players of RtCW with a console command. Activating 'cg_uselessnostalgia' via the in-game console overlays a replica of the original game's interface across the bottom of the screen. However, as the name of the command implies, this interface does not keep track of vital game statistics, such as the player character's health or remaining ammunition. However, the Xbox version of RtCW contains the full emulated version of Wolfenstein 3D as a bonus for beating the game.

Also, a new Castle Wolfenstein game has been announced for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360.

Trivia

  • Wolfensteindamm is a street in Berlin-Steglitz, named after Moses Wolfenstein, a Jewish merchant also remembered by [http://www.steglitz.de/veranstaltungen/spiegelwand/ Wolfenstein House
  • The Wolfenstein is a rock formation in Germany near Tirschenreuth *
  • Burgruine Wolfstein is a castle ruin in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz *
  • The game manual mentioned that maybe you would have "a story to tell your grandchildren", if you survived. William Blazkowicz's grandchild is Billy Blaze, aka Commander Keen, who is an early id Software game character. The following is an excerpt from the Official Hint Manual for Wolfenstein 3D which explains the relation with Commander Keen: "William Joseph Blazkowicz was born August 15, 1911, to Polish immigrants. Blazkowicz was a top spy for the Allied Forces, receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor and other accolades for heroism. "B.J.," (as he was called by his friends) married after World War II, at age 40, to Julia Marie Peterson. Their son, Arthur Kenneth Blazkowicz, became a television talk show personality in Milwaukee. For show biz purposes, Arthur changed his last name to Blaze. Arthur later married Susan Elizabeth McMichaels. They had one son (which they named after Arthur's father), William Joseph Blazkowicz II, or as he signs his grade school homework, B. Blaze...."
  • A real Blaskowitz was fighting in WWII in the rank of a General - of Germany's Wehrmacht
  • In another id Software game Doom 2, there are two secret levels that are based on E1M1 and E1M9 of Wolfenstein 3D. The blue SS soldiers make a guest appearance, demons take the place of the guard dogs and the Cyberdemon takes the place of Hans Grosse.
  • Christian game makers Wisdom Tree bought the Wolfenstein graphic engine to create a non-violent game called Super Noah's Ark 3D. The game narrative is about Noah, armed with a slingshot trying to stop the restless animals on the Ark. The game was released for the Super Nintendo and DOS. It is commonly rumored that id Software gave Wisdom Tree the Wolfenstein 3D code, because Nintendo made id change the SNES port in order to make the game look less violent, which turned off many players and made this port very unpopular.
  • Hans and Gretel Grosse is a reference to Hansel and Gretel.
  • Tom Hall originally did not want to make this game. They originally had plans for another Commander Keen game (hinted at in the end of the last one), but John Carmack and the rest of the team persuaded Hall to make a game based on the Catacomb 3D engine.
  • The Apple IIGS port is the only version to use authentic German voices and speech, recorded by native Germans. The other versions, however, contains broken German phrases, with incorrect article and adjective usages, mostly stemming from the misunderstanding of the gender of the nouns.
  • Wolfenstein 3D is the first in a long line of computer and video games to feature players and non-player characters wielding man-portable Gatling guns. To date, no armed forces has ever fielded such a weapon, as the weight of the gun and ammunition would be prohibitive.
  • Before acquiring the rights to the Wolfenstein name from Silas Warner, the id Software team considered many alternative names, some less seriously than others, such as Castle Ochtenstein, Luger's Run, The Fourth Reich, Adolph's Bane, Hard Cell, Luger Me Now, Tank You Very Much, Castle Hasselhoff, How Do You Dusseldorf?, Castle Verlassen, Strumwind, Hollehammer, Shattensendener, Dolchteufel, Grabgrabbener, Eisenschwert and Dammerung.
  • There is a Pacman level, complete with Pacman ghosts which chase the player. They cannot be killed. The dots are replaced with treasure items and the power pills are replaced with extra lives.

Bosses

At the end of each episode, on floor nine, the player has to face a boss enemy. Unlike normal enemies, boss enemies are drawn from one angle instead of eight, so the player can't sneak up on them or take them by surprise. Bosses are also deaf, and won't notice you, or become active until they see you. In the version released for the Macintosh, all the bosses (except Adolf Hitler) drop gold keys which opens a door to the end of the level.

Quotes:
  • "Guten Tag!!" ("Good Day!!")
  • "Mutti..." ("Mommy...")
Quotes:
  • "Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhahahaha!!"
  • "Arrghh!! Mein Gott Im Himmel!!" ("My God In Heaven!!")
Quotes:
  • "Tot Hund!"(*) ("Dead Dog!")
  • "Hahahahahaha"
Quotes:
  • "Die, Allied Schweinhund!"(*) ("Die Allied Pigdog!")
  • "Scheiße!!!" ("Shit!!!")
  • "Eva, Auf Wiedersehen..." ("Good-Bye, Eva...")
Quotes:
  • "Eine Kleine Amerikaner!"(*) ("A Little American!")
  • "Donnerwetter!!" ("Good Heavens!!")
Quotes:
  • "Kein Durchgang!" ("No Trespassing!")
  • "Mein Buße..."(*) ("My Repentance...")
Quotes:
  • "Erlauben Sie, Bitte..." ("Allow Me Please...")
  • "Roseknospe!"(*) ("Rosebud!")
Hans Grosse (Hans Big)- A huge Nazi superman who guards the exit to castle Wolfenstein. He is Gretel's brother. He wields two large chainguns.
Dr. Schabbs - The doctor behind the creation of an army of mutants employed under Hitler. Unlike any other foe, he is equipped with syringes which can take about 25% of the player's health. If the player is killed by him, the status bar face turns grey and emotionless, like one of his mutants.
Fake Hitler - A mimic of the real Hitler. It is not really a boss but it is stronger than the other enemies, and drawn from 1 angle. It has a machine mounted with a flamethrower in its chest. They only appear on Episode 3, Floor 9, guarding Hitler's secret bunker room.
Adolf Hitler - The leader of the Nazi regime, first appears in robotic armor, wielding four chainguns. When the suit is destroyed, he keeps two of the chainguns.
Otto Giftmacher (Otto Poison Maker)- The poison maker, the scientist behind chemical warfare. He attacks with a missile launcher.
Gretel Grosse (Gretel Big) - She is the sister of Hans Grosse, guarding the key to the room with mapped plans. She has double chainguns.
General Fettgesicht (General Fat Face) - The top general in the chemical assault against the allies. The final enemy of the Nocturnal missions, he has a chaingun and a missile launcher.

The marked (*) quotes are gramatically incorrect.

See also

External links

Atari Jaguar games | Fictional Nazis | First-person shooters | Linux games | DOS games | Super NES games | Apple IIGS games | Game Boy Advance games | Acorn Archimedes games | 3DO games | Mac OS games | 1992 computer and video games | Banned computer and video games | World War II games | Polish superheroes

Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D | Wolfenstein 3D

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Wolfenstein 3D".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world