Wolfenstein Goes 3-D

I know what you're going to say. Old Wolfenstein went 3-D years ago. Well, you're right… and wrong. You remember the original one, right? There sure were three dimensions. Height was there, width was there, and depth was even present. Of course, it wasn't like you could do much in those dimensions. You couldn't really look around much, back in the good old days. It was like defeating the forces of evil while wearing a cervical collar. Go forth and kill the bad guys, fresh from a car accident and still wearing your neck brace! Well, no more limitations. Now the brace is off, and the world is truly in 3-D.Wolfenstein has arrived on the Xbox at long last.

I managed to get my grubby little paws on an early version of Id's Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War™. With all the hype and talk that's been going on around this one, I was really looking forward to a good look at it. Now, I may as well just come out and say it: This game rocks! I just love it when a developer gets it right. So what if it's been more than a decade since the first of theWolfenstein games came out—some things just keep getting better with age!

Blue skies are a welcome addition over the original.

So, I settled myself down in a comfortable chair and booted up the good old Xbox. Before I did anything else, I started exploring the various menus and options. I'm not sure why it is, but when I see a "Multiplayer" option, I always go hit it first. Don't ask me why, but whenever I have the option to play with or against another human, I can't pass it up. While I was stuck with a solo machine and no one that could help me test out the Xbox Live option, I could grab a friend and dive into the split-screen co-op mode. You know, normally, split-screen games are a royal pain. I always feel like I can't see anything; everything's too small, too congested, and happening too fast to see. I was more than slightly surprised this time around. I could see! Better yet, I could shoot! I could see and shoot! (What a combination, eh?) That, in itself, is a vast improvement over many split-screen multiplayer games. And, before you ask, no, we weren't playing on a huge TV. Not only was the game totally playable in this mode, but it was also very enjoyable. Even with everything cut down to half-pint size, the graphics were crisp, clear, and quite good. Oh, and did I mention fast? The frame rates were more than adequate at all times. Even with two people running all over the place, blasting away at a dozen bad guys that are, quite naturally of course, shooting back. Now, fast forward about an hour, and we realized that we hadn't even taken a look at the single-player game yet. All I can say is that the single-player mode turned out to be just as… tasty.

Functional split-screen is gooooooood.

For those of you that have gotten used to the whole mouse controls of the various PC shooter games, you may have a little bit of trouble adapting to the controls. A "little trouble" came out to about five minutes by my watch. Yep, you got me. I'm one of those CounterStrike/Halflife/Unreal/Quake-style PC shooter guys. First-person shooters are notoriously difficult to get used to on a console usually. I don't know how they did it, but I didn't have any trouble with the controls and lack of my trackball. If you're a PC shooter fan that has been avoiding console first-person-shooter games, give this one a try. I think you'll like it.

3-D means more than just a ceiling overhead!

By Carlson