The grandfather of the First Person Shooter
Wolfenstein 3D is an oldie of a game. It was a pioneer in the early days of gaming that helped pave the way for a new genre of games, the FPS, or first person shooter. From Wolfenstein’s younger brothers Doom, and Quake; to modern games like Battlefield, and Call of Duty. All these games share a simple legacy kicked off by this single game. Wolfenstein was by no means a new concept, the developer id Software had already made some games in the same genre. What Wolfenstein did was boil the gameplay down to the pure essentials; making it the most approachable game of its type. Everything else was history after that.
My earliest memory of this game was when I was around the age of six or seven. I’m not exactly sure how or what happened, but something happened to upset my brother. So he decided to slam our front door. Unfortunately I had misplaced my pinky finger; I had put it right in the corner of where the door hinges meet the wall. Don’t ask me why I put just one solitary finger there. Let alone the finger no one uses, unless they are pretending to be fancy. But the ensuing screaming caught everyone by surprise and my finger became a door jamb.
To say the least, my brother felt pretty bad about what happened. After my parents subdued me and iced my finger, my brother took me into our computer room. He turned on the computer, then he typed some stuff and up popped the title screen. After my brother started the game, I was met with the iconic beginning of the game:
My earliest memory of this game was when I was around the age of six or seven. I’m not exactly sure how or what happened, but something happened to upset my brother. So he decided to slam our front door. Unfortunately I had misplaced my pinky finger; I had put it right in the corner of where the door hinges meet the wall. Don’t ask me why I put just one solitary finger there. Let alone the finger no one uses, unless they are pretending to be fancy. But the ensuing screaming caught everyone by surprise and my finger became a door jamb.
To say the least, my brother felt pretty bad about what happened. After my parents subdued me and iced my finger, my brother took me into our computer room. He turned on the computer, then he typed some stuff and up popped the title screen. After my brother started the game, I was met with the iconic beginning of the game:
It may not seem like much, but for a young kid this was mesmerizing. Where was I? Who was I? Who is that person in front of me? These are about the only questions answered in the game, as there is little to no story. It’s just you, and a castle full of Nazis who want you dead. Everyone can get behind fighting Nazis, right? My brother explained what my task was; I was to press the control key, and that would make our character shoot his gun. My brother would move him around. Together we fought the evil 3rd Reich escaped, it is one of the longest lasting memories I have of me and my brother doing things together.
“Everyone can get behind fighting Nazis, right?” |
Two generations of gamers
My fondest memory of the game however, is that of watching my mom play Wolfenstein. Like I said, who can’t get behind fighting Nazis? My mom is not the biggest gamer, she stuck to mostly Tetris and a couple other puzzle games. But Wolfenstein? She not only beat the game, but she beat the extra levels, as well as the sequel, Spear of Destiny. And she did it by using the mouse, which is the hardest way to play the game. I know this, I tried it pretty recently and it’s a challenge. By the way, did I mention she beat Wolfenstein on the hardest difficulty? Yeah, my mom beat this game with the worst controls on the hardest setting; I found it challenging to beat with much more approachable controls, and I play a lot of games.
I would stand next to her, looking up at the screen, and I would watch her play. It would get pretty intense at times, and there were some moments that we both thought were impossible. But eventually she beat both games, and at the time I thought it was really cool, and that it was really fun to have watched her play. As I got older I grew more impressed by what she did; like I said, the game is incredibly hard, and my mom essentially played it with a handicap.
I would stand next to her, looking up at the screen, and I would watch her play. It would get pretty intense at times, and there were some moments that we both thought were impossible. But eventually she beat both games, and at the time I thought it was really cool, and that it was really fun to have watched her play. As I got older I grew more impressed by what she did; like I said, the game is incredibly hard, and my mom essentially played it with a handicap.
Still a classic, and still fun as hell
Wolfenstein was one of those games that has aged a little bit, but it still plays extremely well despite its age. Hugging the walls to find secrets, collecting treasure, finding the secret Pac-Man level and running like a terrified child the entire time. Did I forget to mention you fight Hitler? Yes, Wolfenstein was one of the first games to let you beat Hitler. This was nice to have as a young kid with a Jewish heritage, it’s a very specific kind of revenge.
I still play Wolfenstein 3D to this day. It may be close to 30 years old now, but it still plays wonderfully. There are newer entries in the Wolfenstein franchise, and I enjoy them all. But there is something about the classic look and feel of the first game. And I feel no matter how much time passes between when I first played to now, it’s always going to remain one of my favorite games.
I still play Wolfenstein 3D to this day. It may be close to 30 years old now, but it still plays wonderfully. There are newer entries in the Wolfenstein franchise, and I enjoy them all. But there is something about the classic look and feel of the first game. And I feel no matter how much time passes between when I first played to now, it’s always going to remain one of my favorite games.