Inglorious blasters

by ERIK LEIJON

With killing Nazis back en vogue—when was it ever not?—thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s typically morbid sense of humour, another return to Castle Wolfenstein seems to be in order. Simply titled Wolfenstein (X360, PS3/Activision, id, Raven), this latest bizarro universe WWII shoot-’em-up doesn’t share Tarantino’s passion for scalping Nazis, but re-imagining the 1943 SS as a bunch of occult-obsessed witch doctors isn’t that far-fetched. It also makes for an interesting single-player first-person shooter, culling the better aspects of sci-fi shooters and military-based ones.

Famed Yank soldier B.J. Blazkowicz is in a small German town called Isenstadt trying to stop the Nazis from acquiring the artifacts necessary to harness a supernatural power called the Black Sun while also trying to master inter-dimensional shifting himself. It’s become a popular game mechanic, to be able to switch between alternating visual modes. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Dark Knight spent most of the game locked in detective mode, where everything had a distinctive day-glo outline and potential clues would light up like a Christmas tree. At any time, Blazkowicz can enter the veil, an alternate blue-tinged subspace where enemies become more visible, secret entrances become exposed and deadly electric fish float about like swimming time bombs. Other veil powers, such as the ability to slow down time, an energy shield and increased damage will become available, and both for aesthetic and gameplay purposes, there’s really no other way to play.

Veil mode is temporary, but there are more than enough refuelling stations for the game to become a furious race from checkpoint to checkpoint, ensuring you don’t have to fight the multitude of Nazi mutants on even terms. In regular vision, the game plays like a furious, arcade-y WWII shooter, except the guns have the most unbearably long reload times. Not unlike another recent film, District 9, there is thankfully a host of futuristic weaponry available, specifically of the body-vaporizing quality.

As a single-player game, Wolfenstein has an interesting enough storyline provided you can tolerate every Russian character sounding like Star Trek’s Chekhov. Isenstadt serves as a sort of home base between missions and has an open, sandbox feel, although it’s mostly an unfinished idea.

Basically, B.J. will travel cross-town from mission to mission, engaging in combat with patrolling Nazis along the way, while perusing houses and back alleys for hidden gold. Although there are side quests, Wolfenstein isn’t an open world game with multiple story arcs. Specific buildings won’t be open unless they’re directly related to the mission. Wolfenstein is more sci-fi than war sim, and the multiplayer is tacked on and forgettable, but blasting away Nazis with ray-guns is as cathartic as it sounds.

Ménage à metroid

I still remember the skepticism surrounding the risky reboot of the Metroid franchise for the Nintendo GameCube. Not only was it being developed by an unknown studio (Retro), they were also taking bounty hunter Samus Aran out of her side-scrolling comfort zone and into an experimental FPS/platforming hybrid.

A pioneer in terms of auto-locking functionality (specifically the grapple hook) and the use of colour scheme as a means of directing and guiding players, Metroid Prime was a welcome addition to the vaunted Metroid family. Retro Studios managed to churn out two more Primes, and all three are now in one convenient, inexpensive package for the Wii. Metroid Prime: Trilogy (Wii/Nintendo, Retro) is a greatest hits package, but it is an absolute must-own for Wii owners, whether you’ve already played them or not.