By Alec Meer on July 16th, 2008 at 7:58 am.
(Apologies if all this E3 stuff is bugging you – normal service will resume on Monday, but we wanted to make sure we aggregated all the big PC talking points).
First footage of the new Wolfenstein game, handled by perennial id lackeys Raven – who have much to prove after Quake 4. Though they are also, for the first time since 2000′s Soldier of Fortune, making their own game, the mysterious Singularity. No info on that yet, but we do get this:
Big on the mysticism, clearly – and apparently hero BJ Blaskowitz will have psychic powers of his own. Hnn. Not seeing anything to suggest Raven are straying off their well-beaten dark’n'shooty track, but there’s talk of open world stuff, I hear.
16/07/2008 at 08:10 Muzman says:
Never played Q4 because the word of mouth was so bad. I was kinda stunned by this because I couldn’t figure how someone generally decent and interesting in the FPS single player area like Raven could miss with a setting like the Strogg war (which was much more cohesive and fired the imagination a lot more that Quake did, for me). It means I can’t say “retro future Hellboy-esque Nazism! Again! How can they/we lose?!”
16/07/2008 at 08:30 Flint says:
Quake 4 wasn’t bad though! It’s main problem is the generic dark and gritty and MEH look that replaced Quake 2′s temple-meets-factory architecture bathing in eternal dusk, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable.
Not really bothered about this though, WW2 in almost any form makes me yawn.
16/07/2008 at 08:39 propanol says:
Used to really like Raven’s shooters, even though every single one of them is on rails to the point of madness. Quake 4 was pretty bad though ended their streak of decent releases though.
16/07/2008 at 09:08 Mungrul says:
I really hope they take the multiplayer back to RtCW’s root. Splash Damage spoiled the formula by adding too much.
Having said that, nothing of Raven’s has ever had spectacular MP anyway, with the possible exception of SoF2.
16/07/2008 at 09:15 Ian says:
I liked Quake 4. Nothing ground-breaking by any stretch but I thought it was good fun.
Looking forward to more Wolfenstein goodness. :)
16/07/2008 at 09:40 Turin Turambar says:
Quake 4 was pretty good, nothing original, but FUN.
Just decide for yourself if the game is good or not, skip the word-of-mouth of internet. Sometimes it is very stupid.
16/07/2008 at 09:56 Ian says:
And the Stroggification bit is still one of my favourite gaming moments.
16/07/2008 at 10:26 Johnny Law says:
Yep, Quake 4 was fun. Not going to solve world hunger or cure cancer, but a good shooter. I do wish they hadn’t spoiled the stroggification bit so thoroughly in their ad campaign though.
16/07/2008 at 11:03 Muzman says:
Well I didn’t take just anyone’s word of mouth. It was poorly reviewed in general and by reviewers I like as well as by people I know whose views roughly accord with mine, and even by people I know whose standards of shooters are a lot lower.
But it does intrigue me. I’ll probably pick it up on budget one day.
16/07/2008 at 11:22 James T says:
Fortunately, this wasn’t the case for RtCW — a great many levels had multiple vectors of approach, by virtue of both the level plans, and the stealth/assault tactics available to you. If this takes after RtCW in that manner, I’ll be delighted; otherwise I’m not really interested (that trailer didn’t tell me much except that I’ll probably be fighting those damned Ubersoldaten again; although even that could be fun if they rejuvenate the gunplay a bit…)
16/07/2008 at 12:42 MetalCircus says:
Loved RTCW, it was a good slice of comic book nazi bashing fun. Hopefully this is more of the same?
16/07/2008 at 12:51 Cooper says:
An extra voice to the ‘Q4 was fun’ din.
I thought it was a bloody lot better than Doom3 at least. The level design certainly left a lot to be desired, but it was a fun game, in one of my favourite game universes. I’m still pretty annoyed that the expansion pack (so blatantly hinted at at the end of the game) never materialised – now I’m gonna have to wait for Q5 before I know how the strogg get beat…
16/07/2008 at 14:39 Maximum Fish says:
Yeah, I’m on this bandwagon too; Quake IV was derivative and generic, but tons of fun to play. Did anyone else notice however the lack of a PC-CDROM or PC-DVD label on the title splash screen? Is this thing console only??
16/07/2008 at 14:43 Alec Meer says:
It’s definitely on PC.
Also, Quake IV was incredibly dull.
16/07/2008 at 14:59 John P (Katsumoto) says:
Quake 4 went wrong when it replaced the awesome Sonic Mayhem soundtracks of the previous two games with some generic orchestral pish. Luckily, you could mod Quake 2′s soundtrack back into the game, which surely added a whole 5-10% onto the score!
16/07/2008 at 15:37 Deuteronomy says:
I’ll agree Q4 was fun although derivative. A couple of levels were nice visually, but somehow the game’s atmosphere never came together like Doom 3′s.
16/07/2008 at 15:59 Noc says:
I approve of a trailer composed entirely of explosions.
Consider me optimistic.
16/07/2008 at 16:16 BJ Blazkowicz says:
FUCK YES, I CAME SEVENTEEN TIMES.
(Look at my god damn name for god’s sake)
16/07/2008 at 16:22 Ian says:
I’ll agree with Cooper that Q4 was better than Doom 3.
Doom 3 had good atmosphere and… uh… yeah, that was about it I thought.
16/07/2008 at 16:27 dhex says:
quake 4 was dull, whereas doom 3 was repetitive but with a good atmosphere. it was an interesting-looking place.
which means nothing if the game is bonkers, but i did find myself wanting to play doom 3 without any enemies.
16/07/2008 at 16:40 mujadaddy says:
Mungrul says:
I really hope they take the multiplayer back to RtCW’s root. Splash Damage spoiled the formula by adding too much.
Uh? No. RtCW:ET gets played between 4-7 times a week for at least an hour each time at my house. It is, in a word, awesome.
When they complete the RtCW mod for that Quake3-in-a-browser thing, I’ll probably get fired :)
16/07/2008 at 16:44 Maximum Fish says:
Q4′s problem was that storyline frills only serve to constrain a game that should be about over the top senseless carnage and other pixelantiism. It still had good shooting stuff, just not enough. Color me excited when they announce a sequel to painkiller.
16/07/2008 at 17:29 born2expire says:
wow, looks to be on par with Raven’s track record, YAWN!
wake me up when Raven does something decent, or not fucking up a existing license.
Q4′s main problem is that the multiplayer sucked beyond belief, I mean i still play Q3, but Q4 was just shit.
16/07/2008 at 17:33 SwiftRanger says:
“Raven – who have much to prove after Quake 4.”
Nah, it was relatively fine for what is was set out to do: make a sequel/sort of a remake of Quake 2, even the bosses were just as easy. Story? It’s Quake ffs. And Raven got the most important part absolutely right: the weaponfeel, unlike some other self-proclaimed high-profile shooters.
16/07/2008 at 18:06 KindredPhantom says:
I have never played a Wolfenstein game, if this is any good then it shall be my first.
16/07/2008 at 18:36 Alex Taldren says:
Here’s to hoping it has very fun and competitive, team-based multiplayer!
16/07/2008 at 21:37 Stijn says:
mujadaddy, I think he meant ET: Quake Wars, not Wolfenstein: ET ;)
17/07/2008 at 06:10 Senethro says:
stijn: No, honestly, he meant W:ET. The RTCW people are crazy and still haven’t forgiven Splash Damage for ruining their dead game by making a better version thats free.
17/07/2008 at 09:06 Nick Halme says:
Hey, Quake 4 was an above average game — what, did the single-player experience really let you down? It is Quake, after all.
17/07/2008 at 13:01 Manwe says:
Psychic powers? Arrrghh. Painkiller Overdoes made the same mistake when they got rid of the titular weapon, and replaced it with some kind of energy ball firing affair. Painkiller = good, firing magical balls of energy = bad
In Wolfenstein (and Doom), the character you play is meant to be the uber marine, super soldier. Not some kind of monster destroying, violent, Derek Acorah.
Bring back the Super shotgun (Yes from Doom 2 and not Wolfenstein) and chainsaw. No need for psychic messiness
19/07/2008 at 07:06 Jonathan says:
Jet pack nazis? I hate those guys!
19/07/2008 at 10:02 Jochen Scheisse says:
Looking forward to this. Comic Nazis with Tesla Fists vs. Blaskovicz > Dialogue in a standard WW2 game
Of course here we’ll also get corny dialogue and ridiculous slaughter of a lone hero, but that will actually fit the game.
19/07/2008 at 14:45 magallanes says:
Hi there:
how can describe this video?… simple :this video sux!!.
Some executives think that if a dynamite explosion is cool, then doubling the amount of dynamite will be double of cool.