By Alec Meer on April 20th, 2009 at 9:24 pm.
Just out is this moving-picture displaying the introductory sequence to Raven’s upcoming Wolfenstein do-over. It’s a curious project, for once putting the mystical overtones of the Wolfenstein series front’n'centre, as opposed to the usual late-game burst of fantasy weirdness. This cinematic, though, aptly demonstrates its two conflicting elements – Nazi-shooting and crazy gothic magic, the latter this time to be wielded by you as well as your exaggerated foes. No in-game footage, and thus no enormous sense of how this sequel/remake (semake? Requel?) will play. But I guarantee you this: it will feature the shooting of pixel-based German men.
BJ Sillynameowicz’s latest incarnation is as about as blandly generic as action heroes get, but I rather imagine that’s the point. He’s the archetypal US soldier, all lantern-jaw and gruff stubble, dropped into a bewildering world of dark magicks and dark festishism. Ironic juxtaposition, and all that. Frankly, he looks so 80s action hero that he’s a little ludicrous (as the name also implies) – and I do hope that’s something that’s played with rather than Raven simply treating him as sympathetic hero.
Anyway, go video:
Other salient points about Wolfenstein include a few winks that RCTW: Enemy Territory will be the inspiration for the multiplayer – so it could be a sequel of sorts to poor Quake Wars- and this plot summary:
It is the year 1943. The Second World War is at its height. While Allied forces have stalled the expansion of Hitler’s Third Reich, the Nazi war machine still has its boot on the throat of mainland Europe. However, the Führer demands nothing less than global domination. Enter Heinrich Himmler’s feared SS and its plan to master an occult force known only as the Black Sun. With this mysterious power source at its disposal, no army on Earth could stand in the Reich’s path. No army but the man who had single-handedly shut down Himmler’s Übersoldat program and thwarted the resurrection of ancient superhuman King Heinrich I, that is. Once again, the world requires the particular talents of special agent B.J. Blazkowicz.
It’s due later this year, so no doubt we can expect oodles of footage and information soon.
Bonus! A GDC interview I don’t believe we slapped here at the time:
20/04/2009 at 21:27 teo says:
I loved RTCW but this seems, like you said, generic
The Doom 3 engine just isn’t very exciting. It doesn’t feel good
20/04/2009 at 21:38 CannedLizard says:
Anyone else have TF2 flashbacks when they heard a german accented voice yell “SPY!”?
Anyway, looks cheesy. Not necessarily in a good way.
20/04/2009 at 21:38 Flappybat says:
Even the fancy green bits don’t enthuse me.
If you can’t make exciting green bits then you might as well stop making games.
20/04/2009 at 21:41 Noc says:
AMERICAN SPY IS NOT OUR SPY.
20/04/2009 at 21:46 Senethro says:
Poor, poor Quake Wars. It had its flaws but I loved it very much.
If Endrant Studios (who are doing the MP) try to keep the gameplay old school with fast movement, hip shooting, run’n'gun style then I’m sure I’ll have fun with it. But I hold no high hopes that it’ll be successful among a demographic demanding a different flavour of faux-realism with carefully simulated running speeds, mandatory aiming with sights and full of OOOORAH
20/04/2009 at 21:47 Okami says:
Why are the germans talking in english with german accents to each other?
20/04/2009 at 21:50 Hulk Hogan says:
THIS IS FOR ALL YOUR HULKAMANIACS OUT THERE!
This looks like pretty much every FPS produced in the last few years but I find the dark magic to be intriguing
20/04/2009 at 21:50 Tei says:
I think the history on this one will be fun :-)
20/04/2009 at 21:56 Reverend Speed says:
Am I mad in thinking BJ looks like Captain Scarlet?
http://www.spectrum-headquarters.com/skybase_central/cast_scarlet1.jpg
And would it hurt them to stick in a few more reaction shots and even a mild spit take from the lead?
Wolfenstein was always clearly a cross between Indiana Jones and Where Eagles Dare – combining those two elements while filtering out nearly all the charm and wit is a helluva technical achievement. Good on you, Raven!
And Quake Wars is lovely and almost impossible for a newcomer to understand and play within an hour. I’m confident Splash Damage won’t make that mistake again…
20/04/2009 at 21:57 Turin Turambar says:
Oh, it’s a very generic, unoriginal WW2-with-magic FPS with a bland hero. Agreed.
But it looks like a very solid and fun shooter, 90′s style.
20/04/2009 at 21:57 Andrew Dunn says:
No interest in this whatsoever.
But then Wolfenstein’s always left me cold.
20/04/2009 at 21:59 Radiant says:
I was really hoping this would turn out to be something so insanely Eastern Europe game studio bonkers but it looks to be middle of nowhere America game studio bonkers which is a bit of a shame.
20/04/2009 at 22:03 Joshua says:
Everyone should just buy The Club instead of this.
Raven’s other game, Singularity, doesn’t look much better.
20/04/2009 at 22:07 teo says:
But who wants to buy this at full price? Seriously?
At half price it would be a decent purchase
20/04/2009 at 22:09 Senethro says:
>:(
If I wasn’t busy with my degree I’d suggest throwing up an RPS-reader Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory server next weekend to remind you all using a healthy dose of fragging why we should be at the very least cautiously optimistic!
Guys, we like PC games, remember? Whats more PC than an id software property FPS? Stop this moaning minnie stuff right now!
20/04/2009 at 22:09 Respectable Gentlemen says:
If it’s multi-player is like Wolf:ET then I will consider buying it, but that trailer is horrifyingly awful.
20/04/2009 at 22:16 Radiant says:
@senethro when was the last time id software made a good game [awesome quakelive aside]?
When was the last time Raven did?
20/04/2009 at 22:16 Tworak says:
I’ll probably pick this up down the road if the mod support is good.
20/04/2009 at 22:29 Senethro says:
@Radiant: Has id made anything since Doom 3…? (wow, thats a thought.)
Raven has a long history of producing technically solid FPS using other peoples’ intellectual property with good attention to art assets but a possible lack of imagination with regard to architecture (i.e. its a long linear corridor). But look at their wikipedia page and point out the last PC FPS they made that was actually bad instead of a plain “above average”.
20/04/2009 at 22:32 Rhooke says:
All that happened when I watched that video was that Lt. Stubbly reminded me of Nathan Drake, and then I started daydreaming about Uncharted 2 and wondered when that would be coming out.
Then I think something blew up.
20/04/2009 at 22:34 Petethegoat says:
“But I guarantee you this: it will feature the shooting of pixel-based German men.”
Enter Voxelstein 3D!
20/04/2009 at 22:41 SirKicksalot says:
That trailer is better than the entire Indiana Jones 4.
20/04/2009 at 22:43 Carra says:
RtCW: ET is one of my all time favorite multiplayer games. But it was made by Nerve Software, not ID nor Raven.
-When was the last time Raven did?
Mmm, Jedi Academy was a great game. Which is now six years old now, sigh.
20/04/2009 at 22:51 Jonas says:
So uh didn’t the Tirpitz sink off the coast of Norway (rather than England) in 1944 (rather than 1943) as a result of a massive airstrike (rather than sabotage)?
But then again, in the face of the whole occult thing, I guess historical accuracy doesn’t really matter :P
20/04/2009 at 22:57 Andy`` says:
“RtCW: ET is one of my all time favorite multiplayer games. But it was made by Nerve Software, not ID nor Raven.”
Splash Damage made ET. Nerve did the RTCW multiplayer that it springs off though, which makes me wonder if QW would have been better (lovely as it is) if Nerve and Splash had worked together on it. Still, looking forward to Raven’s interpretation of those multiplayer ideas.
“So uh didn’t the Tirpitz sink off the coast of Norway (rather than England) in 1944 (rather than 1943) as a result of a massive airstrike (rather than sabotage)?”
In crazyvideogameland, WW2 never ended.
20/04/2009 at 23:06 DeliriumWartner says:
“That trailer is better than the entire Indiana Jones 4.” Granted SirKicksalot, but no trailer would be better than that film.
Does anyone else think that the best thing might not have been to shoot at the “bomb”? If a spy on my Boat of Evil pulled out a glowy-thing, I wouldn’t then shoot at it to see what happened.
20/04/2009 at 23:36 DigitalSignalX says:
I kept waiting for a female lead to scream Innndyeeeeeee!!!
FPS? Check. WW2? Check. One guy vs. a million Nazi’s? Check.
But this is new and
differentmore detailed. So we’ll buy it.edit: playing Rogue Trooper atm, awesome game. It is what it is. An fps with cheese, hold the mayo. Maybe Wolfenstien can win if it doesn’t take itself as seriously as that CGI does.
20/04/2009 at 23:37 paneon says:
It’s probably ‘Cliched-Wolfenstein-Game-Comment-Number-1′ – but after watching that, I found myself staring at the Castle Wolfenstein (i.e. the original from 1981) wikipedia page wistfully. (Of course, that’s a remake that we’ll never see from ID & friends)
20/04/2009 at 23:42 Clockwork Peanut says:
I agree with Senethro, why’s everyone so negative?
No I don’t expect the new Wolfenstein to evolve FPSs in any way, but at the end of the day Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Doom 3 were both fun games, not masterpieces, but fun. I think judgement on a game like this should be reserved until we play it.
20/04/2009 at 23:47 Magnus says:
“how this sequel/remake (semake? Requel?) will play.”
“Requel” definately.
but I think I’ll pass on “yet-another-ww2-shooter-that-evokes-a-little-nostalgia-for-an-old-dos-game”.
20/04/2009 at 23:49 Malagate says:
Is it me, or does almost every WW2 based shooter I can think involve playing the Americans? Yes, there are few exceptions like when you’re playing as the Russians, and one time I remember playing as a member of the French Resistance, but everything else seems America this and America that…
It’d be awfully nice to see a few more games that involved playing as some actual European soldiers rather than more Yanks, especially when the setting’s in Europe. Hell, I’d settle for some Canadians or Australians for a change.
Also how the hell could they get a ship within 3 miles of England, specifically London no less? England, which had one of the strongest navies in the world at the time, and Radar. With some of the heaviest defenses around London. Not to mention I do believe the Germans had rockets that could fly about 200 miles rather than have to be within 3 miles to use them. Actually, those rockets were in operation from 1944, this game is in 1943, but still 3 miles is super lame.
But, well, it’s not like games developers are going to spend 2 seconds putting some vague historical accuracy in there when they could just put in magical trinkets and make all the enemies soup nazis/zombie soup nazis/Lieutenant Gruber from ‘Allo ‘Allo. I might just forgive another American lead in this case as it is somehow related to Wolfenstein.
I doubt they’ll top mecha-hitler though, that was just so random and awesome from the original that I believe anything can be improved with his addition.
21/04/2009 at 00:13 paneon says:
@ Malagate
I think you have a point – why don’t we see more games where you can play as the French, or more specifically the Vichy French? There’s lots of interesting campaigns of the Vichy French vs the British Commonwealth/Free French forces haven’t been explored at all in WWII games. I know, I know – I agree that it’s quite scandalous.
21/04/2009 at 00:22 DrGonzo says:
Call of Duty always let you play as Russians and English as much as it did Americans.
21/04/2009 at 00:32 Bret says:
I think it’s due to the fact the Vichy sided with the Nazis, making them pure evil and therefore less likely to have a campaign to begin with, combined with the fact they have a reputation as utter wusses. I mean, all french people with the possible exception of the resistance are currently viewed as militarily incompetant, and we’re talking the group that didn’t just roll over for Hitler, but rolled out the red carpet. Not exactly the gang to get you excited to go forth and massacre.
21/04/2009 at 00:33 ANeM says:
I love how the PR guy calls BJ a “Classic Character” and says that “Everyone knows him”
For starters, he has only been in three games, two of which are are old school pseudo 3D shooters and one was a decent, but not amazing FPS released eight years ago.
Not to mention Spear of Destiny is obscure as you can get in terms of old FPS games.
Added to that, his name is trivial in all of those games. Its not in the title, it doesn’t really come up playing through the games. He is the Wolfenstein Guy, much as the Doom guy is Doom Guy.
He has no name worth mention, he has no character traits worth mentioning and we have no attachment to him.
21/04/2009 at 00:38 Idle Threats & Bad Poetry says:
Appropriate news for April 20th, Hitler’s birthday. Adolph, you’ve been dead for decades, and you still suck!
Anyhow, the original Wolfensteins were awesome for the fact that you got to kill a robo-suited Hitler and, in Spear of Destiny, the frigging angel of death!! That was an awesome twist that I never saw coming.
Frigging RtcW had us kill Rob Zombie. Who cares?? >:( To be frank, I have zero interest in this game, but id needs to make a Wolfenstein game that lets us frigging kill Hitler again. Think of all the directions you could go to make a very satisfying game about killing frigging Hitler!!
21/04/2009 at 00:39 Real Horrorshow says:
“I love how the PR guy calls BJ a “Classic Character” and says that “Everyone knows him”
For starters, he has only been in three games, two of which are are old school pseudo 3D shooters and one was a decent, but not amazing FPS released eight years ago.”
Holy shit, a developer PR guy overexaggerated something. Call the national guard!
21/04/2009 at 00:41 Idle Threats & Bad Poetry says:
I just watch the movie, by the way. It’s actually oddly satisfying. I will download the high res version for later enjoyment. ^_^
Edit: Whoa, hey, look at this! An edit button! I’m going to edit this post to express my joy! Yay! o/
21/04/2009 at 00:50 Bret says:
Amusingly, the Doom guy has a more well known personality.
Admittedly, that personality is basically raving psychosis, and even that is only due to a mid 90s marvel tie in comic, but hey, better than BJ’s got.
21/04/2009 at 00:51 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
I’d expect more people are familiar the name of BJ Blazkowicz’s grandson; or at any rate, with the name of his alter-ego.
21/04/2009 at 01:00 DigitalSignalX says:
Panzers II lets you play as the Germans, Italians, English, Americans and (I believe a first for any ww2 game) Yugoslavian Partisans. Take that.
21/04/2009 at 01:06 Y3k-Bug says:
I swear I’m trying to not be a Negative Nancy, but I don’t care about this game at all. Looks so hopelessly generic.
21/04/2009 at 01:12 MetalCircus says:
Oh dear. Turned off this now. Was hoping it would be silly nazi fun but no. It’s serious occult shooter now. Sigh.
21/04/2009 at 01:30 Bret says:
You know, a Finnish campaign might be fun. Sneaking, sniping, and fighting the dirty reds and the Nazis at once?
I’d give it a go.
21/04/2009 at 01:38 Eldoop says:
So is this going to be a case of the player having an insanely powerful object that, in this case, is apparently capable of killing about 20 people simultaneously but that he can only use when it is convenient to the plot for him to do so? ‘Cause I hate that.
21/04/2009 at 01:39 ANeM says:
“Holy shit, a developer PR guy overexaggerated something. Call the national guard!”
Exaggeration would be if he were simply talking about a lesser known, but still classic character like the Jade from BG&E. Or a well known, but poorly really just a poorly thought out character (Albert Wesker).
BJ is hardly a character at all and everyone I’ve spoken to who has played Wolf3D have been surprised to find out he even had a name.
He didn’t exaggerate. He just made shit up.
21/04/2009 at 01:43 lumpi says:
This is going to be SO mediocre.
Actually, I feel a bit sorry for the developers, having to work with a franchise that has lost its appeal for ages now. I wish them good luck with producing a nice-looking action shooter.
PS: HURRAY for edit buttons!
21/04/2009 at 01:55 SpoonySeeker says:
If we keep calling them Nazis, that makes them less than human and then we can glorify their incredibly gory and apparently painful deaths!
I know it’s just a videogame, but the way that developer talks about killing soldiers is really quite unsettling.
I mean, if you heard someone talking in quite the same way with the same relish in their voice about killing prostitutes in GTA, you’d probably back away from them very quickly.
21/04/2009 at 02:11 KP says:
What’s wrong with Quake Wars? :o
The demo was a burnt turd and made me not buy it. –then somebody got me to try it out again. It’s awesome fun! Like somewhere between TF2 and Battlefield. My first choice when I need a brainless game (TF2 being second).
21/04/2009 at 02:37 dan says:
I still dream of an fps where you have to fight your way through the chaos of a routed army and make it home / back to your lines alive.
Why can we not play on the losing side for once?
I’d love to see a game or mod based on dunkirk, or the fall of the german reich after normandy.
21/04/2009 at 04:29 Chiablo says:
I I’d love to see a World War 2 shooter told from the Nazi side. It would actually create a nice spin on the tired beaten horse that is the genre.
21/04/2009 at 05:23 GrandHotel&Casino says:
the last part the video with the magic amulet/device, reminds me of Ben 10. (i’m 31, then cut the slack). Looks like this is the way to choose the powers, i think.
21/04/2009 at 08:11 Senethro says:
@KP
Quake Wars was good, it was gamers that were broken ;<
21/04/2009 at 08:23 l1ddl3monkey says:
@ Reverend Speed: definitely captain Scarlet.
And oh good, I was just wondering when some MORE games that let me shoot goose stepping Germans would be coming out.
One thing I did like about RTCW (apart from the absurdity of it all; zombies, assassin witches fighting in skintight leather and whore-heels, a man with suggestive initials) was that it actually had some f***ing English people in it.
Not many people know this but we Brits did actually fight in WWII.
21/04/2009 at 08:25 SuperNashwan says:
Requel is getting filed right next to expandalone.
21/04/2009 at 09:00 toni says:
wolfenstein == generic
I would never imagine id and raven doing something REALLY ambitious and breaking with their own franchise tradition. they are just cowards in that regard. even Rage won’t be as ambitious as it seems, it will be just racing and shooting, no open-world multi-mission, multi-path game.
DOOM4 won’t break new ground either. It won’t be a squad shooter, just you (maybe some NPCs) and the old, old monster horde. And the audience and reviewers will eat it up. just like the closet-monsters of d3
21/04/2009 at 09:40 Ismo laitela says:
I love the indiana jones feel of the first wolfenstein. rctw was a little too dark imo.. i hope they could catch the 90 action feeling and looks.. but as the trailer shows it’s not going to happen.
21/04/2009 at 09:48 Ian says:
I dunno whether the game will be any good, but I actually enjoyed the video very much in that 80s action movie way.
21/04/2009 at 10:10 Wedge says:
I didn’t care about this at all until you brought up multiplayer and I remembered how awesome ET was.
And then I remembered this will be catered strictly to a console audience and I stopped caring again.
21/04/2009 at 10:13 phuzz says:
Looks like I’m about the only person in this thread (apart from l1ddl3monkey, w00!) who quite enjoyed RTCW, personally I’m all up for shooting some poor sod germans who just got conscripted and the forces of EVIL. My only justification is that the guns felt like they had a nice weight.
Fun Fact! The Tirpitz did actually have it’s own little catapult launched seaplanes. So they haven’t made that bit up at least.
21/04/2009 at 10:49 Stijn says:
I do hope they keep the supernatural spiritghostdemonstuff out of the multiplayer. Because if they do, it might be ET-but-next-gen, and thus awesome.
21/04/2009 at 11:50 Ian says:
I think Enemy Territory is the one and only game I’ve played in terms of there being a load of us playing it in the same room.
Good times.
21/04/2009 at 12:38 Radiant says:
The thing with ET was that out the box it was broken.
The specials and abilities were thrown in without a care and totally abused.
It was only till Bunny’s ETpro mod that it was brought under control a bit.
Was fun for griefing though; spamming airstrikes onto the enemy spawn.
21/04/2009 at 12:48 Rei Onryou says:
I wants me some more Wolf:ET, but if Splash Damage aren’t doing it, then I’m worried it’ll just be an attempt at doing it and miss the heart and soul of the game.
21/04/2009 at 13:34 mrrobsa says:
I found that first trailer quite exciting, but probably because it was a CG Indy-a-like. I’m sure the actual game will be nothing like that, which is a shame.
Its got me geared up for Uncharted 2 though!
EDITED: For novelty factor.
21/04/2009 at 15:15 Jochen Scheisse says:
“Why are the germans talking in english with german accents to each other?”
The same reason why the Polish jews in Deliverance speak English with Polish accents.
21/04/2009 at 18:37 Dimension says:
RTCW is all about the mutiplayer. I’m sorry, but RTCW had the single best FPS multiplayer ever. Objective based FPS should be the FPS of choice today, but somehow it just hasn’t been realized by developers.
The problem is the sequels took it off in the wrong direction. The people who played all three games know which one was best. The problem is the majority have only played ET and totally missed out on RTCW.
RTCW multiplayer was magical. There hasn’t been a game since that employed so much strategy in a FPS. RTCW had all the elements of working a fully coordinated team. The classes complemented each other, the special abilities were balanced. The map making took gameplay to the next level and I have yet to see a fps with a more thought to the strategy. You actually have to think. Splash Damage creates a map called “marketgarden”. It can be best described as the map that killed my favorite game. It is a 5 on 5 match with 30 people deathmatching in the middle. Who cares about the objective? It is all about my kill to death ratio. Newbies love it. So of course, id turns this pioneering strategical fps over to the people who understand the strategy of the game the least.
RTCW:ET took that magic and effed with it, but it still had enough of the original to be good. The maps were horrible and flat. The classes were messed with and the whole balance was thrown out the window. It became much more newbie friendly. Hardcore RTCW players weep at what became of their magical game.
Quake Wars effed up that magic and left a pile of dung. Let take all the good stuff out of ET, throw in more horrible maps and add vehicles that show we have no idea what made the first game the best in the series.
Hardcore RTCWers still keep up with each other. We are pining for a game like the original RTCW. Hopefully our pleas have been heard for RTCW2.
21/04/2009 at 18:39 Jim Rossignol says:
Sing it!
I don’t agree re Quake Wars: it’s so different that’s nothing like RTCW, yes, but it was something else. And not bad.
21/04/2009 at 19:01 BlackKraken says:
Im surprised no-one has mentioned that he stopped an ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN from killing him with a DOOR.
Also, why did they speak wiz ze german aksents and then towards the end the one left standing said “nein! nein!”?
If your going to make your own arbitrary rules of language then stick by them.
21/04/2009 at 19:04 Senethro says:
Hardcore RTCWers are on their way to being to to the next generation what Tribes players were to ours: insular, bitter and ever nostalgic.
Shame they couldn’t get past the vehicles of ETQW to see that there was a good if different game. I’ve never understood this mantra of vehicles = bad. Between that and the BF players disliking the game because of the scifi, Activision not advertising opposite their other baby Cod4, and being released alongside what were admittedly more polished games (orange box, CoD4), Quake Wars was doomed :(
22/04/2009 at 10:08 funnelbc says:
How to make this awesome? Replace BJ Blaszogeneric with Lobster Johnson.
22/04/2009 at 10:13 Sum0 says:
Or… Lobster Random?
22/04/2009 at 14:18 Solario says:
I’d like more Hellboy, less Indiana Jones really.
22/04/2009 at 16:34 James T says:
Aaaah, but you can control a Yugoslavic partisan in Commandos (1998)! God, I’d love a new Commandos game; just pick up right after Commandos 2, get all the characters back, ignore all the bollocks that’s happened to the series since then…
I don’t know if anyone ever had a go at the stealth in RtCW, but I loved playing it that way. It wasn’t just the two compulsory stealth missions — there were a good few missions where you could take a sneaky approach for ages, playing the same level in at least slightly different ways, even if it was no Deus Ex; it’s something that’s either half-arsed to the point of nonexistence, or just outright ignored by practically every mainstream FPS; hardly ‘generic’. Stealth is the kind of thing that doesn’t get a showing in trailers, so who knows whether Raven have included that flexibility in this new game, but… from the raw boredom throbbing out of the gameplay-bits trailer awhile back (and this one), I doubt it. Hey, prove me wrong…
22/04/2009 at 18:27 seriously disliking says:
I seriously dislike the design of the main character. He looks like shit.