Witness the genesis of FPS addiction...
Those same players may find the absence of many of the bells and whistles they’ve come to expect in modern shooters a bit off-putting. After all, Wolfenstein’s architects couldn’t even afford ceiling textures for their subterranean tunnels, not to mention the game’s dearth of storylines, dialogue, enemy AI, or environmental effects. Taken as one of the most revolutionary titles of its time, however, should allow for some forgiveness, especially since Wolfenstein is still pretty fun for all of its repetitive action and lack of polish. Other games (like X-Wing and Aces of the Pacific) gave players an opportunity to move freely through a three-dimensional environment, but the level of detail found in fighting five or six TIE Fighters or Zeroes against a featureless half green/half blue background was comparatively unfulfilling.
Wolfenstein 3D is actually difficult to play nowadays due to its antediluvian mechanics, but I still recommend it for anyone whose FPS addiction kicked in at around the same time as those newfangled polygons became all the rage. If nothing else, the crudeness of this first FPS title should give modern players a better appreciation of the gigantic strides in form and function the genre made during the decade leading up to the brilliant Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
I did my best to rate this game based on the memory of my initial impression of Blazkowicz’s episodic travails. Naturally, Wolfenstein 3D earns a low score by today’s standards, but the experience was dramatically more impressive back in the day.