Zombie nazis are coming to get you in the next Wolfenstein

By Tina Sanchez



With the press all in town for the New York Comic Con, Activision took the opportunity to walk us through the latest build of id and Raven's new Wolfenstein. It was a good chance to get a sense of how the game plays out through the first few levels. As you've likely heard by now, our hero B.J. Blazkowicz is back for another FPS in set in a WWII fictional German city. Though, this is time around it's a much more fleshed out experience -- some of your supporting NPC characters help narrate your story. For lots of people, the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to Wolfenstein is zombie Nazis. I didn't see any of those today (we only saw two levels, so maybe they'll show up later), but I did get a chance to get a better sense of how the game's weapons and special powers work.

B.J.'s introductory mission sees him at the destruction of a train containing an unknown Nazi experiment -- the premise behind the sci-fi elements within the game. During his battles, the environment periodically loses its gravitational pull, sending rubble and unsuspecting Nazis floating into the air. For whatever reason, this has no affect on our protagonist, who remains firmly planted on the ground while continually shooting at the now vulnerable and motionless enemies. It would be nice to witness the villains flailing around while spraying bullets from their weapons -- I mean, the game makes it obvious that they're still alive because when gravity sets back in, they stand right back up and fight -- so why would anti-gravity place them in a lifeless state? But maybe there's a good reason that I missed. Anyway, it's not quite as appealing to kill unresponsive and defenseless enemies while they're seemingly floating on cloud nine, but I assume this only for that part of the game, since this never occurred in the "Church" level, a third of the way into the campaign.

Somewhere between the first level and Church, B.J. discovers a Veil Amulet, a device that gives him access to the Veil dimension. In this dimension, the environment around you retains its shape and form, but everything has a shade of green coating; the combat with the Nazis still persists although they and B.J. are in two different dimensions. And from what I was told, the Nazis don't have access to the Veil, but are continuously seeking the energy that comes from it called the "Black Sun," the focus of their experimentation.

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The Veil Amulet has an energy meter that is drained during use. It slowly regenerates over time, but to quickly fill the meter back up, you can find pools of Veil energy. This can be done easily with the help of Geist creatures -- floating bugs that are always gravitating towards the energy pools. The Geist creatures can also be useful during combat; if they are near a Nazi, shooting them will unleash Geist energy, sending out what looks like an electric current that kills the enemy.

Now, the Veil Amulet has its uses for combat; one such example is that B.J. will unlock powers in the duration of the campaign that are only usable in the Veil dimension. During the demonstration, I noticed that the Amulet has four round stones, and only one of which looked activated. While in the Veil dimension, console players will have a power designated to a direction on the D-pad. So I'm going to go on a whim here and assume that only four powers total are unlockable. The single power Activision was willing to show during the Church level was Mire -- an ability to slow down time.

In addition to the Amulet having unique powers, the Veil dimension will also grant B.J. access through walls that have a Black Sun symbol on it -- giving him the ability to surprise the enemy (maybe puzzle elements will also be included in the campaign). Another important use the Veil dimension provides became apparent when B.J. fought a Heavy Trooper (the Heavy Trooper is the product of Nazi experimentation -- a heavily armored soldier equipped with a Particle Canon, which channels the veil energy into a deadly laser). The Veil dimension revealed the enemy's weak spots by highlighting them in a red hue.

After destroying enemies, B.J. gets to keep the weapons he acquires in his inventory. Upgrades can also be purchased, although the details of how were not revealed. Also, multiplayer is going to be available, but it remains a mystery as to how the Veil Amulet and such will be implemented in that.

Wolfenstein is using id's Tech 4 engine, is being ported to PC from console, and carries a release date of "when it's done." We suspect it'll be out late this year. For more info on the game, make sure to check out our recent interview with the game's creative director.