Back at E3 2015, Microsoft announced what was arguably the biggest piece of news of this generation of console gaming: Backward Compatibility for Xbox One. With over 150 Xbox 360 games already in the program, and many more to be released, every Sunday I will be taking a look at some of the games in the program and report back on how they hold up and play on Xbox One. Week one of the showcase will be none other than the genre-creating, granddaddy of them all, Wolfenstein 3D.
B. J. Blaskowicz is a name many of you will not have heard of, but in my opinion, you should have. The original protagonist, the ultimate Nazi slayer, and more importantly, the first person who you could ever control in a true, immersive first-person perspective.
The Wolfenstein series really pioneered early gaming when the original Castle Wolfenstein released in 1981 by Muse Software for the Apple II. Castle Wolfenstein was a stealth based, action-adventure shooter played from a top down perspective and was the first game ever to be set in World War II.
Move forward 11 years and include legendary developer, id Software, and Wolfenstein 3D was born. Despite being their third attempt at a true first-person shooter after Hovertank and Catacombs, Wolfenstein 3D was the first game to really bring gameplay and graphics to a new level which set the foundations for a genre which has not really changed, even to this day.
Without Wolfenstein 3D you could argue that there would not be top games like Halo, Call of Duty and many other FPS franchises which exist today. Times do change, graphics improve, new modes and ways to play have come and gone. However, when you play this classic, although, now dated and rough around the edges, it’s clear that the mechanics in all modern day shooters are still very much the same.
The game itself, as expected, is in the classic FPS style of killing and collecting everything as fast as you can, with boss battles coming along usually at the end of each multi-floored level. You play as the aforementioned B. J. Blaskowicz, an Allied spy of Polish descent, who is captured by Nazi forces and your ultimate goal is to escape your captives whilst taking out as many of them as you can along the way, all without using up your three starting lives.
From each floor’s starting point, you need to find your way out of the maze-like levels to find the lift which takes you to the next stage. Most levels will see you needing to find a key or two which opens locked doors you need to get through while escaping the clutches of your Nazi oppressors.
There are six levels in the game each consisting of a number of floors, with secret levels and areas to be found that offer more enemies to kill, more treasure, weapons and extra lives. Each level has a gradual difficulty increase and feels unique to the previous.
The Wolfenstein enemies are some of the most classic in gaming history. Your three main enemies are your standard guards (who wear a brown coloured uniform), guard dogs (which look to be German Shepherds in all their pixelated glory), and the most iconic of enemies, the Schutzstaffel, who are by far the most dangerous standard enemy in the game. Their death cry of “mein leben” German for “my life” is still heard on occasion in multiplayer lobbies today. The Schutzstaffel should always be your priority when entering a room full of enemies and are easily recognizable by their bright blue uniforms and larger stature than other enemies.
Another part of Wolfenstein 3D which still carries over to many modern shooters are the boss fights. Your first encounter will be against Hans Grosse, a duel wielding minigun Nazi who might be a little tricky to defeat on your initial encounter, but as long as you have your own minigun he should not pose too much of a threat. Then there is the evil syringe throwing Dr. Schabbs, as well as the most hilarious take on the infamous Furhrer, Adolf Hitler. All boss encounters also have hidden areas which contain large amounts of ammo and health, as well as a minigun just in case you have not already found one. This massively helps those who might have reached these encounters unsuspectingly or underprepared.
Wolfenstein 3D is one of the earlier additions to the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace, so the title only comes packaged with the standard 12 achievements for a total of 200 Gamerscore. The achievements are basic and should not take you too long with trueachievements.com stating an average user time of only 6-8 hours to complete the game. Achievements include: collecting all loot within a level, killing all enemies on a floor, with the hardest being for completing all six levels on the Bring ‘Em On! or higher difficulty. This is the third highest difficulty setting in the game.
The power of the Xbox One adds so much more to the game even after all these years. You can play through backward compatibility, stream through Twitch, also take screenshots and video clips through the Xbox’s game DVR capabilities and other things that were not capable when the game originally released all those years ago.
One of the mechanics which has not translated to consoles and controllers very well from all the early shooters is the weapon switching. Just as with other console ports like id Software’s Doom and Bungie’s Marathon: Durandal, the weapon swapping is done through cycling through all available armaments. In Wolfenstein’s case this is by using the B and Y buttons. I thought why not try something new. I booted up the Xbox Accessories app and changed the weapon cycling onto my Elite Controller’s top two paddles. This instantly fetched yet another way to enhance the experience on Xbox One.
Unlike a lot of the bigger titles running through Xbox 360 emulation, the performance of Wolfenstein was just how I remembered it on the 360, and if anything I found the game looked and felt even smoother than on the One’s older brother. So why should you play such an old fashioned game in an age of super high definition graphics and features? The answer is simple, you listened to your grandparents’ tales of when they were young, you learn about your nations’ and world history, and you still watch the original series of your favourite TV shows. Well, Wolfenstein 3D is the granddaddy of all modern shooters, so you owe it to yourself and to gaming as a whole to see where it all began. This is all made possible through the Xbox One’s Backward Compatibility program. Wolfenstein 3D is available on the Xbox marketplace for US$4.99/£3.39/€4.79 and is worth every penny.
David Anthony contributed 13 articles to ICXM between 2015–2016, covering game reviews, and Xbox news with a focus on hands-on impressions and verified-source reporting. Their bylines on the site span the run-up to Xbox One S and Project Scorpio, plus the broader Windows 10 gaming push. They post on X as @ziplobthud.