Working in new place is busier than in previous ones. But I can make this independence edition article in time. This time I’m playing Freelives’ Super Wolfenstein HD (2015).
The title screen gives me warning that the game is an extremely rough prototype but that doesn’t make me faltered. You probably know this game because a number of famous Youtuber played it some century ago. Yup! I’m very late to the party. As for the developer: Free Lives. They also made Broforce and the wacky yet violent VR game Gorn. I say that they’re doing well. One little problem here. What do I click to start the game? It seems pushing any button works well.
So why do I pick this game? Because I only played 3 ID’s games from it: Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. While Wolfenstein series expands to lots of games. So, I’m clearly outdated on Wolfenstein series. Moreover, escaping from prison is the most basic way to achieve independence.
So. Here I am, B.J. Blazkowicz inside a cell in the titular Wolfenstein prison. I have 2 knives here. Maybe I can pry the cell’s lock to unlock it but I don’t see any lock on cell’s door. Nevermind. I can just throw the knife at the door and it breaks to pieces. What kind of knife that have such devastating power, is this? At least in P.O.W, the protagonist using explosive to blow open the door, which is more realistic regardless how he manages to sneak explosive material into his cell room.
So, the control is like standard in modern FPS game. “W”, “A”, “S”, and “D” button to move around. Mouse key motion to control the aim/view. Pressing left mouse button to shoot at the small reticle.
At the second turn, a guard attacks me. Oh God! He destroys bricks around with the cute pink luger pistol! Heavy_negativevocalization02.wav
It takes like 2 knife throw to kill the guard although previously the knife is strong enough to tear the cell door apart. On the opposite direction of the (dead) guard, I find more knife just lying on floor. What are these guards thinking? At least put them in knife set block for safety and hygiene. God’s sake!
I encounter 2 guards on the next room. I throw a knife at the guard’s chest and now he’s on the ground while flailing his limbs like hyperactive baby. The game shouldn’t be taken as serious because it’s not. Guard shout “Guten Abend!” (“Good evening!” in German) besides the usual “Achtung!” (“Danger!”). I don’t think any jailor would say “Good evening” on escaping prisoner.
After killing those 2 guards. I descend to next level. Sadly, there’s no exit button akin to original Wolfenstein 3D or Doom, to mark the level finish.
There’s no picture on the wall that marks secret wall in this game. Instead, there’s bit crevice on the wall. That’s the cue for you to throw knives at it because there’s secret room behind it. You can’t retrieve knives on dead body, but you can recover knife that’s used to break wall. I didn’t know this strategy right away. I have played the earlier version of this game…twice even! I realize pretty late that I played the non-updated version with bug and flaw. It’s kind of embarrassing, really.
I find box of bullets. By that, I mean literally cube with bullet icon on it. Obtaining the bullets, grants me a pistol. It’s bit weird to obtain the weapon as soon as I get the bullet kind of like The Lost World – Jurassic Park (Sega Genesis) but I won’t complaint.
The pistol is faster weapon than the knife because it’s hitscan weapon and the fire rate is twice faster. Scout_dominationsol01.wav
This is really funny. If you manage to disarm enemy’s gun, he will just approach you with fist bump. Scout_dominationsol02.wav
Then I shoot guard dogs. Original game also has guard dog as enemy. You can’t blame me.
Third level introduce us with the one and only melee weapon: shovel. It looks so cubic that it may belong in Minecraft. Naturally, I can use shovel to dig wall faster. No need to use knives anymore. Now, that I think about it, why B.J. Blazkowicz doesn’t use knife as melee weapon here? He must be influenced by more modern Wolfenstein game where he throw the knife instead using it as melee weapon.
Oh my GOD! I make blood spray out of that dog with the shovel strike! o_O
You can break blue brick as many as you want. But this black wall can’t be destroyed with any mean. It’s sensible to have real border on the map as I don’t want to break the game by breaking the map beyond reason.
On fourth level, I encounter (the one and only) Gestapo officer. What makes him different than the Nazi guard is he dual wield pistol. I mean he did before I shoot his arms that makes him drop his two pistols. Now he just flailing at me like drunkard after all-night drink at nearby tavern. In fact, every human enemy in this game acts like drunkard with handgun. I think they drunk too much German Beer last night.
In earlier version of the game, the gestapo officer is the final boss. But in this version, there’s one more level. Starting with a corridor with 2 cells. Each of them contains stash of knives and dog that guards it. I like to safe ammo by not shooting the dog but they’re so bloodlust when seeing me. Let’s say dog and I aren’t friends.
Then I get killed by Nazi guards because I didn’t pay much attention to health indicator. It even drops to negative 10%! Here’s how health works: At the start, I got 40% for some reason. Picking medic box, fill the health by 10%. Getting hit by anything will reduce my health by 10%. Also, there’s no health refill when finishing a level. The health system seems bit unfair. But the enemies can be taken down by 2-3 successful hits. So, it’s pretty balance.
A Respawn Later…
There’s also no “saving the game” feature but thankfully you only get to the starting part of the level where you died, with 2 knives and 40% health. Kind of like Pistol start in classic Doom. However, this part is bit rough, because there’s 2 guard dogs immediately attack me at the beginning. I can grab shovel on the left but attempting to attack at melee range on dog, seems dangerous. Besides the shovel does little damage.
Oh, I see. I can stunlock the dog with shovel if I strike him in corner. Soldier_goodjob02.wav
After passing another corridor, I encounter Hans Grosse! He’s wearing helmet now for extra protection. Plus, I only have Luger Pistol, throwing knives, and shovel. This boss fight will be tougher than in original Wolfenstein 3D.
Obviously, the boss fight is tougher than fighting against regular Nazi soldier because Hans Grosse has gatling gun for hands. My health is shredded quite fast and I was low on health. As I enter a room with medic kit, a guard shot me from the side. Dead. Soldier_paincrticialdeath03.wav.
After another respawn…
I realize that I can scoop out knife from dead body with shovel! So, I can recover knives that once embedded on dead body thus securing my knife supply. Spy_positivevocalization03.wav
Aha! I saw medic kit inside of the pillar on the boss fight room, where Hans shooting at. Turns out both pillars contain medic kit. Medic_cheers01.wav
When I’m ready to confront Hans Grosse for second round, this happens. I don’t know why Hans act silly like this. I mean he also walked like drunkard like his friends but at least he walked straight and fired his gun more accurately in the first round. This time around, he decides to spin jauntily as if he’s parodying Julie Andrews singing “The Hills are Alive” in Salzburg while firing his Gatling gun that (unexpectedly) hit me. This should be “My allies were alive” music by Hans Grosse in the “The sound of gun” movie. Spy_positivevocalization02.wav
I have easier time to defeat him While he’s spinning on the spot like that. After unloading all of my pistol round on him, I bury him on the wall with shovel. Rest in Peace, Hans Grosse. Soldier_HatOverHeartTaunt05
There’s another exit stairs and it leads me to this The End screen! Somehow, killing Hans Grosse and dozens of his drunk friends, leads to Nazi downfall. In the original Wolfenstein 3D, there’s outdoor scenery at the end of corridor after defeating Hans Grosse which is believable mark of Wolfenstein’s exit. Whereas in this game, Wolfenstein’s exit is just generic stairs leading down. One can argue, it’s because graphic limitation. If I have to be rude, they can do more than that. At least put neon sign “Wolfenstein’s exit this way” near the stairs. Anyway, on to conclusion.
Freelives’ Super Wolfenstein HD (2015) is decent FPS with wacky physics. I can understand strange physics on enemy’s dead body but the enemy’s physics is already strange when they’re alive! But again, the game isn’t meant to be taken seriously. Like who thought pink plastic luger can be dangerous weapon? Then there’s drawing of male genitalia on enemy’s helmet. Also the dog’s noise is very funny. Even though the game is joke, enemies can damage you seriously so you have to pay attention to the combat. The door opens automatically when you approach it, kind of like in Quake. Unlike in classic Doom, you search secret in the wall by throwing knife at suspicious spot. Or striking it with a shovel if you got it. The developer kindly give the player hint on the secret by making some wall having unusual crevice. Speaking of wall, enemies can and will gun down some wall because they want to destroy your cover or simply because they’re bumbling idiot who can’t aim their gun well. Nonetheless, they fire their gun relentlessly which obviously dangerous. Waiting for them to pause their firing then counter attack, kind of pointless because their ammo is limitless and they don’t need to reload their gun. So, you have to stagger them with your own gun. Throwing knife seems has small staggering power but you can recover some of it to conserve ammo. There’s other defensive option: disarm their gun by hitting their hand. Not 100% happens but there’s some chance that happens. The accuracy is pinpoint for the luger. Throwing knife will have some falling trajectory after some distance so you have to take account of that. Normally, it takes 3 hits to kill a soldier and 2 hits to kill a guard dog. But sometime it takes 1 less hit to kill them in latter stages. Probably because the developer give the player some relief regarding ammo count. But for me it’s bit unnecessary because I can retrieve knife from dead body once I have shovel. As for the shovel itself, it’s very weak melee weapon and you only use it in very emergency situation where your ammo is completely zero. There’s no saving/loading feature. But there’s auto-save at the start of each level. Everytime you died, you will be sent to the start of current level with only 2 knives. However, the restarting feels less tedious thanks to reasonable enemy’s and weapon’s placement. There’s a chance that you get softlocked when restart the level. It less happens if you conserve your ammo and find secret ammo stash. The music has the tension tone which can be contradictive with the game’s silliness. The gunfire and impact sound good but the most noticeable sound effect is the silly dog bark.
Super Wolfenstein HD (2015) is short FPS. It only lasts for 5 levels. But it’s fun and wacky. It’s significantly better prison break themed game than P.O.W. for sure. You should give it a shot! Where else you can witness Nazi soldiers (and dogs) with funny physics because they drink dozens keg of beer (which is the amount of beer served in Oktoberfest)? None. Exactly!
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