Gamertell Review: Wolfenstein 3D Classic for iPhone, iPod Touch

Title: Wolfenstein 3D (aka Wolfenstein 3D Classic)
Price: $1.99 (sale price)
System(s): iPhone, iPod Touch*
Release Date: March 23, 2009
Publisher (Developer): id Software
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: Classic gaming action, easy-to-use touchscreen shooting, nice save feature and classic pixelated blood galore.
Cons: Movement can be a little tricky with the touchscreen.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

You’d think slapping a classic shooting game onto a handheld gaming device and giving it a few touchscreen controls would make it a cheap and crappy port. Falsch, meinem Freund.

Wolfenstein 3D Classic is instead a fun iPhone and iPod Touch game that surprisingly revitalizes even this ancient first-person shooter.

Is That a Luger in Your Pocket…?

Those dern Nazis, always causing problems and getting in a hero’s way. OSA uber agent BJ Blazkowicz (you) are trapped in Castle Wolfenstein and you have to shoot your way through 60 levels of soldiers and cranky dogs to get free.

The game includes the 6 episodes (10 levels each) from the original 1992 release for PC. It has all your favorite first-person shooter trappings: health packs, food ammo, hidden passages, weapons to pick up and splattering blood.

To ramp it up for the iPhone and iPod Touch, an overhead map view has been added as well as touchscreen controls via small icons for both moving and shooting. You can also use the tilt controls to move and have a slightly better view of approaching opponents including soldiers, level bosses, cranky dogs and the like.

Mein Hund Hat Keine Nase

This games plays so well and is so much fun on the iPod Touch I can hardly recall ever playing it any other way. And now I pretty much never want too. The touchscreen adds just enough new control awkwardness to add an appropriate amount of extra, albeit small, difficulty whereas modern monitors and mice would make this game far too easy on a PC.

The tiny movement icon works well with it on one side of the screen and the firing icon on the other (and a recent update allows you to move the draf the controls to any position on the screen) and tapping the weapon icon to switch.

The graphics work pretty well on this smaller screen and the overhead map is one of those additions you wish was in every early Wolfenstein game.

I did not notice any framerate issues, even entering the many 3D rooms with a few moving objects in it. The only issue I had moving around – with either the accelerometer or the touchscreen – is that the system is so quick that it was sometimes easy to get jammed into a corner or against a wall instead of smoothly curving toward (or away from) your intended target. Even so, it’s only a periodic concern and rarely deters from the game’s overall enjoyment.

Also a nice touch is that it will save at any point, so when you hit that pesky round button by accident or out of habit, you’ll pick up exactly where you left off.

Worth the Deutsche Marks?

Wolfenstein 3D Classic is a no brainer purchase. It’s fun to play, easy to save and well exceeds it’s fun-to-cost ratio at a $1.99 sale price.

Purchase [Wolfenstein 3D Classic] Photo Gallery [Gamertell]