Wolfenstein 3D

:Wolfenstein redirects here. For the DOOM II level, see

Legacy

Wolfenstein 3D is generally credited as being responsible for the first-person shooter craze that continues to this day. Released at the height of the 'Interactive CD-ROM' era, there were surprisingly few clones until Doom's release in 1993, the most notable being Rise of the Triad in 1994 and Duke Nukem 3D in 1995. Most of these games were distributed via the same shareware strategy as the original.

Related Topics:
Doom - Rise of the Triad - Duke Nukem 3D

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The game success ensured that id Software quickly became a high profile developer. id's development efforts were closely watched by fans of the game, and when it released its next first-person shooter, Doom, it was guaranteed a receptive audience. Rather than rely on the technology that made Wolfenstein a hit, however, Doom introduced several technological leaps over Wolfenstein 3D. Doom's technology outdid that of Wolfenstein by providing multiple levels of detail and characters with more detail and animation than those in its predecessor. Wolfenstein would later be recreated in a Doom II fan modification aptly titled WolfenDoom. id again later revolutionised the FPS genre with the release of Quake in 1996, the first FPS to feature full 3D graphics.

Related Topics:
Developer - Quake

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A new first-person shooter, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RtCW), a loose sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, was released in 2001. The gameplay and the setting are similar to the original, but the graphics and audio elements receive an upgrade due to the Quake III Arena rendering engine. RtCW begins as the first game does, but from there the two games' storylines diverge. A spinoff to RtCW, ', was released in 2003, which was a free full-version multiplayer-only game, featuring elements from RtCW.

Related Topics:
Return to Castle Wolfenstein - 2001 - Quake III Arena - 2003

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Overall, RtCW bears little resemblance to its predecessor, beyond the title and the setting. A small bit of nostalgia is available to players of RtCW with a console command. Activating 'cg_uselessnostalgia' via the in-game console overlays a replica of the original game's interface across the bottom of the screen. However, as the name of the command implies, this interface does not keep track of vital game statistics, such as the player character's health or remaining ammunition. However, the Xbox version of RtCW contains the full emulated version of Wolfenstein 3D as a bonus for beating the game.

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