Spear of Destiny

aka: SoD, Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny
Moby ID: 311

Description official descriptions

It's World War II and you are B.J. Blazkowicz, the Allies' most valuable agent. In the midst of the German Blitzkrieg, the Spear that pierced the side of Christ is taken from Versailles by the Nazis and secured in the impregnable Castle Wolfenstein. According to legend, no man can be defeated when he has the Spear. Hitler believes himself to be invincible with the power of the Spear as his brutal army sweeps across Europe.

Your mission is to infiltrate the heavily guarded Nazi stronghold and recapture the Spear from an already unbalanced Hitler. The loss of his most coveted weapon could push him over the edge. It could also get you ripped to pieces.

Spear of Destiny is a prequel to Wolfenstein 3-D. It is a first-person shooter that uses the same engine and has the same gameplay, however the game is not divided into 6 separate episodes - all the levels are one long episode.

The enemies and weapons are pretty much the same as in Wolfenstein 3-D. Only new additions include: new bosses, a new type of enemy, and a new pickup (a large box of ammo).

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

23 People

Chief Operating Officer
Software Engineers
Master of the Pixel
Creative Director
Art & Manual Design
Composer
Cover Illustration
Level Design (uncredited)
Tester for Psygnosis Ltd (UK Publisher) (uncredited)
Beta Testers

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 83% (based on 8 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 62 ratings with 5 reviews)

Fine supplement to the original

The Good
Story is downright existent for the sake of just having one, but the game's main perspective is still focused on nothing else but blasting through the enemy ranks with scarce but powerful arsenal. Wolfenstein 3D was a classic, it was the point that made you wonder what will happen when this genre evolves. Well, you can quite clearly see that with current Medal of Honor and Call of Duty titles... evolution or mutation... it's up to one's perspective. This time you're back to face German Wehrmacht, hungry shepherds, and deadly officers plus you get to face some mean bosses for which shoot and run backwards tactic still seems to work. New music is great, although very few new tracks are to be heard, and new textures give a slight feeling of playing a whole new game, but it's still the same Wolf3D with more of the same, hence considering this more of an add-on than an actual sequel.

The Bad
Zombies and other creatures are here, some new some already seen, and this is where the WWII setting starts to break. Alas, this is but a scratch of surface that witholds all the crap Id Software has unleashed upon the world.

The Bottom Line
A worthy game that adds the same amount of fun as the original as well as some newities to keep up with the difference. Shooting was never so much fun... and then came Dark Forces and id could as well be forgotten. Doom, Quake, and whatever came next might carry the cool graphics, but good looking crap is still a bunch of crap. Wolf3D and SoD are the only two games I know of that didn't present id software as entirely uninspiring.

DOS · by MAT (240759) · 2012

Decent.

The Good
This is by no means a masterpiece, but cool to play. Based on the revolutionary (at the time) Wolfenstein 3D engine, it offers more gameplay and levels and somewhat improved graphics.

The Bad
Nothing really, it's just fun.

The Bottom Line
If you liked Wolfenstein 3D, you'll like this one as well.

DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 1999

Do you have any gold spray paint? Well, do you, punk?

The Good
That's the question you are asked if you enter pelt to bypass the copy protection screen that appears after Spear of Destiny checks to see how much memory you have. (without the "Well, do you, punk?" crap. I just thought it sounded funny that way.) Many gamers consider this game as a sequel to Wolfenstein 3-D, but I consider it a spin-off to the game rather than a sequel. Anyhoo, In Spear's predecessor, William J. (aka: B.J.) Blazkowicz was sent on a mission to infiltrate Castle Hollehammer, kill an entire army of undead mutants, kill Hitler, uncover plans for deadly chemical weapons, and destroy the General. To complete these missions, he had to kill guards, SS troopers, white officers, dogs, and of course, the undead mutants, which took him through sixty levels of nothing but gore. In Spear, you also have to kill guards, SS troopers, white officers, dogs, and of course, the undead mutants. But this time, B.J. is sent on a new mission to recover the spear from Castle Nuremburg, which is known to greatly enhance the powers of Hitler, as well as his allies.

Spear has the shoot-all-the-nazis-and-find-the-elevator-that-will-take-you-to-the-next-floor gameplay that the original Wolf3D has. Furthermore, all the levels in the game has the same treasures, and some of them require one or more keys to open steel doors, not to mention that you can get more health in the level by getting food trays, dog food, pools of blood, and first-aid kits. If I go on about what's the same between the game and Wolf3D, I would repeat the information in my review to Wolf3D. So I'm just going to tell you what's different between the two. You see, the game doesn't have any episodes that consist of ten floors, and near the end of each episode, you face the big boss man. Rather, there are 21 floors (with Floors 19 and 20 secret levels) containing new textures, new sound effects, and new music. There are bosses on floors 5, 10, 16, 18, and 21, they are (in order) Trans Grosse, Barnacle Wilhelm, Ubermutant, Death Knight, and Angel of Death. Out of these bosses, Ubermutant is probably the scariest, since he is much bigger and has more arms than the undead mutants, and has a machine gun mounted in his stomach.

I have to admit that Spear's A.I. is much better than Wolf3D. Recently, on Floor 16, where you defeat Ubermutant, I gunned down everybody on the level but him, let Uber see me, and then go through the level, opening many doors in the level, and eventually lose him. I expected him to just follow me whenever I go, but more often than not, he turns around, takes another route, and finally intercepts me before I have a chance to go back to the room where I had first found him. The music sounds better with the game featuring about six tunes, although it hasn't been greatly enhanced in any way by adding more sound card support. other than the Adlib, Sound Blaster, and the Disney Sound Source. The cheats are basically the same as Wolf3D, but ID Software added more of them.

The Bad
Spear does not have new enemies, but who gives a shit? As I said earlier, I consider Spear a spin-off to Wolf3D rather than a sequel, but at least it stills belongs to the Wolf3D series. Like the original, most of the floors are nothing but mazes.

The Bottom Line
A good game. If you like Wolf3D, you probably like Spear, and if you like Spear, you probably like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the REAL sequel to Wolf3D. ***

DOS · by Katakis | カタキス (43092) · 2003

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Back Cover Screens BurningStickMan (17916) Apr 28, 2008

Trivia

Copy protection

When you answer incorrectly too many times at the copy protection screen, one of the things the game does is call you a pirate. However, if you enter a certain word to bypass the doc check, it will produce the message "Greetings Professor Falken, would you like to play Spear of Destiny?", a reference to the movie War Games.

Development history

Spear of Destiny took the id team two months to create the game from start to finish.

German index

On March 31, 1999, Spear of Destiny was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.

Spear of Destiny is violating §86a of Germany's penal code (for using characteristics of unconstitutional organizations), therefore it is illegal to produce, distribute, import, export and use it in the public. This does not mean it is illegal to just own the game.

Inspiration

The Spear of Destiny is actually based on the lance, that according to the Gospel of John, has been used at the Crucifixion to wound the side of Christ. With the passing of time, the lance was the subject of many legends, both old and modern. The game's storyline has more things in common with the modern ones, especially the one detailed in Trevor Ravenscroft's 1973 book, The Spear of Destiny. According to it, possession of the Spear would bring its owner the power to conquer the world, but losing it would bring immediate death. The relic had been owned by a succession of powerful European rulers down through the centuries and eventually came to be in the possession of the Habsburg Dynasty. Hitler stole it from Habsburg's treasury at the Hofmuseum in Vienna, when he conquered Austria in 1938. It fell into the hands of the Americans in 1945 and it is said that later that day, in fulfilment of the legend, Hitler committed suicide.

iPhone version

Spear of Destiny was released on the iPhone as a free update to Wolfenstein 3D on October 28, 2009.

Title screen

A second title screen is shown when you finish the game. You can see it here.

Information also contributed by BrandeX, Brolin Empey, John Romero, Kabushi, Roger Wilco, and Xoleras

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Andy Voss.

Additional contributors: Accatone, Xantheous, Brolin Empey, Frenkel, tarmo888, Alaka, Maw.

Game added October 16, 1999. Last modified January 22, 2024.