Spear of Destiny

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. ***

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.

The Good
Spear of Destiny contains the same edge-of-your-seat fun and excitement that made the original Wolfenstein 3D a masterpiece. There are some new end-of-level bad guys, and a occult inspired twist at the end of the game that I personally did not see coming. The great sense of humour that permeated the first game continues in Spear.

The Bad
The game is basically a cheap knock-off of the original Wolfenstein 3D. And really, who can fault Id for this? They must have been as surprised as the rest of the world by the phenomenal success of the earlier game, and realized that there was some additional money to be made before releasing Doom. Spear doesn't add anything new to the Wolfenstein 3D experience, but Wolfenstein in itself was the bargain of the century in terms of bang-for-your-buck. Again, who can complain about Id realizing that gamers would be willing to pay for more of the same.

The Bottom Line
Very similar to Wolfenstein 3D. A classic game that is worth a look, even by today's standards.

The Good
I loved everything! The new levels, the new bosses, and the new textures. Pity that no one ever really knew about this worthy sequel to Wolfenstein 3d! There were some awesome new bosses!

The Bad
I didn't find anything that I was unhappy about in this game, except to say that it was too short! They should have included the rare mission packs for it on a CD! Or, even better, they could have put it with the original Wolfenstein 3D!

The Bottom Line
Buy it if you see it! It is really rare these days! You won't regret it! It would probably cost $5 US and no more!

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.