Anyone that you bump into that has computer or console video games can probably explain what an FPS is. An FPS is a first person shooter, in which the player is given control of a character in first person view, usually with just the hands and weapon being used showing. The objectives of the game may vary, but first person shooters are among the most violent of video games. There is some argument over what game was the very first FPS and the two main contenders are Spasim and Maze War. Wolfenstein 3D, while not the first FPS, arguably influenced the future of the genre the most, and many consider it to be the father of all first person shooter games.
The first FPS came out in either 1973 or 1974, and there is a lot of debate over this. Part of the issue is that the creator of Maze War can’t exactly remember when the game was released (http://www.digibarn.com/history/04-VCF7-MazeWar/stories/colley.html), while there is documentation for when Spasim was created. In addition, the creator of Spasim, Jim Bowery, has offered $500 for anyone that could actually prove that there was a multiplayer 3D virtual reality game completed before Spasim (http://www.geocities.com/jim_bowery/spasim.html). From what I know and in my opinion, I would say that Maze War was the first FPS, simply because Spasim was a first person flying space shooter and doesn’t share a lot of characteristics typically associated with what a first person shooter is today.
After another seven or eight years, personal computers would really take off, and many more games would reach the market. Catacomb 3D was one of these, and was released in 1991 (http://www.idsoftware.com/games/vintage/catacomb/). I have actually played every single DOS-based first person shooter that made it to the general public, and Catacomb 3D, as well as its expansion Catacomb Abyss 3D, were among my favorites. It was essentially a first person shooter that put you in control of a wizard, with a lot of features and similarities in interface and gameplay that Wolfenstein 3D would share a year later, although both were essentially made by the same group of people.
Wolfenstein 3D was a DOS game released in 1992 and created by id Software and published by Apogee Software. The inspiration for this game comes from a couple earlier 2D games called Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, from Muse Software’s Silas Warner (http://www1.linkclub.or.jp/~clubey/Mac%20Wolf/wolf.trivia.html). It is also interesting to note that the game was banned in Germany. Unless for education reasons, it is illegal to display the swastika or have anything with that symbol. Interestingly enough, one map from Wolfenstein 3D, episode 6 level 3, when looking at the overview, has multiple swastikas, as well as appearances on uniforms, tapestries, and other places (http://www.belowe.com/images/LostEp/w63.gif). Wolfenstein 3D didn’t support multiplayer at all, although later games that came after it, such as Doom, did allow for networking.
The game isn’t entirely 3D. The textured walls, with the blank floors and ceilings, do create a 3D space that gives a sense of perspective. However the character sprites, as well as a lot of the objects in a room are mainly 2D images that just always face the character. The rendering for Wolfenstein 3D is very fast, and the game could be run on weak computers because the system was so simple, and due to the fact that there wasn’t any dynamic or ceiling lighting, or elevation changes. Most of the programmers at id Software were originally from Softdisk, which released a magazine with some games, which is where the Commander Keen series originated (http://www1.linkclub.or.jp/~clubey/Mac%20Wolf/fundamentals.html). It is interesting that one of the most revolutionary computer games of all time would come from such a small company.
The storyline of Wolfenstein 3D puts you into the shoes of William Blazkowicz, a Polish spy for the Allies, who is caught by the Nazis and locked up in Castle Wolfenstein. You are armed with a knife and pistol after escaping your prison cell, and episode 1 entails fighting your way out of the castle. Later episodes involve stopping the Nazi biological warfare projects, finally culminating in a showdown with Hitler himself in episode 6. The story isn’t factual of course, it just involves a couple historical figures and places.
The gameplay is what the game received the most credit and acclaim for. Essentially each episode consists of nine missions and a bonus mission, usually reached by checking every wall for a fake wall. There were six episodes, meaning that there were sixty missions. Id Software’s release of the game was incredibly smart. The shareware version was free and just allowed players to do the first episode. By purchasing the game, they could play the next five episodes. What was most important about the gameplay though was some of the features in the game that would become standard for all later first person shooters to follow. The ability to switch between weapons started here, which really provided a far more entertaining experience, rather than just running around with a knife or a gun for the whole game. Nearly every FPS these days gives some sort of weapon switching. Even though the interface of the game was really simple, it organized all the information in one area without making a great deal of clutter (http://binarybonsai.com/images/wolf3d.gif). In this interface were some really important elements that are found in most games now. First of all, your health. Nearly every first person shooter shows or has some sort of health indicator for the player, so they can see how injured they are and react accordingly. Secondly, being able to see how much ammo, or ammunition, you have left for the weapon you are using is crucial to survival in the game.
The game established the art and perspective concept of just showing the character’s hands and weapon, so that it became a much more immersive experience than if you were watching your character do something from a distance. This has become characteristic of nearly all first person shooters lately, whether it be something from the Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Halo, Half-life, or any of the other popular series. In addition, Wolfenstein 3D did have quite a bit of blood and gore. While not characteristic of all first person shooters, blood and gore has become quite common in some of the more graphically powerful ones. After the enormous success of Wolfenstein 3D, id Software would go on to make Doom and the Quake games as well. There aren’t a lot of reviews that are still available from when the game was released, simply because it was so long ago. Gamespot gave it a 9.2 out of 10 (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/wolfenstein3d/player_review.html?id=171897). Gamerankings.com gave it a fairly bad review because they were testing it with modern considerations, gameplay, and graphics in mind, even though the game came out 16 years ago.
The impact of Wolfenstein 3D on society in general can never really be underestimated. Arguably every first person shooter you see today owes its existence to Wolfenstein 3D and id Software, because of how they pioneered the genre and carried it to higher levels. The effects of first person shooters on society and psychology today, whether good or bad, can all trace their roots back to this one game. This game was enormously popular at the time, and the success from it propelled id Software to be a major developer for many later games. While I’m not really a fan of revisionist history, I would say that video games today would be vastly different had id Software and Wolfenstein 3D not been created.
Some Links:
You can download the game at http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/game/15, although you may need DOSbox to run it because of cpu speeds.
Flash version of the game, fairly close to what the game was like for MS DOS other than a couple things: http://www.hypegames.com/shooting/4575/wolfenstein-3d.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment