TheOverclocker Issue 30 | Page 48

Wolfenstein: The New Order RRP: $59.99 (PC) | Website: www.wolfenstein.com H ow’d you like a brief history lesson? If you answered no, I apologise in advance because you’re about to get one anyway. Wolfenstein wasn’t always a firstperson shooter. The series began its life as a World War II-era topdown stealth game with the original Castle Wolfenstein, released by Muse Software in 1981. Although crude by today’s standards, its stealth-oriented gameplay was impressively innovative at the time, and it successfully spawned a sequel (Beyond Castle Wofenstein) three years later. More than a decade after the original game’s launch, id Software took the concept and reimagined it as something else 48 The OverClocker Issue 30 | 2014 entirely, releasing Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 to widespread critical acclaim and immense commercial success. It traded subtlety and stealth for brutal, fast-paced action in threedimensional environments. Today its considered the grandfather of the FPS genre, establishing genre conventions that would become the basis for what the gaming world expected of shooters. With a legacy like that, it’s easy to understand why Wolfenstein: The New Order needed to be something special. And while I really enjoyed Raven Software’s Wolfenste