“At the beginning, there was a certain love affair with lapping up pools of blood and eating dog food…”

Eric Biessman, creative director at Raven Software, is gloriously out-of-context. Sadly, he’s not talking about team-building exercises for the 60-person development team that he leads just outside Madison, Wisconsin. Instead, he’s explaining one of the dozens of important decisions the group made about how to update id Software’s Wolfenstein franchise for the modern day. In 1992, Wolfenstein 3D categorically defined the first-person shooter; its 2001 follow-up, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, expanded the mythology and fleshed out its occult-tinged backstory. Now, eight years later, Raven must once again find Wolfenstein’s place in the gaming landscape — and while our hands-on time didn’t include kibbles and bits, there were definitely pools of blood.

The Way We Were

The original game was a wonder for its day, offering an intense three-dimensional maze of rooms and corridors, ominous MIDI music, Hitler in a suit of robotic armor, and a simple goal throughout: kill any Nazis you see, then run to the exit. “At the time, it really stood out for setting a tone of what first-person shooters should be like: intense action, kick-ass weapons, and just fun to run and gun,” explains Kevin Cloud, id Software’s creative director and the executive producer of Wolfenstein. “And that was a popular formula. That caught on.” (And yet, few, if any, games that followed in its goosesteps let you slurp up enemy blood or dine out of dog bowls to restore your health.)

When id partnered with Splash Damage to create Return nine years later, Cloud says both companies did “a lot of research into the history of World War II, and did a ‘What if the Nazis’ bizarre plans were possible?’ and spun that off into this new universe.” Those realized plans included zombies, mechanical super-soldiers, and a resurrected Heinrich I, all courtesy of the SS Paranormal Division.

But whereas Return to Castle Wolfenstein dabbled in the legends of the Third Reich’s obsession with the occult, the modern game — simply titled Wolfenstein — doesn’t dabble. A mysterious medallion with supernatural powers melts an entire squadron of soldiers in the opening scenes of the game; green flames lick the tattered uniforms of demonically transformed guards; and an entire gameplay mechanic revolves around entering and exploiting a parallel dimension. “Wolfenstein has this cool history of dark science and occult,” says Biessman, “and we really wanted to push that.”

Something Blue

Aside from the Nazi-melting thing, it all starts out normally enough. “B.J. Blazkowicz, the hero from the earlier games, is back,” explains Biessman. “He’s the OSA soldier that you send in when the chips are down and everything seems hopeless. It starts up right after the events of Return, and B.J. doesn’t really know what’s going on — all he knows is there’s a gentleman named General Zeta who’s starting new experiments, and that’s where the game starts.”

The medallion’s origin is thought to be the city of Isenstadt, so B.J. heads there to investigate. Surprise — fate has planted a Nazi munitions train in his path, so it’s a great chance to sabotage some Axis equipment. After a little sojourn through the sewers (which doubles as a tutorial), he battles his way through German guards en route to the depot, blows up the train, and…everybody starts fl oating. In the wake of a big blue explosion, soldiers swim helplessly in the air, easy pickings for B.J.’s MP40, but shooting them doesn’t make them fall. Whatever’s foiling gravity is pretty strong stuff — and as B.J. tries to escape, more blue canisters go off, resulting in more floaty fascists. We’re only about 15 minutes into the game; the spooky stuff kicks off early.

And honestly, it needs to. Pop in your Xbox copy of Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War and you’ll find a game powered by the Quake III engine that looks very much its age: it’s still fun, but it feels like a relic. The original game — at 17 years, now old enough to serve in a World War itself — looks so antiquated today that it’s almost completely retro-fresh again. Running and gunning never really gets old, but titles like Halo and Call of Duty have certainly put fresh spins on it since Tides of War. Gamers expect a visually rich game — and Wolfenstein’s seriously buffed id Tech 4 engine, Havok physics, and fancy deferred shaders will get that job done with ease — but it’s the supernatural elements that will make it stand out from other World War II shooters.

War Never Changes?

But is that comparison even fair? Raven says if you come into Wolfenstein expecting Saving Private Ryan, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. “It’s set in World War II, but it’s really a science-fiction game,” states Biessman, and Cloud nails it with the perfect analogy: “It’s like trying to compare a World War II movie to an Indiana Jones movie that’s set in World War II. There are very different types of actions and themes and universe considerations and so forth.”

While Wolfenstein is historically important, the series has never been accused of being historically accurate. “If you go and Google Madame Blavatsky…she does not look like our Madame Blavatsky,” says Cloud with a laugh. “She’s not scantily clad, and she’s a little bit older. But the notion of her tying into the Thule Society, there’s history in that. So we take some of those ideas, and we roll it into a what-if story — and that’s part of what is the Wolfenstein universe.”

But even Wolfenstein is not what it once was, and it’ll have some notable changes this time around. “As far as what we keep and what we don’t keep, it’s a tough call,” admits Biessman. “Obviously, we don’t want to copy the previous game note for note, but there’s a flavor — that’s probably the best way to put it.”

Certain franchise hallmarks have been tweaked with more modern interpretations. For instance, the secret room as you know it — randomly pushing on walls, hoping one will slide back to reveal a cache of ammo — is not returning, but its spirit is, according to Biessman: “Our goal wasn’t to hide things so that we frustrate people, but we want to reward the player who goes out of their way to find it all.” Keep your eyes open for stashes of Nazi gold or folders of intel: they pay off not only in extra nuggets of backstory, but also in cash and options at the end of each mission, funding a very modern weapon-upgrade system. Head to the Black Market and pimp your peashooter with a silencer, a bigger-bore barrel, or a fast-loading stripper clip. “We wanted to provide some player choice in terms of mods and upgrades,” Cloud tells us. “And that alters your combat experiences — whether you want to focus on upgrading your sniper rifle or upgrading your machine gun.”

And then there’s that out-of-context quote, which spells doom for Wolfenstein’s incongruously placed hot meals, not to mention its infamously less tasteful ways of replenishing your strength. “We made it regenerative health,” says Biessman. “At the beginning, there was a certain love affair with lapping up pools of blood and eating dog food, but the whole world was full of turkey dinners, and it detracted from the speed we wanted. Once we switched to regenerating health, it allowed us more freedom to go explore the city and blow stuff up.”

Geistbusters

As you’re out there blowing stuff up, you’ll have some options. Wolfenstein is linear, but explorers will fi nd alternate paths — like a sewer shortcut that lets you flank a house full of Nazi guards instead of trying to take them head-on. But it’s really the supernatural stuff that gives you the most leeway. Explains Biessman: “The Nazis have discovered this energy source called the Black Sun, but it’s very hard to get to — it’s outside of our reality, I guess you would say. And in-between it, there’s this bridge that connects our world to that energy source, called The Veil.”

The Veil is a little tricky to explain, but it’s what makes Wolfenstein potentially special: it’s an alternate plane of existence, a power source, and a tactical ally all at the same time. “It’s a little bit of the Black Sun energy,” explains Biessman, “but what the Nazis really want to do is plug right into the Black Sun. The Veil is like the bridge to that energy.” That medallion is your key to it; as you head to the archaeological dig site outside Eisenstadt, you’ll fi nd you can shift between the planes of reality at will. Press a button and the screen goes blue-tinted; you’re now in The Veil, with all the benefits it affords. Enjoy easier targeting of glowing enemies; using volatile invisible creatures (“geist,” German for “ghost”) to cause deadly explosions; uncovering secret pathways; and — crucially for combat — the ability to walk (and shoot) through solid brick walls. At the dig site, you’ll discover a yellow crystal that conveniently fits right into your necklace’s medallion — and that lets you slow down time, dodging bullets and getting the jump on enemies with a power known as the Mire Raven promises more medallion upgrades are planned for later in the game, but naturally, it’s too early to give them away.

One of the more practical uses of Veil power took place during our showdown with the Heavy Trooper — a plated soldier with a handy particle cannon that vaporizes nemeses on contact. You might not immediately spot the way to take him down, but activate The Veil and you’ll notice that the two protrusions on his shoulders glow red as obvious targets. Destroy them to reveal a third cylinder; that’s your kill shot. And assuming you can dodge his lightning bolts long enough to defeat him, you’ll get to wield his mighty blaster yourself. It’s delicious. (Cloud noted that while The Veil is useful for puzzle-solving like this, when it comes to B.J. mowing down Nazis, “he’s going to kill with guns.”)

Naturally, these Veil perks don’t last forever: you’ll need to recharge, but you’ll quickly find Veil pools (look for the telltale wisps) that’ll fully recharge your power quickly — and those blue barrels that made the bad guys fl oat up in the air are plentiful, too, so all you need to do is approach one to recharge. Consequently, The Veil isn’t something you need to use sparingly as you play. “The Veil power is really designed to be used as a general tool during combat,” says Cloud. “We really want it to be a general-purpose element. When you’re moving through the game, you’re moving in and out of The Veil.”

You’ll also use The Veil in multiplayer matches, but nobody wanted to say much about that — outside of confirming that it’s in development by UK-based Endrant Studios, an offshoot of Splash Damage, and that it’ll somehow build on the B.J. objective-based play of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Cloud admits to feeling there was “a slight disconnect” between single-player and multiplayer in the last game, so a primary goal of Wolfenstein is to “integrate elements of The Veil and make the multiplayer game feel like a part of this universe.”

But When Is That?

Wolfenstein has a lot to live up to, both from the burden of a crowded shooter market and its own legacy. We got to play about the first hour of the game, and found the controls already tuned for the modern shooter player — fire, reload, throw grenades. It was standard, accessible stuff. Granted, we kept mashing the wrong button to enter and exit The Veil (which made for some amusing grenade suicides), but adding that mechanic won’t be so difficult that it should prove an issue during firefights. And while there were a handful of placeholder voices, the graphics already looked very polished — with debris littering the streets, destructible cover, and motion-captured enemies wearing digitally scanned Nazi uniforms, the game looks entirely modern. Even as you slide into other dimensions, suspending disbelief won’t be a problem.

So when do you get to try it for yourself? As usual, the only release date with any id Software title is “when it’s done.” We pressed for an answer: “July? October? Can you at least confirm 2009?” The response: “When it’s done.” Hmm. Based on the stability and richness of the pre-alpha version we played, we’re guessing the game should come together by late summer or early fall. Eating dog food between now and then is entirely optional.