ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Release Date: 39968
Critic Score (1-100): 80
Genre(s): Action, 1st-person, Sci-fi / futuristic, Shooter, Direct control, World War II
Media Type(s): Physical

Apogee Announces a Landmark New Shareware Game

Wolfenstein 3-D©

Copyright © 1992 Id Software

Wolfenstein 3-D is simply a technology breakthrough! The first person perspective 3-D gameplay you'll be viewing is the fastest of any PC game—much faster than that seen in Origin's The Stygian Abyss!

Incredible Sound Blaster digitized sound effects are used throughout the game. The shareware version has just a limited sampling of digitized effects. To get ALL of the digitized effects, you must buy the full trilogy. Sound Blaster Pro owners will hear the digitized effects in STEREO!

The story: You're William J. "B.J." Blazkowicz, the Allies' bad boy of espionage and a terminal action seeker. Your mission was to infiltrate the Nazi fortress Castle Hollehammer and find the plans for Operation Eisenfaust, the Nazi's blueprint for building the perfect army. Rumors are that deep within the castle the diabolical Dr. Schabbs has perfected a technique for building a fierce army from the bodies of the dead. It's so far removed from reality that it would seem silly if it wasn't so sick. But what if it were true?

You were never given the chance to find out! Captured in your attempt to grab the secret plans, you were taken to the Nazi prison, Castle Wolfenstein, for questioning and eventual execution. Will you be able to escape and finish your world-saving mission?

As an escaped prisoner in a Nazi war prison, you will move smoothly through a 3-D world full of amazing detail and animation. Unlike other 3-D games, you'll move SMOOTHLY through a sensational and realistic 3-D environment, with intelligent moving guards and opponents.

This is a high-action game. Use your rapid fire machine gun to mow down a line of enemies, or sneak up on a guard with your knife so you don't waste your limited ammunition. Id Software, the creators of Commander Keen, have broken new ground with their all-new Wolfenstein 3-D.

So impressive is this game that several of the TOP retail game publishers wanted to publish Wolfenstein 3-D commercially. We're talking the "biggies"--like Sierra Online, Electronic Arts, Origin Systems, and others!

Exciting Features

• Intense and mood-setting Ad Lib music throughout the entire game.
• Incredible digitized effects for Sound Blaster and Disney Sound Source.
• Fastest 3-D VGA animated full-screen wide game available for IBM PC!
• Play with keyboard, joystick, mouse or Gravis GamePad.
• Save and restore games, plus quick-save and quick-load hot keys.
• Note: Must be played on an 80286 or better machine. Does not run on XT systems.

PARENTAL WARNING: Wolfenstein 3-D, due to its intensely realistic visuals, is recommended for children above 12 years of age. For younger players we recommend parental approval. We have voluntarily rated this game PC-13, which equates to violence seen in a PG-13 movie.

HOW TO ORDER

1) First trilogy (three full episodes) for $35 (plus $4 shipping).

2) Get the first trilogy, plus a second trilogy for a total of $50 (plus $4 shipping). In other words, for an extra $15 you can double the size of the game with a whole new set of levels! (Bought separately, the second trilogy is $20.) The second set of levels provides an entirely unique mission, with new level designs and new "boss" enemies to overcome. You cannot play the second trilogy unless you have the first trilogy. The first trilogy price ($35) includes the game engine that lets you also play the second, alternate trilogy.

Scan of the leaflet from the 3D Realms website.

1992 Apogee catalog — contains a variant of this advertising blurb.

Wolfenstein 3D is an episodic first-person shooter and a follow-up to the top-down infiltration game Castle Wolfenstein. The game puts the player in the boots of B.J. Blazkowicz, an allied spy. There are six episodes: the first distributed completely as shareware; the second and the third available after registration; and the three final missions (which happen before the events of the first episode) available in the Nocturnal Missions pack.

In the first episode (Escape from Wolfenstein), B.J. is captured, but overpowers a guard with the help of a concealed knife and manages to get out of his cell. Throughout the next nine levels, the player guides B.J. searching for an escape from Wolfenstein, guarded by Hans Grosse. After returning to Allied territory, B.J. is given the instructions to Operation: Eisenfaust, where he has to stop Dr. Schabbs and his army of mutant prototypes before they are released into the battlefields. The final mission (Die, Führer, Die!) has a simple goal: infiltrate the bunker under the Reichstag, and terminate Hitler (in a robotic suit) himself.

The Nocturnal Missions are focused on the Nazi plans for chemical warfare, and start with Dark Secret, where B.J. hunts for lead researcher Dr. Otto Giftmacher. It's followed by Trail of the Madman, where the goal is capturing the war plans guarded by Gretel Grosse, and the final episode Confrontation, where B.J. meets General Fettgesicht, the planner for the chemical assault.

Each episode has nine levels (eight regular and a final boss level), plus a secret level activated by a hidden switch somewhere in the eight first levels. Regular levels often feature a maze-like appearance or large areas with many enemies (the number of them on each area depends on the difficulty level), where the player must reach the exit elevator. To do so, he must kill the enemies (while it's possible to move behind the guards' backs and even there's a slight bonus in attacking them from behind, most enemies have to be dealt with by firepower), and depending on the level, activate "push walls" and/or get silver and golden keys to open certain doors.

Many objects can be found in a level, from medikits, chicken meals, and even dog food (to restore health), ammo, and treasures, which solely exist for points. There are four weapons (knife, pistol, machine gun, and Gatling), all of them using the same bullets except the knife. The knife and the pistol are given at the start of the level, while the machine gun is either found (usually in secret areas) or picked up from SS troopers, and the Gatling is always dropped somewhere in the level. There are five kinds of enemies (excluding bosses) - Dogs (fast, but more a nuisance than life-threatening), Army Soldiers (dressed in a regular brown outfit, not very powerful but usually found in large groups), Officers (dressed in white, armed with a very accurate pistol and tough to kill), SS Troopers (blue attire, armed with a machine gun and tough to kill), and Mutants (the rarest and toughest of regular enemies, pale-skinned troopers with green clothes and a machine gun stuck in their chest).

The player character has a number of lives; once he loses the last life, the game ends. To win extra lives, the player has to either find the 1-up item in the level or get 20,000 points (by killing enemies and capturing treasures or completing a level below the 'par' time while killing all enemies, finding all secrets by pushing walls, and collecting all treasure points).

*** Data by MobyGames.com ***

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