Spear of Destiny (DOS)

By: The J Man

Wolf3D needs no introduction. Its later sequels probably do. If you've avoided Spear of Destiny because it sounds like a simple expansion, offering yet more identical gameplay, well, your fears are justified. 60 levels in the original Wolfenstein is a helluva lot, and enough to run the concept out within that title alone. A pack of 20 more levels laid out as a prequel (once you kill Hitler in your series, I guess everything after has to be a prequel) almost seems pointless. Almost.

First, let's get the expected disappointments out of the way. The core game is unchanged. No new weapons, no new enemies (except in the final level), and you can count the new textures on one hand. There ARE five new bosses, but their behavior is lifted from the bosses in the first: Dual-chaingun packing Hans Grosse has an identical brother here named Trans Grosse (Should have been Frans... tsk tsk). Barnacle Wilhelm is a straight copy of General Fettgesicht. The Death Knight is really just Mecha-Hitler with a sleeker look and missiles. Pretty much the only thing you can expect from this title are new level layouts. If you weren't ready for Wolf3D to be over, SPOD will have some value. If you're looking for something - anything - new to the formula, you'll need to seek out Formgen's later two missions disks.

I maintain that more of the same isn't all bad. Something drew me to seek out and start up this game, and I couldn't quite figure out what. It had been a few years since I'd beaten the original. The Jaguar version was a surprisingly good distraction. But I couldn't pin down a logical reason why I would want to return... to castle Wolfenstein. It finally hit me after a few minutes of play - Wolfenstein perfectly captures the spirit of the cheeseball action flick. Yes, its graphics are primitive compared to modern titles. Yes, to really enjoy it, you will have to use your imagination (TEH HORRRORZ!!1!). But the tension of guards swarming around every corner is certainly there. As is the excitement of holding down the trigger and mowing down three distant guards, hearing a door open to the right, and spinning to hose three more as they charge through. It's still a thrill if you're willing to put yourself in the game, and it can do all of the excitement of modern shooters without the variety-based distractions (like damnable stealth levels).

No one expects the chaingun!

Admit it; sometimes you want Arnold to just shut his fucking mouth and put bullets into bad guys. You're willing to forgo plot development, backstory, and awkward scenes where he tries to express emotion to a woman. It's not every movie you want to see for the rest of your life, but sometimes you just want to chapter skip to the end of Commando and watch him go apeshit. That's Wolfenstein 3D. That's Spear of Destiny.

And it's not all totally mindless. Enemy AI manages to put up a good fight. Having distance factor heavily into the damage given or received helps keep you cycling between charging and running. Allowing enemies to hear your gunfire is another wonderful addition. It can get pretty tense to shoot a lone guard and hear a chorus of "Achtung!"s erupt from rooms nearby. It also allows you to (usually) query a room by shooting a few bullets through the door and listening for guards. I also love how they patrol, permitting them to suddenly appear from a door near you, or split up if the layout allows it, prompting them to come at you from different angles. I can't count how many times I've taken out a group of guards, only to see that one has slipped away through the backdoor and is now trying to circle back on me. Sure, it means that I'm in more danger now, having lost track of a bad guy, but I loves me the chase!

The engine has no apparent upgrades. It still runs fast and relatively smooth, though turning quickly is a problem. You won't spin fast enough to save yourself if an enemy sneaks up behind you and starts blasting, which, as I said, they will try to do. The engine also has a nasty habit of letting enemies shoot your gun for damage - it looks to you like you're safely behind the edge of a wall, but enemies can still shoot your outstretched hands. They can also shoot through each other, which can cause problems in groups. As you shoot a bullet sponge (like a burly SS guard) before you, his buddies behind him are free to run your health down unscathed. It can lead to some cheap deaths, but as long as you corral your enemies and force them to come around the corners, you'll be a tough nut to crack at any difficulty level.

The major difference between original Wolf and SPOD is that level design seems more malicious this time. It's not that the game adapts to your playstyle - obviously impossible for this technology - but more that it lures you into a predictable way of playing, then sets up traps in direct opposition. One level drops you out of the elevator, facing two lone guards. Naturally, you shoot the guards. This triggers two rows of SS gunners in recesses on either side of the elevator, flush against the wall so you won't see them when you first step out. Floor 8 is a giant maze, even more blatantly so than the other levels, meaning you have endless short twists and turns that leave you always surrounded. You can't bottleneck enemies or clear them out in sequence. It definitely gives a neat rat-in-a-trap feeling. Other levels are standard Wolfenstein, with castle textures and seemingly-random rooms with loosely-suggested purposes. If you know it and love it, you'll have no complaints.

Taking into account its age, the only remaining criticism I can really level is against the inclusion of some outdated gameplay mechanics - namely points and lives. Why have points at all? Wolf3D is inside the transition to games with an actual story; where you beat the game by passing the final level and defeating the boss, not by having your name at the top of the high score screen. I guess it's an inclusion for bragging rights to friends, or an easy way to show how much treasure and secrets you found along the way, but it definitely doesn't need to be there. Lives even more so, especially when you can save and reload games at any time. It'd be a pain in the ass if you had to load a save off a floppy disk every time you died, but still, keeping your weapons, life, and ammo from the previous levels is far more important than a quick restart. If using up a life kept you with your equipment intact, instead of defaulting to only the pistol and eight bullets, they'd be more valuable. Instead, they, and the points you rack up to get more lives, just get overlooked.

Now if I haven't yet sold you on why SPOD is still relevant today, then allow me to regale you with a war story:

I came around a corner and found myself face to face with a surprise combination of 15 guards, SS, and officers, just waiting. Shouts went up as they came to life and all started firing. I was able to call up the chaingun and hold the trigger down - not much else I could do. Bodies lined the floor as my ammo supply plummeted. One SS left. He shudders from two bullets and then, nothing. The chaingun is quiet; out of ammo. I backpedal, spin, and run toward the last group of enemies I killed, hoping I missed some dropped ammo. Get nicked by the SS on the way - down to 2% health, no way I can take him with the knife now. I round a corner, find the slain bodies and... YES! One clip still there. Four bullets. I call up the pistol, head for another corner, and check behind me. SS guy is in hot pursuit, zigzagging his way up the corridor. To far away to hit reliably - better let him catch up. I wait around the corner for a few seconds and peek out again. He's much closer now, firing range, and I shoot. The first is a hit. He starts zigzagging again. I struggle to turn my view to keep up. Second misses. Third misses. Just one left now, and he's definitely in range to kill me. He stops moving to raise his machine gun. It gives me the moment I need to get a bead on him. I plant the pistol's sights on him, have a millisecond to send out a silent "Hope this works!" and press fire. Blood. He falls. I'm still alive.

As for Spear, it loses out for being the shorter twin of its popular older brother. It does nothing particularly wrong, it is just as good as the original, and it's got a pretty sweet final level. It just suffers from Expansion-Pack-itis. "If I already bought this game, why should I pay money to buy it again?" If you played and loved Wolf, the Spear of Destiny awaits. If you haven't checked out either, the original is unquestionably the better value.

-reviewed 4/27/08 - game copyright 1992 iD Software

Still a fun shooter romp. Still runs on just about anything.

Just new bosses and new levels. No new weapons, extremely limited new art. 1/3 the number of new levels as the original.

	7
	6
	7
	7
	77%

Spear of Destiny on MobyGames
Gameplay video on YouTube
SoD info at the Wolfenstein 3D Archive