Review: Wolfenstein RPG, something missing in action

[currymutton]

(I was meant to reply to BigA's review, but you know, I have to make it brief here)

App: Wolfenstein RPG
Developer: Electronic Arts
Price: 2.99
Screenshot:



If you expect a turn-based old-fashioned RPG based on the Wolfenstein world, you may find this a little bit disappointed for there are not much role-playing elements inside. While this does not take away the fun of combating Nazis along the way, the game encourages the player to have other things to do on each level: read books, find out secret item caches, etc. While most of them do have some help/hindrance with combat, but the player can safely ignore all these sidelines to complete the game.

The combat is the major component of the game and it is very enjoyable. Different enemy have different vulnerabilities and you need to select the right weapon against the right enemy. The game encourages you to apply some simple tactics when facing overwhelming odds as well. But at the last two level, the combat becomes troublesome to the point that it is annoying. First, almost all enemies, including those who are unable to do so in previous levels, can attack and side-step in the same 'turn", but most of your arsenals can only shoot straight ahead. Well, this can be solved by using certain weapon and certain tactics, I don't think this makes the combat harder, this just prolongs the game time unnecessarily. Also, some weapons are useless (e.g. that 3-shot gun) and some have no use other than facing the final boss. Since you cannot drop any weapons, switching weapon can become a clumsy affair. Speaking of the final boss: it takes only a large pool of supplies and patience to beat it, which degenerates into fire a specific weapon, change weapon, poke the final boss, change back to that specific weapon, and repeat (you may wish to replenish yourself or wait for the recharge in between). Not to mention that a-cutscene-too-short ending.