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I remember when I discovered Brutal Doom for the first time. I was blown away by what I was seeing. I was so impressed that I went to my friend’s house and demanded he check it out. It has become one of the most popular mods for classic Doom. So much so that I remember people in the Doom community getting tired of hearing about it and mod creators getting sick of people asking if their mod is compatible with Brutal Doom. I can understand that, actually. But the fact remains it’s extremely popular and inspired mods for other games, going so far to call it “Brutal” whatever the game is. Brutal Half-Life is one and another is Brutal Wolfenstein 3D. Developed by a creator going by the name Zio McCall, Brutal Wolfenstein 3D is a mod for Doom II. You can call it a total conversion. It contains all episodes from Wolfenstein 3D and even Spear of Destiny and showcases the changes and style of gameplay on display in Brutal Doom. New weapons, new animations, more gore, more intense action, and new features.
I did play the mod using the GZDoom source port and installed some additional mods, mini-mods if you will, which I feel supplement Brutal Wolfenstein 3D nicely. The first is the Tactical LEAN Addon, a mod that simply lets you lean left and right and even lets you adjust the lean angle. Another mod I installed is Autoautosave which is a “configurable checkpoint system” as its described on the ZDoom forums. Basically, it saves your progress automatically and you can configure what triggers the saves. The final mod I installed is War Trophies which provides stat tracking for weapons. Remember, you don’t need any of these mods to enjoy Brutal Wolfenstein 3D. But I personally enjoy and recommend them and they’re compatible with a lot of other mods as well.
To put it bluntly, Brutal Wolfenstein 3D gives Wolfenstein 3D the Brutal Doom treatment. It features redesigned Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny levels, a lot of blood and guts, and a ton of new content. Remember, this is not a modification for Wolfenstein 3D. It’s a Doom II mod and as such, it does come with all the bells and whistles of the Doom engine and in this case, the GZDoom source port. It’s got all the Wolf and Spear sights and sounds but with new and updated assets, a much larger arsenal, faster-paced gameplay, and more intense action.
When you first fire up the mod, you’ll be taken to the main menu and will see that there is an in-game manual which is quite nice. One of the first things it tells you is that to avoid technical issues, you shouldn’t load this with any other gameplay mods. It does state freelook is mandatory, jumping is required, and crouching is allowed. The manual also goes over many of the mod’s features and mechanics. One of my favorite things about this mod is the rewards for finding all the treasure in a level. As you may or may not know, treasure can be be found and collected in Wolfenstein 3D for additional points and extra lives. In Brutal Wolfenstein 3D, finding all the treasure in a level will reward you with something ranging from ammo refills to unique weapons not typically carried by foes or found lying around in the levels. I find this reward system does make for a great incentive to seek out treasure and secrets.
If you’ve played Brutal Doom, you should know what to expect here. But instead of splattering demon guts all over the place, you’ll be painting the environments in Nazi blood. Blood gushes, splatters, and drips, body parts will go flying, brain matter will stick to surfaces, and burnt bodies actually look charred. You can slide, kick foes, knife them to death, throw axes at them, and throw grenades. The arsenal of weapons has been expanded significantly and veterans of other Wolfenstein games should recognize many. It seems I was frequently acquiring new weapons all the way to the end. From the ones you find to the ones awarded to you for finding all the treasure in a level, the amount of firepower on display is impressive. And in the typical “Brutal” style, all weapons sound and feel great to fire. The audiovisual feedback of each one is fantastic and complimented nicely by the over-the-top gore effects. This coupled with the colorful pixel presentation make Brutal Wolfenstein 3D feel like an extremely violent cartoon and I love it.
I did play on the “Bring ’em on” difficulty level which, according to the game, is Brutal Wolfenstein’s balanced experience and, honestly, I found it proves to be quite challenging especially in the later levels. The game does play out in episodes just like Wolfenstein 3D and every episode consists of a series of levels and ends with a boss. I’m not going to pretend I know every Wolf and Spear level inside and out because I don’t. But I have played through them both and I feel Brutal Wolfenstein 3D is a faithful recreation. I can’t tell you if every single secret is intact, if all the treasure is in the exact right locations, or if certain rooms or doors are missing. But I can tell you the levels have been redesigned so there are differences. There’s new details and assets and you can break things and blow up certain barrels. Wolfenstein 3D is primarily a corridor shooter. You navigate around simple rooms and hallways or corridors and shoot enemies. That’s primarily the case here as well but the redesigned levels make things visually more interesting and accommodate the new gameplay features and mechanics nicely.
With all that said, I think some encounters can be a bit frustrating. Because of the mostly corridor heavy levels, you don’t always have a lot of room to maneuver and just like in Wolfenstein 3D, you can enter a room or hallway and immediately be shot at upon entering by enemies on the left and/or right that you had no idea where there. You can also get shot at from enemies in the distance and at higher elevations in some cases. Throw in the new enemy types introduced in the mod and there’s even more dangers to worry about than in the original game. That’s not to say there’s never any space to maneuver because there are plenty of rooms and areas that give you space to move around but for the most part, there’s more corridors than wide open spaces. I can’t tell you how many times I died because I backed up into a wall or object and was shot to death or tried to back out of a room but couldn’t because the door closed and I was, again, shot to death. The mod also features reloading which, while it doesn’t sound like much, it is something new for Wolfenstein 3D. Time reloading is time not spent shooting so you should always be mindful of your ammo before entering the fray. However, you are given the option to disable reloads.
Brutal Wolfesntein 3D’s gameplay can be very fast-paced and hectic. If you have the room to do so, circle strafing is an effective strategy when you’re outnumbered. Sliding into foes and crouching can be helpful in some instances as well. Otherwise, just like in the original game, forcing foes into a bottleneck is always something you can rely on if only because the level design makes it easy. From what I can tell, none of the enemies in Brutal Wolfenstein 3D are hit scan types but foes can drop you quickly if you’re not careful. The Tactical LEAN Addon does help alleviate some of the frustration if only because it allowed me to lean around corners rather than fully exposing myself. All of the enemies from Wolf and Spear are here and some showcase new behavior. For example, Guards can lob smoke grenades and some carry rifles and officers can lob frag grenades. Some new foes include Nazi ladies, Ubersoldiers which become more prevalent in the later levels, and flamethrower Nazis which are quite dangerous and they can explode so everything about them just screams “stay clear”.
Some frustrating encounters aside, I feel it’s made up for by the excellent gameplay. Granted, I’ve always been a fan of Brutal Doom’s gameplay and that’s what’s on display here. It’s frenetic, bloody, visceral, and intense. I never got tired of blowing Nazis to pieces or watching a bunch of them run around on fire screaming in agony or seeing their blood drip from the ceiling. It’s all good stuff and every firefight is basically a bloodbath.
I do appreciate the mod’s attention to detail. Everything about it feels very Wolfenstein. The enemies and even the dialogue they shout seems to have been ripped from Wolfenstein 3D but that’s not all, some content was clearly taken from other Wolfenstein games. I know some music was ripped from Return to Castle Wolfenstein and I’m pretty sure some of the dialogue is, too. So I can honestly say the experience does capture the feel of a Wolfenstein game nicely. Brutal Wolfenstein 3D feels like its own game. As I said before, it’s basically a total conversion. Everything from the HUD to the look and feel of the levels to the music to the enemies – it’s all Wolfenstein. The only time I felt like Doom was on display was at the end of the Spear of Destiny episode where Doom is literally on display. Doom environments and enemies. I have no problem with this and feel it actually works nicely from narrative point of view and is just another way the mod keeps things interesting.
Visually, I think Brutal Wolfenstein 3D looks great. The levels look and feel like updated versions of their originals with more details pumped into them. The mod is more colorful than the original game and that along with the new textures and details and redesigned level layouts make the environments more interesting visually. The weapon sprites look good as do the reload animations and the new visual and gore effects look fantastic. The action is accompanied by loud and satisfying weapons fire, booming explosions, and wet squishy sounds whenever enemies are ripped apart or gibbed, adding to the satisfaction of the combat and killing. The soundtrack consists of a good mix of tunes, some of which I know are taken from other Wolfenstein games, and it all adds to that Wolfenstein atmosphere. On the technical side, I encountered no major issues.
I had a blast with Brutal Wolfenstein 3D. I was already a fan of Brutal Doom before going into this so I knew what to expect for the most part and it delivered. So I can safely say, if you enjoy Brutal Doom, you’ll enjoy this. It’s more than just Wolfenstein 3D with Brutal Doom gameplay. It’s not like they just took everything from the original game and packed in a bunch of violence and gore and called it a day. It’s a well done recreation with new content and changes made to accommodate the new features and mechanics. Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny are still corridor shooters at their core and that is still evident here. I think the creator tried to remain faithful to the original design while also giving it a facelift and succeeded in doing so. I think so, anyway. But as a result of the corridor heavy level design, I feel some encounters are more frustrating than they need to be. Nevertheless, Brutal Wolfenstein 3D is still a wonderful refresh of a classic. If you’re not a fan of Brutal Doom or that style of gameplay, this probably won’t do anything for you. Instead of splattering demon guts everywhere, you’ll splatter Nazi guts and it’s just as over-the-top, violent, and satisfying.
I absolutely recommend Brutal Wolfenstein 3D. You might look at it as a remake or recreation or whatever you want to call it. It’s Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny with the Brutal Doom treatment and it’s fun as hell. If you’re a fan of the classics, this is a great way to revisit them. It’s fast-paced and hectic, violent and gory, intense and visceral. It’s Brutal Wolfenstein 3D. Definitely check it out.