In today's video game culture, first-person shooters reign supreme, from the classic "Goldeneye" of Nintendo '64 fame to current titles such as Halo and the Call of Duty series. There was a time (early 1990s), however, when this was not the case, and it took one game to begin the revolution...Wolfenstein 3D.
Set in a prisoner-of-war camp in the heart of Nazi Germany, early 1990s gamers were introduced to the FPS genre in the form of one B.J. Blazkowicz and this single sentence: "You crouch over the guard's body, hoping that the others didn't hear his muffled scream...". From there, gamers were given almost total control of the character in order to complete each stage (primarily accomplished by finding the elevator door after taking out room after room of Nazi baddies).
In hindsight, the game had a few flaws, primarily being the maze-like environment that turns some levels into nothing more than prolonged searches for keys to enter the locked doors, as well as some levels that will test even the most patient of gamers with their enormity. But all told, it was nothing short of revolutionary in its treatment of the video game platform. It even "guessed right" in using a wartime scenario to detract from some criticism (the same reason why COD is so popular, yet other FPS's are so demonized).
Thus, this game (provided you have a computer old enough to run it, or know how to install DOSBox!) really can be enjoyed by two different types of gamers: 1. For nostalgic purposes; and 2. For those who currently enjoy the genre to see how it all began (and still play a heckuva game in the process!).
