Postmortem: Wolfenstein

Jones chats with Raven's Eric Biessman, creative director for the game that Tom Chick loves to hate.
9/2/2009 8:39 AM | 2 Comments | Page 1 of 2

Let me make one thing clear at the outset: I like Wolfenstein. I know, I know. I called for its head a few weeks back in my Game Reaper feature. But then I started playing the new game, and was surprised to discover one of the tightest, most satisfying single-player experiences I've had in a long while.

I tracked down the game's creative director, Eric Biessman, in Madison, Wis. -- Raven's headquarters -- to see what the game looks like now that it's in his team's rearview mirror. (By the way, he's heard all the Biessman/Beastman jokes before. So don't even think about it.)

For the record, "The Beast, or "Le Beast," as the French say, has worked on the Heretic and Hexen series, Quake 4, the Soldier of Fortune series and the classic Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Now that, folks, is an impressive resume. After enjoying a vacation post-Wolfenstein that was shorter than most rodeo riders last on bulls, the Beastinator is back at his desk trying to drag Raven's next project, Singularity, kicking and screaming into the world.

Scott Jones: How did you feel about how Wolfenstein was received critically? It seems like reviews were all over the map for this game.

Eric Biessman: [Quiet for a moment] You know, I was wondering why [Crispy Gamer] wanted to even talk to me. Your review was really rough.

Jones: That was Tom Chick's review. Tom is a strange man who lives in a strange, faraway place called L.A. I happen to disagree with him. I liked the game far more than I thought I would. Which is why we're talking.

Biessman: Thanks. I like the game too. You know, overall, it seems like the game really polarized critics. Either they loved it or they utterly hated it. Like the open-city hub concept. Some people really liked the open-city dynamic; other critics really despised it.

Jones: Were there things that you felt critics totally missed the boat on, and should have paid more attention to?

Biessman: Multiplayer. I think our multiplayer is great. I felt like people should have spent more time with it, and given the game higher marks for the multiplayer. It's really damn good.

Jones: Hypothetical: Do you think the game would have been more of a hit with critics if it hadn't had the word "Wolfenstein" on the box? In other words, do preconceived notions hurt games sometimes?

Biessman: Hmm. I don't know. There's this great heritage [with Wolfenstein]. But what happens with that great heritage is that people come to the game looking for something specific. Everyone has their own memories of the original game. It's hard to compete with those memories; it's hard to compete with nostalgia and preconceived notions like that sometimes.

We tried to focus on what Wolfenstein has always been about: high-action combat, explosive weapons and the occult. We said, early on in development, "Let's just boil this down to its essence and make a really great experience."

Then I read these reviews where people are beside themselves because Mecha-Hitler is not in the game. [Raises voice] "What was Raven thinking, not putting Mecha-Hitler in the game! Are they insane!" That's the kind of stuff we were up against. It's frustrating.

Jones: This sounds silly to say, but I was surprised by how much fun I had playing the game. I mean it. From start to finish, it's all very gratifying.

Biessman: Thank you.

Jones: I almost felt like you guys were constantly asking yourselves while developing the game, Is this fun? Is this fun? Is this fun?

Biessman: You know, funny you should say that. That's exactly what we do. We call it Rapid Prototyping. What we do is we throw something together, a mockup of a level or a situation, and we don't concern ourselves with details or how it looks. Then we play the crap out of it. If it doesn't really grab us right away, we throw it out.

Jones: That really comes through in the game. I also loved the opening cinema. I think it's one of the best opening cinemas of the year so far.

Biessman: We hired Blair Studio [to do the opening cinema]. They're a fantastic group of guys. The idea with the cinema was that we wanted to set B.J. up as someone you can relate to. In the original games, he was just a face. That's it. The face would get excited when it got a new weapon, but that was the extent of it. This time, we wanted to show more of him. We wanted to make him relatable, and human. We wanted to give him a voice and let him speak.

Jones: Did you guys consider giving the game some other name besides just straight up "Wolfenstein?"

Biessman: We went through a bunch of different names. But really, they all just sounded kind of silly and wrong. What are we going to call it? The Re-Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2? Silly. "Wolfenstein" is such a strong, evocative word. Any fooling around with it only seemed to diminish its impact.

Jones: Question: Do you think gamers will ever get tired of shooting at Nazi zombies?

Biessman: [Laughs] Man, I hope not. They really are the ultimate villains. But, you know, it's not just "shooting Nazi zombies." What makes a game fun is the situation that you put gamers in. As long as you're doing cool things and feeling powerful, it ultimately doesn't matter what you're shooting at.

Jones: OK, let's talk about exploding barrels for a minute.

Biessman: OK, let's do that.

Jones: This game very boldly features exploding barrels. Though the gaming press has made it explicitly clear that exploding barrels are clichéd and outdated, I personally still really love them.

Biessman: Me too! Nothing is more satisfying than shooting your gun at a barrel, setting off this huge, cathartic explosion, and making Nazi-zombie flesh chunks fly everywhere.

Jones: You even painted them bright red, which I appreciated. Until we come up with something that's more satisfying than that, I think that exploding barrels need to endure. So far, nothing even comes close.

Biessman: Again, the criteria is, Did I have a good time? Did I enjoy what I'm doing? Is it fun? If the answer is yes, then we did our job.

Jones: In fact, I'd love to see at game that was called Exploding Barrels, and it was nothing but exploding barrels. I'd play that.

Biessman: I'd play that, too.