If you lose a life, you can say goodbye to that cool weapon (unless you saved it, of course).
Credit: Software ID
If you lose a life, you can say goodbye to that cool weapon (unless you saved it, of course).
Credit: Software ID
Difficulty balancing could also use some work. The lowest setting, “Can I Play, Dad?”, is ridiculously easy for anyone with modern FPS experience, with lots of items picked up and enemies that are extremely slow to attack and barely deal any damage when they manage to shoot. The default message “Bring ’em!” The difficulty, on the other hand, seems almost unfair at some points, with enemies that can take out half your health with just a few missed shots.
While some new enemies are slowly introduced once you get past the shareware levels, I can’t say any of them were all that interesting. And after playing dozens of levels, I will say that I was really looking forward to a new weapon that wasn’t just “the old gun, but had a higher rate of fire.”
Then there are the overall design decisions that are baffling from a modern perspective. Like many arcade games that were still popular at the time, 3D Wolf Keeps track of a numerical score throughout each match. The game also gives you a limited number of lives to play, removing your weapons with each kill (accumulating enough points even grants extra lives).
But the game also allows you to save at any time, making these features virtually irrelevant for anyone looking to save through the toughest fights. and while 3D Wolf retains any damage you’ve accumulated between levels, requires you to start a completely new game when you complete an entire episode, with no explicit links between them.
Look mom, a hand
The most intriguing discovery I made on my new repeat of 3D Wolf was how well the game adapts to mouse controls. In 1992, you probably barely knew how to use a mouse, let alone how to effectively aim a virtual weapon with one. This time around, I was delighted to discover that the entire game can be played effectively with just one hand, without touching the keyboard at all.
