The original Nazi shooter comes back for more.

ID Software’s Wolfenstein is where 3D shooters began, and while the 1993 game looks seriously dated, it pretty much set the format for the genre for years to come.

Raven Software have developed this newest incarnation of Wolfenstein, mixing as ever World War Two, Nazis and a generous helping of supernatural forces. As ever, you play BJ Blazkowicz, the square-jawed hero, and have to battle your way through enemies who are pursuing something called “black sun energy”. Blazkowicz also has some special powers this time, allowing you to move through a different dimension, slow time and more.

Unfortunately, this modern Wolfenstein has lost much of the original’s charm. That has a violent joy to it, where as this feels humorless and cliched. It’s not a terrible first person shooter, but neither is it anything special in 2009. The character models don’t look great, and while there are some cool graphical touches, overall it’s pretty bland to look at.

There is too much introduction, and your guides are no fun at all, as well as having pretty bad artificial intelligence! This is also true of the enemy soldiers, who are pretty easy to take care of. The magic ‘Veil’ powers don’t add much to the gameplay, and certainly aren’t as cool in game as they look in the cinematic opening.

Wolfenstein has everything you’d expect from the franchise but feels outdated and dull – it also appears to lack a Robot Hitler