Game Moment #14- Wolfenstein 3D
The first videogame, that I can ever recall, that ever made me jump.

It wasn't Doom. Doom had jumps a-plenty, and I loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute of it. At least a solid majority. But before Doom made the "First Person Shooter" a genre and introduced mainstream audiences to the concept, the geeky cognizati were loving another game of first-person carnage.

Wolfenstein 3D.

If you are old enough to remember playing it, you KNOW where that jump occured, and you know exactly what I'm talking about.

It takes place at the end of the shareware episode. A quiet level. You open a door and....


"GUTEN TAG!"
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

I know of one girl who literally fell out of her chair from that one. It's now overdone and almost trite, but at the time it was quite the shocker. It was the interactive equivalent of the final scene of The Great Train Robbery, which horrified and thrilled audience with a segment of the bandit shooting RIGHT AT the audience.

Unfortunately, it's a moment frozen in time. You can't go back and experience it today. Just like you can't be thrilled by the clip of the bandit shooting his gun anymore. It was the the combination of two fairly novel technologies (first-person perspective, and voice recording) in that first-time-ever situation.

I'm sorry if you missed out on that one. It was a riot.

(Vaguely) related drivel:
* Game Moments Index
* Rules of Combat According to FPS Games
* Game Moment #13 - DOOM!

Labels: Game Moments, retro

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:57 AM (Permalink)