Preview by: Tracy Erickson

The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi and this visceral shooter does its all to spread the cheer. More than just another World War II run-and-gun adventure, this new installment of the fabled franchise combines tried-and-true mechanics with creative supernatural elements for a game that seems to be coming together and could live up to the Wolfenstein name.

Nazi forces have resurged following the siege of Castle Wolfenstein, their research into supernatural forces renewed. BJ Blazkowicz is called in to investigate rumblings of a Nazi interest in a powerful amulet that enables the user to shift between reality and an alternate dimension called the Veil. Arriving in the German town of Isenstadt, BJ must uncover information tied to the origin of the crystals set within the amulet--oh, and kill a few...hundred Nazis in the process.

In our brief run through the early part of the game, BJ's arrival at the town's train station is far from normal: Nazi guards immediately open fire, prompting an all-out gun fight on the train platform and adjacent lobby. Things turn strange, however, as soldiers are flung about the halls of the station by an unseen force. Nazi bodies are thrust into brick walls, oddly suspended in midair from brilliant blue splashes of supernatural energy as BJ makes his way out into the city proper. It's just a taste of the craziness that Wolfenstein dishes out later in the game.

Stocked with firearms from the period, you enter Isenstadt guns-blazing. The tempo is quick, the combat visceral. Wolfenstein borrows core elements from other notables in the genre, BJ is capable of running and gunning, crouching and firing, covering and popping up for shots. Upgrades for every weapon are available, pieces of gold discovered along your German holiday enables you to purchase improvements from the Black Market. There are even factions with which you can work, the scholars at the Golden Dawn providing you with information on Nazi research into the occult and local resistance fighters supporting you in combat.