Xbox Gaming in South Africa

With the release of Wolfenstein marked for the later half of this month, Endrant Studios' game designer, Matt Wilson, has shed some light on what to expect from the multiplayer experience in an interview with GameSpot.

Now, if you are thinking "hang on, isn't Raven Software doing Wolfenstein?", just relax, Raven are in charge of the single player campaign, while Endrant Studios are taking care of the multiplayer aspects. If you've been following the development of Wolfenstein, one thing that stands out as a possible stumbling block for multiplayer happiness is the use of supernatural 'veil' powers, and this is something Endrant have taken into consideration. It seems that some of the more powerful abilities would lead to an unbalanced play experience, and we all know that balance is all important in a multiplayer environment. So to avoid that problem, some of the more exotic powers have simply been removed. Problem solved! There will still be veil powers, but they will be tamed to keep things flowing nicely.

Looking at the game modes, Wolfenstein will offer the usual deathmatch styles, as well as the imaginatively titled Objective and Stopwatch modes. As expected, the Objective mode involves completing an objective, while the Stopwatch involves both teams having a chance at completing the objective, with the winner being the team who does it faster. Who would have thought.

There will also be alterations to the way unlockables and upgrades work in the multiplayer game. Instead of creating an invincible deathmachine with all the upgrades, you will have to choose your power-ups carefully as you can only use one at a time. The weapons will be the same as in the single player game, and will all be available from the start.

There will be eight multiplayer maps in total, and they will not feature in the single player campaign, but will follow the same themes (so don't expect to be fighting nazis in Wonderland or anything).

Pretty much what you'd expect. But is that a good or bad thing?