Spear of Destiny
Spear of Destiny | ||||||||||||||||
MS-DOS - USA - 1st edition. |
||||||||||||||||
|
Spear of Destiny is a World War II themed first-person shooter developed by id Software and published by FormGen for MS-DOS on 1992-09-19. The game is the fourth game in the Wolfenstein series, and the second to use the Wolfenstein 3-D Engine. Although it was released after Wolfenstein 3-D, Spear of Destiny is a prequel. In 1994, FormGen released two add-ons for the game, Return to Danger and Ultimate Challenge, which were mostly reskins with new maps. Also, in 1994, a random map generator was released. All three products were released together in Spear of Destiny: Super CD Pack.
In the game's story, Hitler steals the fabled Spear of Destiny from France believing the relic will make his army invincible. Even if the Spear doesn't have supernatural powers, the Nazis have become even more aggressive with it in their possession, so the Allies send you, B.J. Blazkowics, to infiltrate Castle Nuremberg to take back the Spear. However, in doing so, you uncover secret Nazi plans for world domination.
Contents
Personal
Own? | Yes. On Steam. |
---|---|
Won? | Yes. Bring 'Em On difficulty. |
Finished | 2022-02-23. |
I'm pretty sure I saw ads for this game not long after I played Wolfenstein 3-D, because I remember seeing screenshots of one of the new bosses, but I didn't known anyone who owned it, so I don't think I actually played the game until after Doom was released. My first experience with it was from the Spear of Destiny demo, probably on some shovelware CD, and I found it to be pretty underwhelming, so I didn't bother getting it. After I found the registered version, I started playing it bu got bored by the second level. It was just too similar to the original, just with minor wall art differences and an ammo box. I bought a Wolfenstein pack on Steam, and had it in my collection for awhile, but it wasn't until 2022, after beating the last Wolf 3D episode without cheats, that I decided to play it all the way through.
Review
4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
Best Version: MS-DOS
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- Most of the good things about Wolfenstein 3-D are still true for Spear of Destiny.
- Adrian Carmack's new art looks pretty good and Bobby Prince's new music sounds nice.
- The transition from Nazi Germany to hell is a shocking shift in the game's tone.
Bad
- All of the same problems with Wolfenstein 3-D remain.
- Since it's little more than a reskin, the game isn't nearly as impressive as the original. After a year, both the technology and shock value feels dated.
- The levels are much less inspired that the original. Many of them are long sprawling corridors with very little decoration or variation. It's pretty obvious they rushed this out.
Ugly
- Same as with Wolfenstein 3-D, only I was bored of the game even more.
Media
Box Art
All regions use this painting by Ken Rieger, the same person who painted the original Wolfenstein 3-D cover. It shows BJ shattering the glass case of the Spear of Destiny. However, his rifle is actually a Russian model, not German.
Documentation
Maps
Graphics
Videos
Play Online
Representation
Strong female character? | Fail | There aren't any women. |
---|---|---|
Bechdel test? | Fail | There aren't any women. |
Strong person of color character? | Fail | Everyone is white. |
Queer character? | Fail | There aren't any queer characters. |
Download
Credits
Role | Staff |
---|---|
Chief Operating Officer | Jay Wilbur |
Director | Tom Hall |
Designers | Tom Hall, John Romero |
Writer | Tom Hall |
Engine Programmer | John Carmack |
Programmer | John Romero |
Additional Programming | Jason Blochowiak |
Graphics | Adrian Carmack |
Music, Sound Effects | Robert Prince |
Sound Driver | Jason Blochowiak |
Voices | Tom Hall, John Romero, Scott Miller |
Documentation | Kevin Cloud |
Box Art | Ken Rieger |
Expansion
Two expansions were made Spear of Destiny: Mission 2 - Return to Danger and Spear of Destiny: Mission 3 - Ultimate Challenge. These added new maps and new artwork. They were not made by id Software and are mostly just reskins of the original. I have not played them. The Spear of Destiny: Super CD Pack includes both add-ons as well as a random map generator.
Links
- Video Games
- 1992 Video Games
- Video games developed by id Software
- Video games published by FormGen
- DOS Games
- Video Game Genre - Action
- Video Game Genre - First-person shooter
- Video Game Genre - Shooter
- Media Theme - Action
- Media Theme - World War II
- Software Distribution Model - Commercial
- Video Games I Own
- Video Games I've Beaten
- Video Game Rating - 4
- Video Game Graphics Rating - 6
- Video Game Sound Rating - 5
- Video games which can be played online
- Video games without a strong female character
- Video games that fail the Bechdel test
- Video games without a strong person of color character
- Video games without a queer character
- Video games with expansions
- Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy