Spear of Destiny

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Box art.

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. 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.

Although it was released after Wolfenstein 3-D, Spear of Destiny is a prequel. Believing his army will become invincible if he obtains the fabled Spear of Destiny, Hitler steals the relic from France. 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.

Personal

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 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. I finished it on 2022-02-23.

Status

I own Spear of Destiny on Steam and have beat it at Bring 'Em On difficulty.

Review

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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, only, the game isn't as impressive this time around.
  • Adrian Carmack new art looks pretty good and Bobby Prince's new music sounds nice.
  • The transition from Nazi Germany to hell is was 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.
  • The levels are much less inspired that the original. Many of them are long sprawling corridors with very little decoration or variation.

Ugly

  • Same as with Wolfenstein 3-D.

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

Videos

Longplay - Bring 'Em On difficulty.

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

Links

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