Area 51 is a mod for registered Wolfenstein, made by Luke Strauman. It was released on August 18, 2003.
Description[]
11 levels are featured. The first episode is completely finished, with the second episode only featuring stabs at an opening level and the remainder being unfinished. The mod is heavily based on Blake Stone with a theme of the paranormal, aliens and UFO's. Many coding changes are featured including many new additional weapons with unique ammo, extra added enemies with different behavior, armor, Read This!, toxic pools that cause damage, landmines, destructible objects, animated objects, end level objects and Tesla coils that can be switched off. Ceiling- and floor colors and the music order has also been changed with new music featured from Blake Stone. Intermission art features heavily as debriefing.
Though Blake Stone was an obvious source of inspiration and material, DOOM and Perfect Dark were also acknowledged by Strauman as influences.
Genesis[]
Already announced (complete with title screen) in February 2002, numerous updates were posted on the project throughout 2002. On May 6 that year, Strauman stated that it was close to being finished. Screenshots were posted with material that did not feature in the final version.
On February 17, 2003, Strauman released a beta on his own website. No news were heard on the project until August 18, when the would-be final version was released on the Wolfenstein 3D Dome.
Legacy[]
A relatively feature-heavy mod for its time, the fact that it was unfinished and several minor bugs mar the gameplay at times may have stood in the way for making this a widely recognized mod. Space-themed Wolfenstein 3D mods were in short supply at this time, certainly with coding changes, and had the mod been finished fully as intended its reception and legacy may have fared better; the mod was notoriously passed over for the Dome Award in favor of Remake.
External links[]
- Download Area 51 at The Wolfenstein 3D Dome (archived)
- Download Area 51 at The Wolfenstein 3D Vault
- Download at MediaFire
- News at the Dome: JUL/AUG 2003 JAN/FEB 2003 NOV/DEC 2002 JUL/AUG 2002 MAR/APR 2002 JAN/FEB 2002