Beyond Wolfenstein 2

Beyond Wolfenstein 2
Title screen
Author(s)	Nate Smith
Release Date	July 7, 1999
Base Game	Registered Wolfenstein
Sourceport	DOS
Features
Type	Mod
Code Changes	Yes
Maps	20
New Graphics	Yes
Files Included	All

Beyond Wolfenstein 2 (also styled II) is a mod for registered Wolfenstein, made by Nate Smith. It was released on July 7, 1999.

Features

Expanding on the original Beyond Wolfenstein, this mod features two episodes rather than one; Fatface's Revenge and A POW's Story. Both episodes have 10 levels; 9 straight and 1 secret in each.

A shotgun (or rifle, rather) replaces the pistol, just like in Beyond Wolfenstein. There is no chaingun available in the mod, with a modified AK47 instead taking its place. However, one of the hot features of this mod - certainly for its time - is the inclusion of the missile launcher as a weapon, complete with separate ammo pickup, both single missiles as well as multiple missiles in a crate. This weapon makes for excellent use when confronted with the many bosses or mini-bosses present in the mod, most notably an enlarged blue SS guard who drops an AK47 upon dying.

So all in all, 5 weapons are obtainable, most likely the first mod to have this many different weapons, and with three different kinds of ammo to boot. Furthermore, the status bar now included the extra digit needed to display the 99+ ammo rate. Ammo rate has been increased to 250, and similar to Beyond Wolfenstein health has been increased to 115 %.

The crosshair is enabled by pressing X.

Though not listed in the Read Me as being a new feature, a crosshair has been added. This is enabled and disabled when pressing the X key. This feature works particularly well with weapons at a tilted angle (e.g. the shotgun and the AK47).

The lighting effect is particularly well done. Also note the two different pickups for the shotgun shells.

A very evocative lighting effect also appears; when standing underneath a ceiling light, the player's view is illuminated.

Also similar to Beyond Wolfenstein, Episode 1's bonus level is a long, heavily guarded "racetrack" level of sorts, where Otto Giftmacher is present. However, unlike Beyond Wolfenstein, Otto does not respawn. Instead he drops the missile launcher, which definitely turned quite a few heads upon release in mid-1999.

The final boss level once again features General Fettgesicht in slightly altered form; though his uniform remains unchanged his weapons are now shining silver.

Throughout the mod, one can sometimes hear a faint death scream, and in some instances an officer shouting. These are meant as ambient sounds, a feature that also was used prominently in later mods such as Totengraeber and Project: Eisenritter.

Episode 2, A POW's Story, begins with yet another beguiling feature for the time: colored floors. Most floor colors in the episode are black, giving the impression of being in a dungeon. Animated BJ's (replaced Pac-Man ghosts) are present behind bars in some of the dungeon areas. Once again, most of the levels feature either a boss or a mini-boss, and in the final boss level's case, both. The bonus level, accessed from the opening level, features no enemies or secret areas but is instead a show case of early outside atmosphere; the floor is murky green, the ceiling is black, and the level is two blocks of stone in a desolate landscape of shrubs and a landscape texture replacement featuring what appears to be pouring rain; had it been possible in 1999, Smith would probably have wanted weather effects, and would probably know how to do so.

The final two levels are played back-to-back, as both feature the same outside atmosphere as that of the bonus level. One stunning feature at the time is the inclusion of an end level object to end level 8, rather than the standard elevator switch. Once again, this is proof that Smith was an early purveyor of what numerous TC's and mods would do in the following years.

Graphics, sounds and music

Unlike Beyond Wolfenstein, most graphics remain true to original Wolfenstein 3D and are used rather conservatively. The mutant is not even featured. Some graphics that were later used in other mods are the gray steel panel, which, after some fine tuning, became popular in Totengraeber and many mods beyond, in addition to the re-colored walls; a handful of re-colored brown marble textures also appear, in blue and gray. Other than the shotgun pickups, no other new sounds appear as such; Giftmacher's death scream has been slightly altered (a thundercrack is heard upon muttering Donner Wetter, very fittingly) and music, though changed in places, only features music found in original Wolfenstein 3D.

Versioning

Originally, Beyond Wolfenstein II was released in early July 1999. Several small fixes were released in its wake, with v2.0 featuring the following coding changes:

• Guards drop blood when shot at

• Ammo box from Spear of Destiny added
• Different ammo box added (shotgun shells)
• Rocket launcher w/separate ammo added
• Changes to music

Obscurity

With the release of Beyond Wolfenstein 2 Special Edition, which used all of the levels (some in slightly altered fashion) and with even more new features, this particular mod became obscure and in some respects obsolete. And along with the two other Beyond Wolfenstein's, the mod was withdrawn by request from Todd Hollenshead of id Software on February 3, 2001. It has never been republished, and was for a long time unavailable on the Wolfenstein 3D Dome and many other download sites for Wolfenstein 3D mods.

Screenshots and description

The status bar now holds all three digits in the ammo section. Also note the missile pickup in the corridor corner.

The missile launcher is sure to leave enemies biting the dust pretty fast.

The constant presence of bosses or mini-bosses will confuse the kill rate upon finishing the level. Either way, a bonus is guaranteed as long as at least 100 % has been obtained.

In A POW's Story, the black floor color is particularly immersive. Also note a fellow BJ stuck behind bars!

For its time, E2L10 evoked an outside atmosphere very well. Devoid of enemies and secrets, the level works more as a showcase of what was to come rather than a proper level.

This new texture evokes pouring rain; weather effects were not instated until a few years after the release of this mod.

The mod is sadly not without bugs, however. Shooting this particular enemy in this level will cause the mod to crash (An actor in ATTACKMODE called SightPlayer!), and 100 % kill is thus not possible on this particular level (E2L6).

The brief E2L8 features an end level object, most likely the first time this features in a mod.

Though E2L9 features plenty of pickups and a mini-boss in addition to Otto Giftmacher, none of this is evident when BJ jumps. Due to the DOS engine's limitations, a certain number of objects cannot be displayed all at once.

Though spanning only 20 levels, most of which are small in size, there is a lot of interesting points in Beyond Wolfenstein II.

External links

• Download Beyond Wolfenstein 2 at DropBox (hosted by Thomas Weiling)
• Youtube video - CGameRock ARG