It's been almost 10 years since the last Wolfenstein game... but does anyone care that the series is being revived? That's the question that Joystiq asked after taking a look at the demo.

Go to the source for the full preview.

It's been 8 years since the release of the last real Wolfenstein game. After seeing Wolfenstein last week at an Activision event, we wonder if there's any reason to revisit the franchise.

There's a fine line between "classic" and "dated," and Wolfenstein finds itself on the wrong side of the fence. Fighting Nazis was a novel idea back in the series' prime, but it has since become a tired idea. At first glance, Wolfenstein can only be described as generic. A FPS that has you crawling through World War II shooting Nazis? After dozens of Call of Duty and Medal of Honor games, to call the era overused would be an understatement.

Gameplay and setting aren't the only things dated about Wolfenstein. The visuals are lackluster, undoubtedly hindered by the aging idTech 4 engine (Doom 3 engine). We couldn't help but notice how poor the texture work was and how uninspired the levels looked through the entirety of the hands-off demonstration. Although the visuals were rather bland, we were taken aback by the shoddy framerate. Yes, the game still has quite a bit of development left ahead of it, but this early look certainly didn't give us much confidence.

Miss Razz via joystiq.com »