Wolfenstein 3D Classic (iPhone/iPod Touch)

I've stayed in the FPS groove today, and gone from a modern classic that I'd never played to a true classic from the ages that I'd never played.

Wolfenstein 3D is, basically, the game that founded the First Person Shooter genre. To have not played it is to leave a serious gap in my gaming knowledge, and even if I have played Doom and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, it's not quite the same as the original.

Not that this is either, by all accounts, but it seems as good as. It's got all the levels of the original game, and in fact has been tweaked seemingly for the better (in most cases).

The one thing I'm having a little bit of trouble with so far is/are the controls. You've got two real choices here... a control panel which you press to move, or the accelerometer 'tilt' controls. I can't really get them working comfortably. Trouble is, I'm having a little bit of difficulty with the standard controls. It's walking forward I'm struggling with. You'd think I'd just had eight pints of Sneck Lifter, or something... I move in a very wobbly fashion, with a tendency to veer to the right.

If I can conquer that, then the rest of the game is a triumph. Although it looks undeniably old-fashioned, there's a certain charm to it, and I particularly like the animation on the plugged SS guards as they fall. There are 60 levels, with the option to start on any of them; there's a very handy automap function which can be brought up at the touch of an icon... and there are lots of Nazis (and their dogs) to kill.

I think that, with this new set-up, Wolfenstein 3D Classic is a damn good game for a mobile phone/MP3 player. Portable games should be split into bite-sized chunks... you're never likely to have an extended session. This has 60 bite-sized chunks, and the fact you can resume where you left off (another handy new feature) means that it's not a problem if any bite proves too big. For £2.99, I think this is a very worthy addition to your iPhone or iPod Touch.