Released in 1992 as a DOS game, the impact of Wolfenstein 3D cannot be understated. It was the fist major software release from id software, although they had programmed some similar EGA games for Softdisc. The game was published by Apogee software, with one episode (10 levels) for free hoping to entice gamers to purchase the full game. The full game has over 60 levels. John Carmac reportedly began working on the after seeing an Ultima Underworld tech demo, and wanted to make a faster, action-oriented engine. The game has easily-modifiable graphics and easy to create levels, and pretty much started the modern mod scene. The game was controversial for its heavy reliance on Nazi symbolism, Nazi music, and violence. But it was still exceedingly campy and humorous; at one point you fight robot soldiers who have guns embedded in their chests and bleed purple, and when you finally face Hilter he's a mechanized tank-like fuhrer. The game has been ported to multiple platforms; the SNES version suffered from some particularly harsh censorship. id eventually released the source code to the engine, and there are OpenGL and Direct3D version of the game to be found. (more...)