Upon its arrival in 1993, ID Software’s Nazi-slaying masterpiece, Wolfenstein 3-D, was one of the first games ever to use the now overtly common first-person shooter style in its gameplay. The obvious successors to this pioneering format were DOOM, Quake, Blakestone, Goldeneye, and Call of Duty. Nevertheless, like all classic games, Wolfenstein 3-D has been immortalised on the iPhone format - but has it stood the test of time?

Most people who are old enough to remember the original Wolfenstein 3-D game will probably still have fond memories of reveling, for the first time, in a 3-D world full of rich colours, fascists, blood, guts, and rabid Nazi hellhounds, which, if we’re honest, is something everyone should experience at least once in their lives...

Thankfully, the rebirth of Wolfenstein 3-D on the iPhone makes this experience a reality. No sooner have you loaded up the first level, and bagged your first Nazi, you realise that the game is identical to when you first played it 16 years ago.  

Granted the graphics look pretty awful by today’s standards, and the actual game itself is no way near as engaging as you remember it being. But you won’t be playing this game for the graphics or the gameplay, as there’s far superior ones available on the apps market. You’re playing it because it’s Wolfenstein 3-D. Think of it as a homage to your youth, ID Software, and the history of gaming.

As we said, everything is there from the original - the sound effects, the music, the layout, the whole package. And this is one of the most appealing aspects of the Wolfenstein 3-D experience on the iPhone. We came over all nostalgic once we’d opened up the first level and realised that the developers have left everything well alone as it should be.

Obviously, being a first-person shooter the controls are quite important and fortunately Wolfenstein 3-D does not disappoint in this department - well, not completely anyway.

There are four control styles open to you: the first lets you control all movement with one virtual key located on the left-hand side of the screen, and fire your weapon with a button on the right hand side. The second is similar but the fire button is moved up to the top right hand corner to make room for a button that allows you to strife. Consequently, the other two styles are utterly useless, and don’t even warrant a mention. Overall, we found the first - default - to be the best by far.

In conclusion, Wolfenstein 3-D is a resounding success in our eyes. Every aspect that we loved about the original has been moved over to the iPhone format seamlessly, with the game play free of lag, glitches, and long loading times.

Wolfenstein 3-D is the perfect travel companion, you can do a couple of levels on the tube on the way to work, and a few on the way back. It’s big enough to take a couple of weeks doing it this way, or you can sit down and session it, as we did, which will take you about three days - we’d recommend doing the former though.

In short, if you loved the original, get this game, we promise you will not be disappointed.