The following look at Wolfenstein's multiplayer is supplemental to our review, which didn't take the mode into account because its servers were not populated at the time.

Format: 360 (version tested), PC, PS3
Release: Out now
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Raven Software/Endrant Studios

The public gets what the public wants – or should that be the other way around? It’s hard to tell with disposable multiplayer modes. Every now and then you’ll read of questionnaires sent to someone or other, asking whether last year’s solo sleeper should be next year’s multiplayer hit. Then you end up with zero-G deathmatch in Dead Space 2 (the latest rumour), and no one knows quite who to blame.

So who do we blame for the eight maps, three modes and three classes that constitute multiplayer in Wolfenstein? UK based developer Endrant Studios? Good luck: many of its staff have just been made redundant (and there were only 17 to begin with); a disposable team, you might say, for an eminently disposable game. Activision, then, which isn’t exactly a stranger to these woods? Or do we, as usual, blame ourselves? Sadly, for the vast majority of modern online modes, the bottom line is this: someone keeps asking, someone keeps listening, and no one keeps playing.

So it will be with Wolfenstein, which is a shame. The singleplayer game has a surprisingly strong backbone: a neat use of crouch toggle, grenades you can actually see, a no-nonsense melee system, and a satisfying rapport between Nazi brains and electrifying bullets. Everything on top is a shambles, which makes the notion of a stripped-down deathmatch rather appealing.

Team Deathmatch, Objective and Stopwatch. The latter two modes are primarily the same, though one is a game of two timed halves while the other plays out a single scenario to the end. An example would be defending Axis experiments from the invading Resistance. Opposing engineers set and disarm explosive charges while the soldiers and medics duke it out, waiting for one to go off and provide a shortcut to the target. Continued play unlocks weapons and class-based Veil powers, your selection from each category creating a vaguely distinct skill set. No one is BJ Blazkowicz.

It was barely a minute into our second game when the first major bug appeared. We manned a mounted gun emplacement, realised it offered little strategic advantage, and found we couldn’t unman it. Stuck in some transition state, unable to move or fire, we had little choice but to sit on a grenade and wait to respawn.

To make matters worse, rather than isolate the appeal of the singleplayer game, Wolfenstein's multiplayer fumbles it. The maps are schizophrenic, torn between serving all three game types. The fun balance of rampaging superman and cannon-fodder, furthermore, arguably closer to Serious Sam than previous Wolfensteins, vanishes when enemies twitch about the screen with human agility and soak up bullets like sponges.

Farcically, if you sign in and find anyone still doing this a month from now, it won’t be because they enjoy it. Like so many others, this is a game mode on life support - and a disproportionate number of multiplayer Achievements and Trophies are its medicine. It begs the question: how long can it be before someone stops the treatment and gives the people what they really want: one good game instead of two half-decent ones?