The game’s roots are firmly entrenched in the early days of graphic gaming, with an innovative game called Castle Wolfenstein. Then, the player was an Allied spy tasked with taking down the Nazis, even planting a bomb practically in Hitler’s lap. Gamers cackled with glee at the bad guys’ chants of "Sieg Heil!" — sound that complex was rare in gaming.

Years later, id Software pretty much single-handedly kicked off the first-person shooter craze with Wolfenstein 3D. Where the original concentrated on sneakiness, this new approach was a double-fisted slugfest. Mortyr is, at its core, an update of that update. The story promises great things: The year is 2093, and the Nazi war machine rules the world. Seems the tide turned in 1944, when the Axis’ mysterious Wunderwaffe troops scored devastating victories against the Allied forces. Nothing could stop the Reich’s drive toward world domination.

More than a century later, the Earth is tearing itself apart. A scientist named Jurgen Mortyr realizes the turmoil is a helluva side effect from use of time travel back in 1944. That’s how the Nazis won the war, of course, and in doing so ensured the planet’s destruction. So Jurgen sends his mercenary son back in time, to the bedroom of the time machine’s creator on the eve of its completion. But faster than you can shout "D’oh!" the plan goes awry, and the player must fight his way through all sorts of odds to save the world.

Such potential! Imagine the possibilities of a time-travel army: A few dinosaurs unleashed on enemy infantry, perhaps, or the careful removal of key Allied generals from the time-stream. Mortyr seems content to imply the Nazis reached into the future for fresh troops, though, which brings on paradox after paradox.

Still, okay, time travel is all about paradox, and we can suspend disbelief for a game. If it’s done well. Which Mortyr is, for the days of Quake 2 and its ilk. But in the wake of majesties like Half-Life and System Shock 2, Mortyr falls short. There are no scripted events here, and the narrative is moved forward by the player walking alongside books spinning in mid-air. Each book provides a scrap of story, usually in the form of letters between members of the time-travel project.

Really, the whole setup looks very much like Wolfenstein 3D, with the players’ health, ammo and armor ratings across the bottom. There are some items scattered around that can be used in a simple inventory system, like flashlights and papers. (The papers are a nice touch — activate them and the Nazis ignore the player for a short amount of time.) Power-ups — which in recent shooters have been logically placed — are back to the "spinning object in the middle of a room" motif.

Levels are another throwback to the early days of shooters. Most are small, and involve killing all the bad guys until you find the one with a silver or gold key. Open a door, go to the next level, kill ‘em all, repeat. Déjà vu all over again.

What makes all of this bearable are the absolutely gorgeous backdrops. The castles and cathedrals soar, with huge stained-glass windows and murky dungeons and sinister sewers. Atmospheric effects — drifting snow, pouring rain — even come out quite well. Sadly, there’s a problem here, too — the game is so damn dark that much of this splendor is lost. We know, every 3D card has different gamma settings, but we literally had to play this at night with the blinds drawn and lights off just to see around most levels. Worse yet, there’s no gamma control in the game.

Mortyr could have been salvaged as a sort of two-fisted over-the-top shooter, with an ultra-macho hero and outrageous enemies. That would have drawn attention from the short levels and simplistic goals. As it is, it’s a bit of a nostalgia piece that will make veteran gamers remember the early days. Players new to the genre will probably get bored easily and switch back to Opposing Force.