Wolfenstein Return to Castle

What is it? - the great fps game that combine horror and military action in a way that never had been before.

Game profile - It boosted the craze of PC gaming over consoles.

The good about it - both multiplayer and singleplayer is greatly developed. It means you get two in one pack.

The bad about it - terribly horror full, not for those who are little unfit.

I rate it - 9.2/10

Wolfenstein has played many role in gaming. Wolfenstein 3D is what put ID soft on the map. Wolfenstein 3D is what made PC gaming cool, what made action games on aPC better than those on a console. From Wolfenstein, we got Doom and Doom made networks cool. From Doom we got Quake, and Quake made Internet gaming cool and helped popularize the net in general. The Internet, as we all know, ignited and was the core of the longest sustained economic boom that America (and by default most of the western world) has experienced. Thus, Wolfenstein 3D is responsible for your current cushy job and the general level of prosperity we’re currently experiencing. That may be a “bit” of a stretch, but the connection is certainly there, somewhere.

Wolfenstein 3D took place during World War II, where you played one BJ Blazkowitz, a soldier on a mission to escape from the infamous…you got it, Castle Wolfenstein, occupied by the Third Reich . Apparently, anything and everything of value, including the Fuhrer himself, was located in said castle. Blazkowitz went through, taking down guard dogs (giant rats in the Nintendo-fied SNES version) , soldiers who cried “mein leben” (my life) in the most comic fashion and monstrous humans who ate hundreds of pounds of lead unleashed from BJ’s chaingun. Yes, poor old BJ had no rocket launcher, no shaft and no railgun. In a fit of pity, iD took the valued Wolfenstein license and allowed Gray Matter interactive and Nerver software to give the series a facelift.

Gameplay

Sometimes, no matter how perfect the recipe and good the ingredients, it takes only one mistake to ruin the cake. Take Wolfenstein’s AI, for example. Nazi soldiers are smart – if they hear gunfire while in a peaceful area, they’ll sound the alarm. They know how to use grenades and how to kick them back at the player if he throws one. They retreat, reinforce and use cover quite well.

It’s just a shame that every Nazi can shoot a black flea off a black, hairy dog at 500 paces. Amazing how they lost the war, really, with such fine aim. If we didn’t know better, we’d suspect that these soldiers got their aiming code straight from the bots in Quake III Arena. Take this example – halfway across a huge map, a panzerschreck wielding soldier walks in on a fight where you happen to be sniping at some poor saps. The distance is easily approaching a quarter of a mile, and the panzerschreck has never been known for its accuracy. Said Nazi slings his rocket launcher over his shoulder, squints an eye… and hits you dead-on. But that is surely a fluke, a bug with the panzerschreck aim?

Some of the game screens are below:



























































Maybe I’m losing my edge, but I find nowadays that the singleplayer game is quite important to me – more so than multiplayer. A merely average result, like the one in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, was disappointing after all the hype and promises. Even with the fancy graphics, the singleplayer could not score above a 75% - just slightly above the average game out there. If you’re looking for an interesting solo challenge, try Aliens vs. Predator 2.

With so many multiplayer options out there for gamers – the Tribes games, Counter-Strike, TFC, Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena – being a standout multiplayer game is tough and unrewarding. Even though RTCW has the best multiplayer we’ve reviewed since Tribes 2 (and definitely better if you prefer a real-world feel to your game), the plethora of other multiplayer options drowns out some of Wolfenstein’s thunder. Perhaps that is why though I feel compelled to score the online aspect of Wolfenstein in the low 90s, it adds only a mere 10 points to the 75% score the singleplayer game would get. Make no bones about it, however – Wolf is very likely to be the next big multiplayer hit. If that is your cup of tea, laying down the greenbacks for this game is a wise decision.