The game that the vast majority of gamers would consider being the granddaddy of first-person shooters was Wolfenstein 3D. No one at the time could have ever imagined that blasting Nazis would feel so good. Yet everyone was baffled about why there was no sequel to the game. But that may have been a good thing, since first-person shooters would evolve into one of the most-played genres in the videogame history. Although the popularity of first-person shooters was reaching new levels by the year, the demand for a sequel to Wolf 3D was increasing every day. So when id and Activision announced that developer Gray Matter would be making the sequel, many thought that Grey Matter wouldn't do the sequel justice. But after playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein, I can tell you that the student has learned the ways of its teacher. The game wreaks of nostalgia from the beginning to the end, but still manages to mix in some next-generation flavor to keep everyone satisfied. In the end, Return to Castle Wolfenstein has done the original justice, but with style.

You will assume the role of U.S. Army Ranger B.J.(insert joke here) Blazkowicz. They send you to investigate rumors of the Nazis undergoing genetic engineering. Upon discovering some of genetic plans, you discover that the Nazis plan to take the war to an all-new level by introducing undead creatures and super-soldiers. Their mission is to ultimately resurrect Heinrich 1, a being that in its time could not be killed, only imprisoned. Your job is to make sure that doesn't happen.

Gameplay:

The gameplay in RTCW is about as classic as you can get, though Gray Matter tried really hard to cover its overall simplicity. The missions are very linear, where you must complete certain objectives, and kill the Nazis that get in your way. However, I should point out that the entire game does not require you to infiltrate enemy territory with guns blazing. Some missions require you to use stealth tactics, such as taking out the guards with sounding off the alarm. Using stealth is actually a delightful distraction to what is ultimately a very straightforward game. There is a total of seven missions, which are broken down into several levels. The missions will take you through the confines of a German castle, a heavily guarded air base, to the mysterious excavation site where the all-powerful Heinrich lays dormant. One thing that I liked about playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein, is that it includes many secret rooms and treasures throughout the game. Now it's not like the secrets found in Serious Sam. No wait, they are like the secrets rooms found in Serious Sam. It's not a bad thing, but more like two great minds thinking alike. In RTCW, several treasures are located in each level. They really have no meaning, nor do you benefit from finding them. Maybe they were trying to pay tribute to the original. Who knows. The story of RTCW revolves more around the Nazis than B.J. Blazkowicz and the allies. This is probably where the story stumbles a bit, because except for the end, there was really no insight in the main character.

The Nazis that you will encounter are some of the deadliest enemies that you will find in a video game. I was glad to see that there was such a variety available for you to shoot at. You will encounter your basic Nazi soldier, some genetically mutated creatures, undead soldiers, super-soldiers, and my favorite, the female elite guard. As you progress in the game, you will find that opposition can absorb an unbelievable amount of ammo before they will go down. Enemies like the super soldiers require you to chip away at its armor before it will become vulnerable to your attacks. Some enemies while fragile to enemy fire, use various tactical techniques to attempt to gain an advantage in a fight. It is very common to see guards roll for cover, and hide behind crates to pick their shots. The accuracy of the AI leaves a bit to be desired. When in close range, the more powerful guards and soldiers can hit you without blinking, but at a distance, only the snipers show any sign of precision when firing. It's actually very funny to watch a hail of bullets hit everything but you.

The weapons that you have to combat the opposition are definitely designed for some intense carnage. From the basic pistol to the flesh-ripping venom, you never get tired from using any of the weapons. When those aren't available, you are left with your knife and your big boot. When you don't have a silent weapon, the knife can be an effective tool to neutralize the guards. The boot on the other hand, is only useful when you need to take out some of your frustrations on the various Nazis propaganda placed throughout the game. That's not a bad thing though, as I personally made an effort to put my foot through any of the artwork that displayed Hitler's ugly mug. You'd be surprised how much stress you can relieve by kicking things around the room. If there was any complaint that I had with the weapons, it would be with the sniper rifle. I noticed that no matter how good my aim was, if I were trying to snipe at a great distance, the bullet would never seem to hit. It wouldn't happen all of the time, but when it did, I felt that I was well within range of hitting my target.

Graphics/Sound:

When I played Elite Force, I thought to myself, "wow! Look at what they did with the Quake 3 engine." And after playing RTCW, all I can think is, "wow! Look at what they did with the Quake 3 engine." All of the structures are wonderfully modeled and textured, making the buildings look very authentic. Some buildings that aren't really there anymore really looks as if a dozen bombs bombarded the area. If you think the outside of the buildings look good, just wait until you venture inside. Everything looks to rich in color and detail, it makes you wonder if Nazis really lived this good. They have filled the buildings with lots of colorful artwork, libraries, tables, chairs and more. The water doesn't look that good, but since you won't be around it too much, it's nothing to worry about. The game does not hold back on dynamic lighting, as it is everywhere you go. The fire in RTCW is some of the most impressive fire that I have seen in a video game. It looks very bright and orange, and carries the sense of intensity that you would find in real fires. When you use the flamethrower, prepare to be amazed by the constant stream of blazing glory that will grace across your screen. While it looks good when being fired or when in stationary places, it doesn't look that good when you see someone on fire. It looks very weak, and doesn't do a good job of recreating someone being on fire at all. Yet weapons like the Tesla will illuminate an environment with a level of electricity that you only thought was possible in the movies. The models themselves are also worth mentioning, because they are well modeled and nicely textured. The more powerful guards later in the game really begin to show off some excellent detail, especially the Super soldiers. Those guys look like they mean business!

When it comes to performance, RTCW for the most part runs rather smoothly. Most of the game, the game ran an average from 40-60+fps (tested on 1ghz, gf2 64MB, 512 MB RAM). I was surprised though that some of the smaller rooms caused the biggest dips in the framerate. That might have been due to the intense dynamic lighting, but since there was a great deal more of that type of lighting outside of a building, it made me wonder if that were the case. The game does run really good in the outdoor environments, regardless of the number of enemies on the screen at once. If your system is at least a p3/AMD 700mhz with 192 MB RAM and at least a Geforce 2 card, you shouldn't have any problems running this game smoothly without compromising the quality of the graphics.

The sound is very good, but what did you expect? This is id, Activision, and Gray Matter we are talking about here. These people don't let any department go untouched. All of the weapons, including the flamethrower, sound just like their real-life counterparts. There are good sound effects like a bullet striking a surface or the sound of a sniper rifle being fired really adds more realism to the game. Those who have subwoofers will definitely appreciate the sound effects, because there will be a whole lot of shakin' going on.

The voice acting is also goodl, even though I have heard many of those voices in other games. They really add to the personality of the characters that you do get to follow, and don't sound like a cheap impersonations. If there was one thing that I didn't like, it was the fact that the game doesn't use positional audio. You can hear literally everything through the walls, and once the conversation starts, you could walk a great distance away, and still hear the conversation very clear. The background music is a bit on the cliche side, playing a some of that army superhero type of music that you would hear in movies or cartoons. When you enter places where the supernatural dwell, the music then shifts to a theme that would fit perfectly in a scary movie. The music is very subtle, and never drowns out any of the other sounds in the game. Overall a solid effort.

Multiplayer/Devices:

There is no denying that the multiplayer will carry this game. There are three different modes for you to choose from. Objective requires you to complete a series of tasks within the given time limit. Stopwatch is essentially the objective mode, but at the end of each round, you switch sides. The checkpoint mode is where players must gain control of flags placed around the map. The team wins when either you gain control of all of the flags, or you have the most flags when time runs. These modes are really fun to play, but the more I played each of these modes, I came to a shocking discovery. These modes are carbon copies of the Assault and Domination modes found in Unreal Tournament. It's not a knock against the game, because the Assault and Domination modes in Unreal Tournament are probably the most played modes of that game. Probably the main difference is that the players in RTCW can interact more with the maps than in UT. The game supports up to (64) players in a game, and if you haven't experienced a game with a player count that high, I encourage you to try. It's WWII reborn. Amazingly, with a high number of people on the server, ping times are quite consistent and playable. There wasn't too many times where lag was an issue, and when lag did occur, it was due to the server unable to handle the bandwidth, not the clients.

As for devices, software like gamevoice and gamecommander are not necessary, but your experience will be greatly enhanced by using them. Many prerecorded voices are available for you to use. So if you are the type that likes to taunt a lot, or are the leader type who likes to execute well-coordinated attacks, then you will benefit more than anyone else. As good as the voice chat function for gamevoice is, it really doesn't help when you have an extreme number of people on one map. It just becomes a bit too chaotic.

The Wrap-up:

In the end, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a game that does a good job of mixing some old with some new. It won't make you feel like an actual soldier in a war, but more like Rambo. With excellent visuals, simple but effective gameplay, and a robust multiplayer mode, RTCW will be around for some time. The only game that even comes close to this is the half-life mod Day of Defeat. Yet even that mod cannot handle the level of action that is found in Wolfenstein. If you are looking for some pure Nazis-killing excitement, then Return to Castle Wolfenstein is the game for you, hands down.

 Single Player Demo

 Multiplayer Demo