Good day.
The early to mid 2000's was really a hay day for the first person shooter genre.
They still had great, fast paced run-and-gun gameplay from the previous era, but now this
gameplay actually had context.
Now you had more to do than just run forward and kill everything.
AI and enemy types were also getting more varied and complex.
Now, enemies were getting smart enough to fight back instead of dying in droves.
Now, here we have Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
A sequel, slash remake, of what is quite literally the first first person shooter.
It is one of the best examples of that new breed of first person shooters.
Graphically, the game was quite good looking, with the enemies looking quite detailed, moreso
than just about any other at that time.
Really, this is one of the first games to reach the graphics plateau.
Essentially, in the early 2000's, graphics reached a point where they still looked good
even to modern eyes.
The 3D models and levels here look as good as any seen today.
Sure, modern graphics may be sharper, with slightly better textures, but they will still
look pretty much like this.
Gameplay is... that of a first person shooter, as one would expect.
But there is more to do than just shoot, and at times there are other ways of dispatching
enemies than just shooting them.
You get a knife, and you can perform stealth backstabs.
As you can see, it's pretty bloody effective.
There are also objects you can interact with, such as alarms and switches that can lead
to secret areas.
That's really the best thing about this game; the secrets are handled just like they were
back in the day.
You activate something and then a bit of the wall moves.
And then you can of course find weapons and ammo, OR gold, which is just an amazing little
touch.
Another cool thing is that the game gives you your stats upon completion of a level,
and it tells you how many attempts it took to complete it.
So if you suck tremendously, you will know just how bad you suck.
AI for the game is really quite good.
The enemies actually know how to get into cover, and will work together to kill you.
Furthermore, the instruction manual even says that enemies are smart enough to kick grenades
at you, which they do to pretty good effect.
Sound for the game is pretty damn good.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein was really one of the first games of that era to have an
overly orchestral soundtrack that actually does a good job of giving the game a nice,
dramatic feel.
Now all the weapons sound really good, with the MP-40 sounding really deep and powerful,
and more menacing than it has since.
Voice acting is also spot on, and pretty much better than any other voice acting heard in
any other first person shooter game of this era.
The story for the game is deep and complex; on the surface, the game may appear to be
another generic war shooter, but it is anything but.
The plotline does not just stay in basic World War II territory.
Essentially, it's not even until halfway into the game that the real villain is even mentioned.
And when you finally get to the end of the game, well, let's just say it's a metric ton
of awesome.
Thankfully, this game was not affected by the later FPS standard two weapon rule.
You can carry a huge number of weapons and ammo is actually handled realistically.
You see, you eventually get a Thompson Submachine Gun, but you never actually get any ammo for
it because you're behind the German lines and they don't use that particular weapon.
Really, the main weapon you will be using in the game is the solid and dependable MP-40.
Not only was it an exemplary weapon in real life, but here, it is basically the main weapon
of the game.
It has a great rate of fire, and you trip over so much ammo for it that you never really
will run out.
Then there is the sniper rifle.
It's accurate, ammo is somewhat plentiful, and it's very powerful.
The Silenced Sten is... okay.
It allows for stealth, but not much else, as it overheats quite quickly.
Now there are many other great weapons to be found in the game, but I don't want to
spoil them here.
But let's just say, on some of the harder enemies found later in the game, you definitely
need to get Ol' Painless out of the bag.
The enemies have a very wide variety as they range from the generic infantrymen to the
elite infantrywoman that is armed with a Silenced Sten, and if you think that doesn't make sense,
then guess what the next type of enemy you fight is!
ZOMBIES!
Yes, in this game, you don't just fight half the German army.
Instead, there are various paranormal and cybernetic enemies to be found.
In short, the game does not ever get boring on the enemies front.
So in the end, Return to Castle Wolfenstein was just as epic and legendary as Wolfenstein
3D.
It had great throwbacks to classic first person shooting, while still keeping with the then
modern style of first person shooting.
This is a game that is, of course, a must have.
And so, this is Jon, signing off.