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Return to Castle Wolfenstein

by Robert "Bilko" Shaw

Article Type: Review
Article Date: January 14, 2002

Product Info

Product Name: Return To Castle Wolfenstein
Category: First Person Shooter
Developer: Gray Matter
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: Released
Min. Spec: PII 400 or equiv.; 128MB RAM; 3D Vid Accel. 16MB VRAM; 800MB HD space; 4X CD-ROM,
Files & Links: Click Here

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The Story Begins

Your name is B.J. Blazkowicz and you are a U.S. Army Ranger who has been assigned the top secret duty of investigating strange happenings and occult activity within the Nazi regime. Only problem is youve already been caught by the Nazis and your handlers back home have decided in their wisdom to sit tight. All thats left for you to do is attempt an escape from the Nazi peril that has you locked up in a cold damp castle.

Animated Main Menu

The Manual

First off, Im not sure about the rest of Europe, but we British seem to be getting nearly all our games in DVD cases. Like or not, it seems to be the path most chosen by game publishers these days and so we may have seen the last of the regular size manuals. Although the manual isnt the biggest or the greatest Ive seen, at least it has some useful information on almost every aspect of the game.

For single player play you are given info regarding the basic storyline and information on the bad guys. The baddies are mostly German soldiers mostly, but theres a host of other-worldly uglies you'll need to kill off. Youll also get pointers on all the special items available to help you make it through the game. Half of the information in the manual is dedicated to the multiplayer aspect of the game and it even touches on etiquette. Ive never seen a section on muliplayer etiquette in a manual before which is great since one only has to be online five minutes to experience the very small amount of idiots who can ruin a good game for the many sensible gamers out there. Although its not a lot of info on the subject, at least its something.

Throughout the manual youll come across screenshots and images of the HUD, setup screens and useful pictures relevant to making your introduction to Return To Castle Wolfenstein (RTCW) as easy as possible. Also included is a small but useful key card. With colour coding for the key commands in single player, multiplayer and the commands for both single player and multiplayer together. For some unknown reason, we Europeans have to register our copies of RTCW by post while the US owners can register online. So we Europeans have a registration card included as well. All in all, the information contained in the manual is plentiful and useful indeed.

Mission Objectives

Installation

Installing RTCW went like a treat without any problems whatsoever and took around five minutes. I loathe CD keys though. I could not tell if I had an O or 0 in my key, if you know what I mean. One point Id like to make regarding the CD key: Someone thought it would be a good idea to place the CD key on a sticker then place the sticker inside the DVD case. Anyone wanting an illegal copy with a CD key is laughing all the way to warezville. Wouldnt it have been better to put the CD key on the disc or the manual? Make sure you dont lose your CD key, the manual states categorically that if you do lose your CD key youll not get another.

Harsh? Yes, but theres a simple way to of make your life easier. Make copies of your CD key—write it in the manual, write it a notebook, write it on a text document and save it on a disc. Making enough copies of the CD key will make it harder to lose, just do not give out your CD key to anyone. Youll get the options of having two icons for RTCW placed on your desktop. Like all my games and programs that get regular use, I dragged my RTCW icons down to the task bar.



Main Menu and Options

When the installation process is completed you will get the obligatory introduction movie to the game, but this is no ordinary shooter, so don't skip it. After watching the intro I was all fired up and ready for action. My adrenaline levels were through the roof! Sarcasm? Not at all, I really liked it! I couldnt wait to try this game out. You can tell that a lot of time and effort (and money, no doubt) went into the intro. The intro also establishes the entire premise for the game to come so to just skip over it would be a shame.

Once you get to the very classy looking main menu/options screen youll see many options available to adjust and tweak the graphics as well as the ability to alter the key configuration and the sounds. You can change your cross-hair type as well as the HUD brightness. Good move that. Ive sometimes found the crosshair in games too bright especially at night and the ability to alter this should be implemented in all games. A nice touch with the key commands is the option of having an alternate for each one. So each command can have two different assignments.

Note: In RTCW if you alter the key commands for single player and want the same keys for multiplayer youll have to alter them in the multiplayer game setup screen.

Morning light on the castle

Gameplay

Theres no doubt RTCW was made for multiplayer and Ill talk about this further on in the review. Although the single player game has some interesting twists the plot is quite shallow and its just a matter of moving through the levels killing the baddies as you go. Very often you'll be presented with a rather pointless exercise of pulling a lever to open a door right beside it, or flicking a switch that doesn't do anything. Puzzle solving and finding secret levers and switches that actually do reveal a secret area are few and far between and their implementation is far from inspired. When you do find a lever that reveals a secret area you might find a bit of treasure, but whats that all about? Nowhere in the single player game can you use this treasure for anything. Great, now I have a gold trinket I cant do anything with.

Catacombe Welcome Party

The single player game could have been better, a lot better. My attraction to this game was World War II and although I knew I was going to face some suspect characters, one section of the game had far too many ghoulies / zombies for my likes. I wondered if I was ever going to see another Kraut and had my doubts of even continuing. As the game progressed I did see more Germans, plenty of them. There are other characters including the leather-clad Nazi women who deserve a mention. These ladies are tough and theyll kick your butt!

The AI's behaviour was pretty easy to predict after a while. Their movement whilst attacking makes for a better game though, without that ability, this game would have been doomed. If you do manage to lose your health levels to the Hun, youll find med packs all over the place as well as meals and other means of raising you strength such as armour and drinks. The same goes for ammunition and weapons too. There are sometimes ammo clips with the med packs and youll get more ammo from the armed soldiers that you kill, but there is a limit to your ammo quantity depending on the type of weapon you have.

Cinematics

The cinematic scenes between levels in RTCW may look very good, but they were almost a let down. If it wasnt for their humour and good looks I would have cursed them or gone for a cup of coffee as there are plenty of them. I wanted so much to see something bring the game to life.



Multiplayer

Online is where RTCW excels and gets the popularity vote. Multiplayer is very easy to set up and play. Each time Ive started a multiplayer session Ive found at least 800 servers on the go so you wont be stuck for choice. Multiplayer is unlike single player because you can play either as an Axis (German) or Allies (American) soldier. Within each of these you can choose from four different classes of soldier: Soldier, Engineer, Medic or Lieutenant. Each soldier type has different skills, weapons, and abilities in the game. I would advise choosing the Soldier option until youre aware of the mission types and the character's abilities and duties, otherwise you could frustrate a lot of other players in the game. Youre not going to be Mr. Popular if you choose to be a medic and someone bleeding next to you is screaming "MEDIC!" but you dont know how to administer First Aid. The maximum number of players in a game is 64. Thats a lot and it can get very confusing if you dont have a plan.

multi-player menu

With all the game types being team based, it is important you have an idea what your objectives are and that you know the capabilities of the type of soldier you are playing.

The three game types are, Wolf MP (default), Wolf SW, and Wolf CP.
  • Objective Wolf MP: This is the default mode, it has one or more objective(s) with a time limit on the game. The first team to complete the objective(s) wins the game;
  • Stopwatch Wolf SW: This is the same as above BUT this time after each round the teams switch sides and try to beat the other side's time from the previous round.
  • Checkpoint Wolf CP: Each team fights to gain control of the checkpoints (flags) placed around the map. The team that wins is the team with control of all the checkpoints (flags) or the most when the time is up. I like this style of team-based gameplay. Theres no Deathmatch as such, but if you want to and its agreeable with the others in the game, you could try and make your own Deathmatch game on the fly.


A Stunning View

This might be a good place to mention communications in the game. You can send text messages to your own side as well as both teams and there are quick chat messages, chants and taunts too. The voices that speak the messages sound very good and enhance the immersive enviroment within the game. Theres no built in real-time voice comms so if youre in a team or clan you may want to use a program like Roger Wilco.

First target

As for the maps in multiplayer, they are huge and until you get to know your way round, theres a good chance youll get lost! They are equally as stunning as the main game maps. Heres the best bit Ive ever seen in a game setup. By highlighting a game in multiplayer and so long as its one of the official maps, you will see black and white footage of the map on the right hand side of the main multiplayer page. This helps greatly when youre still learning to recognize what each map is.

The maps with the game include…
  • Beach Invasion
  • Depot
  • Village
  • Das Boot
  • Communique
  • Assault
  • Castle
Each map is very different than the others and the buildings, vehicles, objects, and terrain are visually stunning. Im still getting killed because Im admiring the scenery and not the enemy. Not that Id want to admire the enemy you understand.

The list of user-made maps is growing fast. Check out the RTCW resource area for links to the fansites where new user-made maps arrive with daily regularity. Ive already played a couple of user-made maps and I can recommend "The Bridge" as one that is well designed and executed. I also found more at the home of RTCW. The title is "Trench Toast" and its a marvel!

Clever lighting

To play you dont need to go through Gamespy or Kali although you probably can if you want to. By clicking Multiplay youre put straight to the multiplayer main screen (obviously). Before creating your own game for others to join, jump in on some games already in progress to get to grips with how others play and also get comfortable with your own multiplayer game settings. Clicking Get New List after youve set the Source connection option to Internet will bring up a huge list of the games. Note: That "Source" option will trip you up because you can't really tell that it's a selectable field in the multiplayer interface. This could've been better designed.

Setting up a game isnt hard and you have plenty of options to tweak your game and host server. These are easy to understand and the manual goes through each option explaining its purpose if youre not sure. One valuable host option lets you set friendly kills either on or off—a good idea to set this to off to stop team killers trying to ruin your game. One other very handy option here worth mentioning is one called Even Teams. This option keeps the teams even in the game by forcing new players to join the team with the least players. Great for stopping a game getting one-sided.

Two Krauts

Weapons effectiveness in multiplayer differs from single player. Carrying heavy weapons will also slow you down unlike in single player mode where heavy weapons don't seem to affect your speed of movement. The flame-thrower, although visually impressive, seems like overkill and if friendly fire is on you'll be killing friend and foe in equal measure. Weapons effectiveness is typical for a shooter of this type as it takes more than one well-placed shot from some weapons to kill. Sniper rifles deliver one shot kills but that's about it. On the most part, the number of bullets required to get a kill are too high for my liking.

Throwing a smoke grenade will call in an air strike. Throw the grenade, then youll hear planes then explosions and all this happens very quickly. When the explosions go off, everything rocks. Things rock and rumble so much, however, that I found it quite annoying when some players in the game kept on at it.

Death from above

I cant let this multiplayer section go without a bit of nitpicking. Firstly, I found the player movement not very realistic. It feels like Im on ice, but Ive been spoiled by the fluidity of Operation Flashpoint and Im struggling to accept this.

On the whole, multiplay is there to be enjoyed and with its stunning looks and classy sounds, gameplay can be fast and furious and it gives you the chance to go nuts and let that stress go!

Detailed glass

Graphics and Sound

Visually RTCW is nothing short of stunning. I cant remember the last time I took so many screenshots from a game. I was like a child with a brand new toy! The lighting from the sky on the buildings is superb, the reflections at night and from flames are breathtaking and the map and object modelling is excellent. A good example is the object modelling craftsmanship can be found in the Castle and the Church, though not limited to these two. Everywhere you go in the game you will see graphical splendor with endless object details that will have your jaw hitting the floor. The character models are also very impressive. Each soldier's clothes show creases, little tears and dirt. Every zombie, mutant and bad brute are modelled superbly. In multiplayer its the same—superb. I find it very hard to find any fault in the graphics of RTCW.

The Church

The sounds are top notch too and very well integrated into the gameplay. Guns, planes, creaking doors, and the ambient sounds of outdoor and indoor environments are all very well done.

A word about the swastikas. Why was it so important to plaster swastikas everywhere? I can accept them, but it seemed that every room, every soldier, everything had to have a swastika. Maybe Im overreacting? I suppose that if you are going to have a couple you may as well have a load of them. It just seemed like overkill to me.

The Village

Community

The community for RTCW is already big and will get even bigger as the game develops. The developers and the fans have already made loads of maps, skins and sounds. Theres bound to be a lot more on the way. The anticheat program Punk Buster is about to be incorporated into the game to stop online cheating. This is possibly a contentious issue with complaints from some quarters about its reliability. It remains to be seen how it will go with RTCW.



Problems and Bugs?

RTCW has been very stable for me although it has crashed on me, but its not often and Ive not found out the source yet. One worrying problem happened to me today. On trying to join a multiplayer game I got the error message stating that I had and invalid CD key. This is most definitely not good. Once I rebooted, the problem disappeared, but for how long? Other than that, the stability of the game is fine with no problems to report.

More cinematics

Overall

Just because it looks a stunner, it doesnt give it the right to an automatic qualification. A game has to earn it. RTCW has earned the right, but only just. It did not earn a qualification for the single player game that looked like it was made up as it went along and rushed, no siree! The multiplayer aspect of the game, however, has earned its pass certificate. I will go back and play RTCW multiplayer again, that's for sure. Its a good game that I like a lot, but I only recommend it for online play alone and only if you aren't expecting ultra-authentic character movements and weapons ballistics.




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