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Kicking Nazi Butt Has Never Been More Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 23
Date: February 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As someone who played the old-school Wolfenstein 3D, I was blown away when my boyfriend showed me Return to Castle Wolfenstein. I hadn't even realized that there had been a sequel, if you could call it that. Anyone who has ever played Wolfenstein 3D will remember the very low-quality graphics and sound (and for anyone who has forgotten, or who hasn't played it, the original is included with this game), the very few weapons, and all of the evil characters that looked the same. At the time, it was a fun game. But now? Wolfenstein has received a makeover, and it has never looked better. Or sounded better. The graphics are so great, it's almost like you're actually there. Sneaking around outside the castle, you can hear Nazis talking as they listen to classical music. You can find one getting drunk in an alley. And the Uber Soldats? They are big and mean, and ready to pump you full of electricity and missiles.

With that said, I would like to tell you how many times this game has literally made me jump. Quite a few times, actually, whether the floor unexpectedly gave out from beneath me, or a zombie just appeared out of nowhere. These little surprises were unexpected, and unpredictable. That is how you know when a game like this is good. I like being surprised by a game. Predictable games are too easy and pointless. However, Wolfenstein does have some incredibly hard levels. The one I was stuck on for a month was my first visit with an Uber Soldat, and I just kept on dying. But, every level in every game is eventually beatable, as long as you just take a deep breath and keep trying (and even though you may be tempted to use cheat codes during this particular level, I didn't, and I must say I felt very proud of myself when I finally did beat it).

I have not actually finished the game yet. I have so many games to play that I end up taking long breaks from each one from time to time. But come to think of it, this one hasn't been played for a couple of months. I think I'll go play it now. I think you should, too.

A Great Revamping of a Classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: March 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Most FPS fans cut their teeth on Castle Wolfenstein back so many years ago. At the time it seemed amazing to be able to walk around in a 'virtual world'. This time around, the graphics still are what impress.

The game is more an interactive movie than a blast-em-up that the original was. The atmosphere, the music, the sound, all work together to draw you into the world of the occult.

You are, of course, in WW2, an American spy caught by the Nazis. The Nazis are trying to unearth an immortal power locked away one thousand years ago in northern Germany. The story is revealed to you with well done cinematics as the game progresses, and in the meantime you have to fight your way through enemies of all shapes in sizes with your trusty knife and guns.

The graphics are of course far superior to the original, and it's impressive to compare the two versions (the original is included with this copy). Back then we thought Wolfenstein had amazing graphics ... and today we feel the same way. There are points from which you can look down at the entire castle complex with all its layers and textures, and then wander down through the castle, looking out every window and door. True, the graphics aren't as crisp as some of the fresh games coming out now, but the improvement is still rather impressive.

The game is definitely a first person shooter, so non-FPS players probably won't be thrilled with it. Also, the game can definitely be trounced by a good FPS player in a matter of weeks. Still, that is just the beginning. You can now take your characters on line and play against other humans in a variety of scenarios. If you think the AI was challenging, wait until you test yourself against other humans who are FPS fans!

Recommended for FPS players who like a compelling storyline and the startling turns of a horror movie.

An Excellent WWII game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: May 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Return To Castle Wolfenstein is the sequel to a fantastic game Wolfenstein 3D, which came out way back in the day. I had high hopes for this game, because Activision has a good reputation in the gaming industry, and WWII games make excellent first-person shooters.

Once again, you are B.J Blastowicz (Don't hold me to that spelling) and you are trying to take down the Nazi War Machine. You and your co-agent are captured and held in Castle Wolfenstein, and through clues early in the game you find out that the Nazis are planning a huge archeaological dig, but for the sake of the plot, I won't mention what they are digging for. (You find out soon enough.)

The graphics are very good (considering that the game came out a long time ago), but the physics need some work. Clipping is a problem as bodies fall to the ground stiff as a board, and often go through the walls. This doesn't take away from the fantastic gameplay and sound though.

The gameplay of RTCW is perhaps the best of any FPS shooter I've ever played. The enemy AI is fantastic, especially of Helga's elite guard. A group of hot Nazi chicks armed with their silence stens. Enemies will peak around corners, and perform jumping rolls to evade, and they shoot with pinpoint accuracy, even on the easiest difficulty. The game is very challenging and made me sweat more than once. The fabulous soundtrack is a great addition. When alarms go off, the RTCW theme song kicks in, giving the game a desperate feel to it. During stealth missions (which are fantsatic), mysterious, low-key compositions give the environment a great feel to it.

Overall, RTCW is a wonderful FPS of epic proportions and should be played by all WWII buffs as well as fans of the FPS genre.

A Great Package for A Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

While this game may have it's shortcomings in single player (even the hardest difficulty provides little challenged for moderately experienced FPS fans), the multiplayer portion RTCW compensates for that. Multiplay is excellent to say the least, and I really feel this game still stands tall against such titles as Quake3 and Unreal Tournament 2003.

A nice bonus to this "game of the year" edition is that it's packaged with a copy of the original wolfenstein game from the early 90s. It's amazing if for no other reason to visit this oldie simply to see how far the industry's come.

Overall, this is a great game with good models and animation, compelling sound and music, and addictive multiplayer action. Definetely worth a shot if you're a fan of the original.

Extreme blood and gore

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you played the original W3D, you know what to expect. Yes, this game is all about killing the enemy that's out to jump at you from every crook and cranny. Killing is spectacular and realistic - blood and guts, body parts flying, flesh being incinerated - this is not for the faint in heart. The enemy here are the Nazis and their ill-begone undead which turn against anything living, including the Nazis themselves. The game consists of 7 episodes ("levels"). My favorite ones are the mountain tram episode (with spectacular mountain views that will give you vertigo), the church episode (where hot Nazi commando babes in tight leather and high heels will blast you to pieces with their silenced high-powered submachine guns), and the "village" episode with realistically rendered medieval town in winter, where snipers are waiting for you in second-story windows. The catacombs will give your heart alarming palpitations, when the creepy undead break out of walls and drop down from ceilings to feed on your flesh. Just shooting them is not good enough - some will deflect your bullets back at you! Others will take entire clips of ammo to be laid to rest. The game requires that you master stealth (they hear you coming and you can hear them and their conversations). The knowledge of weapons and their effectiveness against specific targets is also something you will learn along the way as you die many times trying. My favorite is the high-powered bolt rifle with the scope for taking out lurkers from a distance. You'll also get three submachine guns (a standard German issue, a big-bore Thompson with excellent stopping power but limited ammo, and a silent high-powered auto that must be discharged with short bursts in order not to overheat), a silencer for your semi auto sidearm and grenades. Watch out - them Nazis may kick a grenade back to take you out! The binoculars allow you to scope out the terrain before moving in. Found armor makes you less vulnerable. But watch out where you step or you'll fall (and die). Don't hit civilians or your own men - this will abort the mission immediately. There are, of course, secret areas and treasure to be found. There is beer to be had for stamina and food for health with pretty bar tending freulains begging you not to kill them. A drunk soldier adds some humor to this world of sadistic violence - but he gets a bullet in the back as well.

The graphics are excellent at high res setting. The sound is pretty good with a great deal of terrifying racket in the catacombs and German war tunes emanating from radios. The performance is smooth and fast on my 1.6GHz Athlon Win2000 Pro machine, and the game is super-stable.

Drawbacks? Too few episodes and not much of a replay variation with a single story path. The last episode is the typical Meet the Mega Monster affair, with everything coming at you at once. I haven't tried the multi player yet.

One of the best games out there

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: December 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is probably one of the best games to ever come out on PC. Its single-player is excellent. Who doesnt like killing zombies and nazis?(If you dont then you have some serious problems :P)The only problem with the single-player is the enemy AI. Even on the hardest setting "Im a death incarnate" the game is still too easy. The enemies act the same on every difficulty just about. Oh well. Still fun!

But the best fun is when you take this game for a spin ONLINE! This is one of the best team games I have ever played in my life. When you play RTCW online TEAMWORK IS A MUST! You WILL NOT survive without teamwork. You have 4 classes to pick from, Soldier, Engineer, Medic, and Lieutenant. Soldiers get to use heavy weapons like Panzerfausts(rocket launcher)and Flamethrowers. Engineers get to plant dynamite and repair various items. Medics get to give out medpacks and revive soldiers who are down but not dead. Lieutenants get to give out ammo and call in airstrikes and artillery strikes.

Whatever class you pick, you will need to rely on another class to survive and win the match. Thats the way the game works online.

Also RTCW has some great maps too like Beach Invasion, and Destruction. Even HUGE maps like Depot and Tram(my god these maps are huge).

Overall extremely fun game! You cant say your a FPS fan until you have picked up this game.

Happy Nazi & Zombie killings :)

A wonderful package

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: July 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This rules. Not only does it have return to castle wolfenstien a wonderful game with its great multi play. It also includes game demos ,a full version of wolfenstien 3d {The eather remake or sequal to the oringal it was made in 1992 like doom where you shoot Nazis play it after you beat return to castle wolfenstein} and a behind the scenes making and seven additional multi maps and much much more. Definatly worth it. It also has booklet that provides great info and wofenstien history and lore. Do you return to castle wolfenstien game I beleive the fourth wolfenstein game. The first was a game called castle wolfenstien which was a 1983 apple 2 game. The second was wolfenstein 3d then spear of destiny and finaly return to castle wolfenstein. Get the extra in the package are a super bargain.

Were you expecting "History on Film" with Ann Medina?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: October 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Well, where to begin? This game was overwhelmingly satisfying in every way imagineable. My friend showed me it earlier this year, and it still hasn't lost any of its edge!

I loved the overall story with the Himler and the SS, HeinrichI, undead, etc. I've always been a sucker for the whole Nazi/occult thing, and this was no exception.

The music was also top-notch. I've caught myself absently humming it during the day, and stop abruptly since everyone is staring at me. The catacomb score was downright eerie, perfect for that particuar gameplay. The piece from the opening cutscene was so good I restarted the game several times just to hear it!

I thought the variation in levels was pretty good, my favourites being the Castle and the village levels. The assortment of bad guyswas decent, too. Overhearing the horrified officers(you know the ones), the angry mechanics, (them, too), and all the others was both interesting and amusing. Severalpeople have been complaining in these reviews about how the levels are kind of dark, but that's to be expected. It's wartime Europe, people, not a commercial for Lemon Tide!

The choices of weapons were varied- something for everyone!TIP:Ignore the flamethrower, it's prety much useless. I preferred the Thompson and double .45s(sigh) but it was a shame that they came with limited ammo. Oh, well.

I wanted to really say something clearly to all the people I've read who claim this has nothing to do with WWII and the zombie thing is overdone:
For the love of God, open your eyes! This is a COMPUTER GAME, not fact! F-I-C-T-I-O_N! What did you think was going to happen, you'd singlehandedly win the Battle of the Bulge?! Meet Hitler?! Try to kill him?! NO! This is a game, manufactured for the purpose to entertain for a price. And so what if Nazis once again intermingle with the supernatural? It works. It's entertaining. Period.

People have also been whining about the toughness of the game. I admit that I can't beat it on "Bring 'em on", but at least I didn't have to use cheat codes for "Don't Hurt Me". I managed to beat RTCW in a little under a week, and people (who are clearly exaggerating) claim to be still stuck on Level 2. Two. Ten second of life? Please, stop embarrassing yourself. Or just stop lying.

I think I've said my bit on Return to Castle Wolfenstein. In my humble opinion, I say buy it, play it, and play it again.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Game of the Year Edition

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is essentially a compilation of the standard RTCW and all of the official downloadable maps. If you don't have RTCW, this is a great package, if you already have it; don't bother.

Best FPS ever?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: June 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well, for a game that's several years old, in a genre where it takes the average game 1 month to be old news and another to be almost forgotten, this is still one of the most overwhelmingly immersive games out there. In another review, I gave my highest praise to FarCry, and indeed, on the technological side, FarCry has RtCW beat, with more details, dynamic shadow rendering, and rag-doll physics. Nevertheless, the music, the environment, the enemies in RtCW, are all so gripping and immersive, you'll never notice! The original Wolfenstein was great; this one is fantastic. The story is probably the best in any sci-fi FPS I've ever played.

I can't offer high enough praise for this game. It certainly vies for my "best FPS ever", depending on what one is looking for in a game. The most modern physics and technology isn't found in RtCW, but the best, creepiest, most immersive environments certainly are. The music is fantastic, the soundbytes are fantastic, the levels are well-constructed and varied, the game offers the player some instances of run & gun, some of the most careful stealth (you have to manage to stay JUST outside the detection threshhold of some enemies with very keen eyesigh), and everything in between. The gameplay is brilliant, never repetitive, and well-balanced.

The multiplayer component is also fantastic, with a great community of public servers, clans and tournaments still alive and kicking after all these years.

This is a terrific game, well worth any FPS gamer's time and money! Enjoy!

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