First Person Shooters, everyone knows them, and quite a few love them, but have you ever thought about the game that spawned this whole new genre? Well, here is your answer, Wolfenstein 3D. This bad boy was the one game that in turn created a whole line of games, each one with a new feature that shocked yet amazed the nation. Wolfenstein 3D was the game that made the PC what it is today, and for all you people that think Doom was the first First-person-Shooter, think again. And now, the shock and tension that was created by Wolfenstein 3D is back with a vengeance in a brand new game: Return to Castle Wolfenstein.  

When the news that a follow up to the most successful Wolfenstein 3D game was to be released later in the year, all FPS fans jumped with glee and danced in the street (I know I did), and as soon as news broke through that the game was finished, there was a whole lot more dancing to do. To put it shortly, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a totally amazing game, in my eyes, there was nothing that really put me off, okay there were a few bugs, but only minor ones that are only noticed by those with a keen eye for the subject.

The basic story of RTCW is: you play the character B.J. Blazkowicz, a man of many talents. Using skill and cunning, you have to fight your way through Nazi Germany using a whole load of big guns. Employing stealth and sheer firepower are compulsory if you want to succeed. Hitler is trying to create a whole army of the undead that only a big gun can counteract. Commence the killing.

A.I. PIE!
Firstly, remember that game released in 1998, the one that is still played today, just with a few modifications? Yep: Half-Life. Why have I mentioned Half-Life? Simple, the A.I. Up until now no one has been able to produce better A.I in a game since the Marines in Half-Life, they were simply amazing, ducking for cover when they needed to reload, running from oncoming grenades, they were the best thing since sliced bread. But now, the A.I in Half-Life has been beaten, it took 3 years, but we  got there. The artificial intelligence of the Nazis in RTCW is delicious, utter genius. It is clear that Gray Matter have spent a lot of time on this one, they do exactly what the Marines did in HL, just with some added stuff. Such as, when a grenade is thrown at them, they don’t just run away, if it is near enough, they will kick it back at you, I think that’s unbelievably good. They also retreat if they are injured and you are not still filling them with hot lumps of death using the wide variety of weapons that you can get your hands on.

WEAPONS OF CHOICE
All of the weapons in RTCW are extremely commendable in some fashion, starting from the less heavy weapons, the knife is a vital weapon if you want to succeed in the stealth missions. If you run up behind an enemy with the knife, assuming the guy doesn’t notice you, a little knife symbol will appear in the bottom of the screen. If you stab the guy when this symbol is visible, you will kill him instantly… Nice! Then we progress onto more heavy-duty weaponry, such as the Venom gun, this punk eats bullets like sweets but kills anything almost instantaneously if it is unlucky enough to step into the line of fire. Other weapons consist of the flamethrower which sports the best flame effects yet, and the Tesla Gun, which fires electric death at just about anything.

TASTY EYE-CANDY
RTCW sports very good graphics indeed, Character and weapon models look superb even in 640*480. To contend with this, the use of the Quake 3 engine has done wonders for the game, the landscapes are the biggest I have ever seen in any video game, with graphics to match, this makes each mission a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Tiny things like the spider-webs in the corner of some rooms and doorways have had much attention paid to them, they look stunning. Textures are brilliant and the level design of the game is of a very high-quality, some of the best.

But as I said earlier, there are a few minor flaws in the game, some insignificant bugs are included such as the enemies just staring at a wall instead of attacking you and general crashes, these do happen, but very rarely because the game is quite stable. Moving away from the code problems, the game can in some points be over demanding, this may be seen as picky, but this game will cause extreme frustration to all but the most gifted. And finally, loading times. The loading times of RTCW are on the whole pretty bad. Although there is a slight upside to it which is that it loads the whole level instead of loading different sections of the level at seemingly inconvenient times. There is nothing worse than becoming really involved in a game, and then a loading screen cuts in and you have to wait eagerly with a twitchy trigger finger waited for the next dose of gaming goodness. The multiplayer side of Return to Castle Wolfenstein has a lot to offer, although you can only play as 4 characters, each one has its own individual skills and default weapons. The ability to respawn instead of having to wait until the end of the round is also a good addition to the game. Overall, this game is definitely a candidate for ‘The Game of the Year’, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it matches up to the likes of Duke Nukem Forever and Half-Life 2. If you have a fairly beefy machine and you are a fan of FPSs, then this game is a good bet for your next game, killing Nazis with big guns… what could be better.

- Adam (Reviewer)