Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

"What do you get when you cross one of the best multiplayer FPS companies around, and $0? This."

Introduction:
In 2003 ID released Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory… The best part being, it was free. You only had to download it. And download it people did. It is now quite a big game for people to play, providing quick, exhilarating games spread across 6 very different default maps.

Graphics: 9
Some slower computers (Mine) will probably need to tweak the graphics to get a constant playable FPS in larger games. The good thing being, even with major tweaking the game still looks good. ID have a done a great job, making the guns, the player models and the buildings all looking great.

Gameplay: 10
There's only 6 default maps, most of them being pretty good not giving either team an unfair advantage but not drawing the games out to last hours. These maps do get tedious after a while, but there are plenty of player-made maps to download and servers to play them on. The amount of classes you can choose is pretty good, having 5, most of these having an array of 2 – 5 different weapons, with Soldiers – the basic grunts, being able to choose from Flamethrowers to the deadly Panzerfausts, all things that keep the game flowing nicely.

The best part about this game, I feel, is how the game actually works, with the player gaining experience per kill, by staying alive and inflicting damage on the enemy, or by simply healing someone or giving someone ammo. After a while this can get out of hand, with the better players running rampant over the new players with dual pistols, adrenaline and the ability to spot mines just by running next to them, but most servers work on a principle that after 3 or 6 maps, everyone's experience is reset. ID has done this superbly, calling them campaigns and providing basic setups that admins can change if needed. The game is also great in how good the fire-fights are. Fire-fights generally don't last for much more then 3-4 seconds both players having the ability to deal plenty of damage whilst making all weapons fear in damage per hit.

Sound: 8
The sound is pretty good, sounding realistic for the most part, although it does get quite repetitive after a while.

Replay-ability: 9
It can get quite tedious after a while, but people are developing new maps, mods etc. to make the game as fun as possible. Even with just the first download there is so much choice, giving the player the need for a few hours just to explore all of these possibilities.

Overall: 9
This is a really great game, giving the player hours of fun for the cost of an internet connection per month. It provides quick fast games, often being able to play up to 10 quick battles per night. There are some really great player-made maps around; I'm in the process of downloading a few as I write this.

In conclusion, great game, download it, get it off a friend, whatever. Just get it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/20/04