Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War

"Nobody leaves!!!"

The original Wolfenstein 3D released in 1992 , was a game
which paved the way in the early days of FPS. Playing through the viewpoint of the characters eyes created a more immersive experience for gamers the world over. A predecessor of the more well know Doom series Wolfenstein was new and pioneering for the genre. Having laid dormant for so many years the return has been inevitable.

Telling a Story based on the occult and Hitler's rule in the 1940's you play as an undercover agent working for the allies. Your tasks are to find information regarding the German SS divisions secret ops. Also you must thwart the Germans plans to use the occult for their advancement against the allies.Playing Return To Castle Wolfenstein (RTCW) comes in two forms for this xbox version Single Player and Multi Player. Two very different aspects of this game.
The single player follows the story of Agent Blazkowicz and his missions to scupper the Germans Occult plans. The story is broken down into missions and then sub levels within the missions. Starting in Egypt your journey will see you traverse the globe to many locations including the infamous Castle Wolfenstein. Game play is of a high standard here as any FPS fan will tell you. The enemies are sparse to begin with but intensify
as you progress through the game. Gunplay is also very good with some great firefights to be had. Although sometimes confusing the level design really complements the action as you weave in and out of cover disposing of your enemies. The weapons are also well balanced and varied. My favourite being the silenced automatic or the awesome FG-42 rifle (especially useful later on in the game). The game also supports a reasonable amount of stealth if you so choose, this option is definitely a must for any FPS these days. You are rewarded for killing silently with extra items dropped from enemies . The balance is excellent and works well although I feel
that on harder settings, stealth is much more beneficial as those enemies can seriously kick allied butt. Graphically Wolfenstien looks great with lots of nice details in the environments such as authentic WW2 posters on walls. The sound is also of a high standard with great sound effects and speech. Although with all games like this the German voice acting is totally over played. Controlling your onscreen hero is also easy
for beginners and vets alike. Find the settings you like and get on with the killing. Overall the story mode is excellent and its worth buying the game for that alone.

RTCW also supports a wide array of multi player options in-
cluding Xbox live and system link support. Failing that there are various modes including split screen co-op story mode for those without Internet access.

Playing RTCW in multi player is very different from the usual death match type online games. Although supported in an elimination mode the main crux of the online play revolves around team work, especially in the objective modes. Each member of the team can choose between 1 of 4 character classes which all have their own distinct strengths and weaknesses. This kind of game play makes a change from the glory seeking game styles usually supported in games of this type. My only gripe with the live play is that there are a lot of hosts creating games with more people in them than they can support. Lag becomes a prominent feature of a lot of games. Finding a game which is lag free and which supports the max 8 vs 8 teams is very hard. Once you do find one of these games you will find an excellent online FPS experience. RTCW is a great addition to any fans collection in this genre. If you are not a fan then its a great starting game to introduce you to the FPS genre, just like this games earlier incarnations way back in the early 90's. Get to it soldier as the Allies are in desperate need of your assistance. Next stop Castle Wolfenstein.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/29/03, Updated 05/29/03