Return to Castle Wolfenstein was a game that I had played back in the early 2000s but never played past the first three levels. After playing Raven Software’s 2009 Wolfenstein entry earlier in the year, I thought I would revisit Return to Castle Wolfenstein and give the game a fair shake.
Despite the game being released in 2001, thus being one of the first games to make use of the id Tech 3 engine to power it, the game still looks relatively good for its age. Levels are not a straight forward corridor that you follow along to the end of the level; there’s no golden arrow on the screen to lead you down the critical path. There are a few times that game will present the objective behind a locked door and it's up to you to find an alternate path, almost like the level itself is a puzzle.
Gunplay works well enough, as one would expect for a game using the engine that powered id’s Quake III Arena, and the sound design for each weapon makes them feel powerful and equally dangerous, especially those being used by the Nazis soldiers.
There’s also a nice variety to the objectives of the levels too. A good majority of the levels are a straightforward gun-down-all-the-Nazis-until-you-reach-the-end type of objectives, sometimes while picking up a specific item within the level. However, there were a couple of the levels that require you to play through quietly as you’re infiltrating a stronghold. A particular highlight was quietly navigating through a village and assassinating high-valued Nazis without setting off any alarms.
However, there are a few niggling issues that I had with the game that I fear may turn people away from the game.
While I liked that I had navigate the levels without the game explicitly telling me which way to go, there were a few occasions where I was stumped on how to progress. A door I needed to go through would be locked so I have to spend a good 10 minutes exploring every nook and cranny for a missed switch or vent that will allow me to continue with the game. One level had me backtracking close to the beginning to go through a door that I had missed on my initial pass.
Along with the obtuse level navigation, enemy placement within levels often feels sadistic. There were a number of times that enemy soldiers would cut me down because they were hiding in an obscure corner of the room. While one can quick save and quick load throughout the game, which does mitigate the problem, these incidents always felt cheap in terms of providing a genuine challenge throughout the levels.
The “X-Creatures” are total bullshit. There’s no other way to say out that doesn’t express my frustration towards these enemies. The “X-Creatures” leap across the level with such speed that it makes it difficult to accurately shoot them before they’re on top of you. Not only that, the “X-Creatures’” electrical attacks deals so much damage to the player that they’ll rip through your health and armour in a matter of seconds. While there are only a small number of encounters with them, I wouldn’t be surprised if these enemies were the cause of many rage quits back when the game first released.
There’s also redundancy with the weapons, which is a common problem with shooters of the era. You could use dual wielding pistols in the game…or you could use the machine gun that you’ve been using since the start of the game. You could pick up a silencer for your pistol, to allow you to pick off enemies quietly…or you could use the silenced machine gun that deals more damage and has a larger clip.
The biggest offense of the game is that it doesn’t really feel much like a game that’s part of the Wolfenstein series; the game lacks any real identity that makes it stand out. Yes, you kill Nazis and deal with some supernatural creatures but B.J. Blazkowicz, the player character of every Wolfenstein game, is not much of a character. B.J. doesn’t speak any lines and barely appears in any of the cutscenes. If it wasn’t for a few characters mentioning Blazkowicz’s name in the cutscenes, which only serve to establish brief context to the level missions, you could have slapped any name on the box and called it a day.
In conclusion, while I did largely enjoy my time with Return to Castle Wolfenstein, more so than I expected, I would be hard pressed to recommend the game to people to play. There are better Wolfenstein games alreay out there, as well as better first person shooters in the id Tech 3 engine. However, for less than £5 on Steam and GOG, it's a low barrier of entry for the curious.
Despite the game being released in 2001, thus being one of the first games to make use of the id Tech 3 engine to power it, the game still looks relatively good for its age. Levels are not a straight forward corridor that you follow along to the end of the level; there’s no golden arrow on the screen to lead you down the critical path. There are a few times that game will present the objective behind a locked door and it's up to you to find an alternate path, almost like the level itself is a puzzle.
Gunplay works well enough, as one would expect for a game using the engine that powered id’s Quake III Arena, and the sound design for each weapon makes them feel powerful and equally dangerous, especially those being used by the Nazis soldiers.
There’s also a nice variety to the objectives of the levels too. A good majority of the levels are a straightforward gun-down-all-the-Nazis-until-you-reach-the-end type of objectives, sometimes while picking up a specific item within the level. However, there were a couple of the levels that require you to play through quietly as you’re infiltrating a stronghold. A particular highlight was quietly navigating through a village and assassinating high-valued Nazis without setting off any alarms.
However, there are a few niggling issues that I had with the game that I fear may turn people away from the game.
While I liked that I had navigate the levels without the game explicitly telling me which way to go, there were a few occasions where I was stumped on how to progress. A door I needed to go through would be locked so I have to spend a good 10 minutes exploring every nook and cranny for a missed switch or vent that will allow me to continue with the game. One level had me backtracking close to the beginning to go through a door that I had missed on my initial pass.
Along with the obtuse level navigation, enemy placement within levels often feels sadistic. There were a number of times that enemy soldiers would cut me down because they were hiding in an obscure corner of the room. While one can quick save and quick load throughout the game, which does mitigate the problem, these incidents always felt cheap in terms of providing a genuine challenge throughout the levels.
The “X-Creatures” are total bullshit. There’s no other way to say out that doesn’t express my frustration towards these enemies. The “X-Creatures” leap across the level with such speed that it makes it difficult to accurately shoot them before they’re on top of you. Not only that, the “X-Creatures’” electrical attacks deals so much damage to the player that they’ll rip through your health and armour in a matter of seconds. While there are only a small number of encounters with them, I wouldn’t be surprised if these enemies were the cause of many rage quits back when the game first released.
There’s also redundancy with the weapons, which is a common problem with shooters of the era. You could use dual wielding pistols in the game…or you could use the machine gun that you’ve been using since the start of the game. You could pick up a silencer for your pistol, to allow you to pick off enemies quietly…or you could use the silenced machine gun that deals more damage and has a larger clip.
The biggest offense of the game is that it doesn’t really feel much like a game that’s part of the Wolfenstein series; the game lacks any real identity that makes it stand out. Yes, you kill Nazis and deal with some supernatural creatures but B.J. Blazkowicz, the player character of every Wolfenstein game, is not much of a character. B.J. doesn’t speak any lines and barely appears in any of the cutscenes. If it wasn’t for a few characters mentioning Blazkowicz’s name in the cutscenes, which only serve to establish brief context to the level missions, you could have slapped any name on the box and called it a day.
In conclusion, while I did largely enjoy my time with Return to Castle Wolfenstein, more so than I expected, I would be hard pressed to recommend the game to people to play. There are better Wolfenstein games alreay out there, as well as better first person shooters in the id Tech 3 engine. However, for less than £5 on Steam and GOG, it's a low barrier of entry for the curious.