transcendent
This review contains spoilers
There is a lot to be impressed with by RTCW, especially in the early hours. The interconnected level design makes the in-game locations feel real and lived in. The gunplay is extremely satisfying as enemies deal significant damage but also go down quickly (headshots are usually an instant kill). Stealth is bare-bones but functional and complements traditional combat quite nicely. The core of the game is solid.
However, the various wrinkles added throughout the campaign bring down the overall experience. Mandatory stealth levels are annoying, even if they are less of a nuisance on repeat playthroughs. The large arsenal is a mixed bag. My favorite weapon is the MP5, but the FG42 that you get mid game is so overpowered that I felt the need to rely on it almost exclusively for later encounters (especially since the enemies also use them). Many of the other weapons are fun to use but very situational and others are straight-up useless (dual-wielding pistols?). Enemy design is also hit or miss. The regular soldiers and elite guard are great. The zombies are meh. The Lopers and Super Soldiers are bad. There is no counterplay against the Lopers except to use heavy weapons to kill them as quickly as possible. Super Soldiers are just hitscan tanks and can only be defeated repeatedly corner peaking them to death. They may add tension but they're not interesting to fight.
Towards the end, the game takes a complete nosedive in quality with the entire final mission being atrocious. Someone thought it was a great idea to buff the enemy health, so the penultimate level is a slog full of pumped-up soldiers. It's made even worse because this game has substantial flinch which isn't a problem for the most of the game but with tougher enemies who have FG42s, the viewkick was so severe that whenever I started getting shot, I found it was better to hide back into cover and reset the engagement than try to shoot back.
In the end, I think that RTCW is well-deserving of its classic status, but it does have some minor annoyances which hold the game back from being a masterpiece in my eyes and I think that the later games by Machine Games (The New Order and The Old Blood to be specific) are better.
I beat the game twice. Once on Bring 'em on! and a second time on I am Death Incarnate.
However, the various wrinkles added throughout the campaign bring down the overall experience. Mandatory stealth levels are annoying, even if they are less of a nuisance on repeat playthroughs. The large arsenal is a mixed bag. My favorite weapon is the MP5, but the FG42 that you get mid game is so overpowered that I felt the need to rely on it almost exclusively for later encounters (especially since the enemies also use them). Many of the other weapons are fun to use but very situational and others are straight-up useless (dual-wielding pistols?). Enemy design is also hit or miss. The regular soldiers and elite guard are great. The zombies are meh. The Lopers and Super Soldiers are bad. There is no counterplay against the Lopers except to use heavy weapons to kill them as quickly as possible. Super Soldiers are just hitscan tanks and can only be defeated repeatedly corner peaking them to death. They may add tension but they're not interesting to fight.
Towards the end, the game takes a complete nosedive in quality with the entire final mission being atrocious. Someone thought it was a great idea to buff the enemy health, so the penultimate level is a slog full of pumped-up soldiers. It's made even worse because this game has substantial flinch which isn't a problem for the most of the game but with tougher enemies who have FG42s, the viewkick was so severe that whenever I started getting shot, I found it was better to hide back into cover and reset the engagement than try to shoot back.
In the end, I think that RTCW is well-deserving of its classic status, but it does have some minor annoyances which hold the game back from being a masterpiece in my eyes and I think that the later games by Machine Games (The New Order and The Old Blood to be specific) are better.
I beat the game twice. Once on Bring 'em on! and a second time on I am Death Incarnate.
It was probably great in 2003.
2015
You get what you paid for.