VideoGame ''Can I Play ? I Seriously Love This Game !"
This PS2 version is one of the only first-person shooter games I like. Why ? Simple, because the first time I ever played this game it was on 'Can I Play, Daddy ?' mode...with my dad and older sister. At the time in gr. 1 and up until I was in gr. 5 the first Egyptian mummy levels terrified me with all the screams and groans. One thing about the first mummies, sometimes it sounds like they're saying, "Ye-ah, yeah." and it is hilarious.
Of course, back then, I didn't appreciate the game, but later on, on a harder mode, I'd play it again easily and discover how awesome the in-game research/reports were to find and read, I found I could empathize with the Scientist/Journalist-guy in the later mummy levels. I still loved destroying the music boxes, but, also appreciated how much easeir it was to beat the game. Though I still died many times, the freaking first Uber-Soldat. Even on the harder levels like the snowing I think it's Norway levels, the Uber-Soldats and the Chateau it was worth dying all the time to say I finally beat it.
Now, I can appreciate just how good the voice-acting and the cut-scenes are. Poor Agent One and that electricity, I wanted to kill that stupid doctor and then I did, and then there are those poor people who got turned into X-creatures.
Onto weapons, of the special weapons I loved the Venon-Chain gun it was awesome, even though it over-heated constantly. The Flame-thrower was cool, or hot if you want. The parts with the Mauser and the Sniperscopes were, and are, really cool.
Then during the end credits I found out that the developing people went all over Europe to get the castle texture's and things right and I just loved it even more. Some games can be appreciated many years after you've first played them and I personally think it's a classic. If, like me, you've still got a PS2 and you find this in a pawn shop or somewhere do yourself a favour and get it.
VideoGame Wholesome albeit a bit short.
The one thing Return to Castle Wolfenstein excels at is the atmosphere. Despite being based on dated engine the designers managed to include breathtaking amount of detail into the environment. Be it the arcitecture/layout, Enemy Chatter or subtle ambient noises, it greatly contributes to the game's immersive value. Along with the captivating soundtrack it will certainly invoke that familiar sentimental feeling which makes you want to replay it again and again.
Also this is one of the last First-Person Shooters that try to make the environment at least partially interactive. Even though it's mostly just doors and buttons, it's still more than in most nowadays games. Doors can be kicked open violently as well as sneakily. Many pieces of furniture can be smashed into pieces and a generic chair can be picked up and tossed around to provide a makeshift ladder to get to otherwise inaccessible spots.
Controls are as intuitive as they can be. Far better than most nowadays shooters rife with "realistic" shenanigans as being unable to run without holding down three keys at once.
RtCW doesn't bother you with Fake Difficulty mechanics like enemy-tagging or "somebody sees you" indicator. You're never told how you should do anything. It's up to you to find your way to the objectives. And discover every Secret Area there is.
Even though your enemies don't exhibit much combat prowess, their reactions are quite authentic. They don't hesitate to take cover or sneak up on you, when there is a chance. And you can really feel hitting them. The sounds are excellent. Especially the gib splat is satisfactory.
That's the reason why you'll enjoy using explosives whenever you have an opportunity. Or the Venom minigun which is probably the best instance of Gatling Good I ever had the honor to meet. The mayhem this baby could cause was particularly satisfying. Too bad there weren't more worthy targets. Imagine blending bunches of Unreal Brutes this way. Splat!
Unfortunately the game was quite short and levels were cleared rather quickly. The "don't raise allarm or the mission will fail" mechanic felt kind of scrappy, especiall when a scripted event, which you had no clue about, caused the mission to fail whether you behaved stealthy or not. The flunky Final Boss is rather anticlimatic and the "random amount of ammo from weapon pickups" mechanic denied you precious panzerfausts when you needed them.
The multiplayer wasn't my kind of party. It twisted most of the game mechanics the way it disappointed me. Panzerfaust had a warmup and required full stamina to be fired, Venom overheated too quicky and no Snooper Rifle for anyone. Multiplayer even tampered with the gunfire sound. I have no idea why but compared to SP it sounded kind of dry.
Still this game is an experience to be remembered.