Return to Castle Wolfenstein

5 out of 5 for just being an awesome WW2 run and gun game. Ages well thanks to GOG's excellent standards with Video Games in general. Steam cannot hold a candle to the release of RTCW on GOG, and it will continue to be that way for classic games such as this. My only complaint about this game is that the African Prologue will probably never be included in the game, because it does give substantial backstory leading up to being captured in the Castle, also those levels are pretty darn fun, but such is life.

This FPS, gameplay-wise, is a good, nuanced fusion of old-school fluid movement with punishing enemy encounters that keep you in tune with your environment at all times. You have the freedom to approach any situation in a couple of different ways. If you want to sprint right into their face while unloading your mp40, the game won't punish you for doing that since there's no accuracy penalty for sprinting. Low on stamina? You can do a quick circlejump right into a full strafejump no matter your stamina level. If you want even more accuracy in general, then you can crouch (tightens the cone of fire immediately) and go for twitchy headshots. While you can't shoot while leaning around corners, you can use the mechanic to get a lay of the land without them seeing in order to optimize when and how you will announce your presence, a nod to those who like to think and play more tactically. Lastly, most levels can be completely at least partially stealthily, so there's a solid balance in place that appeals to any playstyle depending on your mood. At a baseline, the enemy AI is decent. They'll mix and match between being aggressive toward your location or staying back waiting for you to go toe-to-toe first. Some enemies have randomized placements that you'll only notice through repeated playthroughs. Some only appear if certain conditions are met, namely if an alarm is tripped. In addition to their base AI, a lot of enemies will have initial pre-determined routes to run at a certain trigger, which shows the effort to handcraft how they wanted different encounters to generally play out, rather than just dropping a couple guards into an area with no thought and calling it a day. As you go through the campaign, you'll pick up how it's got a little bit of everything and strikes a good balance of scriptedness and spontaneity in its design philosophy. It is precisely that healthy amount of randomness that keeps the game replayable, challenging, and fun.

Still remember that my Pentium 4 had struggle running this in high-res back in my college years because of those stunning "Dynamic Light" that made the torch light waving (remember that this was 2001 when the first Half-Life is still a Hot Cake). Now run it again with AMD Ryzen 6000 Series, finally I can crank all the Graphical setting all the way to the right. What a happy day. :) Now if you want to play this in HD Widescreen resolution, you can search for "iortcw" mod in github.

It can be hard to understand why RtCW is so well-liked among FPS fans: at first glance, it seems like a regular WWII-era shooter, with a lot of Nazis to slaughter and a little bit of sci-fi, horror and fantasy thrown into the mix. Yet, actually playing it reveals a deeper experience. What makes this game so great? First, the atmosphere: the game throws you in a lot of different places, each with with their own feel and mood, from spooky Nazi bases to pulpy high-tech facilities, to haunted caves and forgotten castles! The graphic engine is used to great effects, providing detailed character models and environments that look good and feel period-accurate. Second, the gunplay: most weapons feel great and powerful. There is a focus on automatic firearms, with 5 or 6 variants of machine guns, but also sniper rifles, flamethrowers... Most of them useful in their own right, even though handguns and explosives feel super clunky and even kind of... useless. Third, the level design. The layout of the levels constantly changes, forcing you to adapt and use different approaches. You'll need to get stealthily through some sections, to snipe enemies from a distance, to progress carefully and use covers... or just to go all out, taking out dozens of hostiles while running through corridors. It is a challenging, but very rewarding shooter. It it a perfect game? Unfortunately, no. The story is not told in a particularly engaging way; most of the narration is done by a bunch of generals in a meeting room, who are never even seen interacting with the protagonist. The difficulty also gets painfully cheap at times: some enemies are bullet sponges, have amazing precision, or are strategically placed so they'll snipe you before you can even see them; it is especially true in the final levels and can get really frustrating. The stealth sections can get janky and the bosses are all terrible. But overall, RtCW is an all-time classic that all shooter fans should complete at least once.

Wolf 3D was the first game I ever played, so Wolfenstein has always held a special place in my heart. I haven't played all of the new games, but that's because I played The New Order and couldn't get into it and still can't get past it. I'm not nostalgic enough about Wolfenstein that story would hurt the series for me in that regard; I don't care about story in a game--I just want to play the game. TNO was just not a fun shooter. RTCW, on the other hand, is a solid, classic shooter. I love WWII games and the WWII theme. Maybe that is a bit of nostalgia, as it was the main theme of many of my first games, and RTCW does the theme great. I'm not really into the supernatural aspects. I mostly tolerate it. But the gunplay and the level design are what make RTCW shine. If you're looking for a classic shooter, this is it; if you want the best Wolfenstein game, this is it. It's frequently an unbeatable price, and the prevalence of several mods to increase replayability, make this an easy choice. Buy it and enjoy!