Mordheim is a turn based tactical RPG, quite reminiscent of XCOM series. The player leads a small party through tactical battles decided by an unforgiving RNG. There is much to like about the game but it's buried under janky user interface, controls, camera and bad AI. In this game: - Maps are very big relative to individual party members. Maps are complex and 3 dimensional with many-storied buildings. Objects and buildings are difficult to differentiate and there are many blind alleys. - But the only camera view available to the player is a view from the perspective of the individual fighter. From this view it's impossible a for player to assess tactical situation well. There is no enemy overview nor camera from the perspective of the war party. There is only a small general map overview you end up consulting almost all the time, but it severely lacks functionality - the player can't control anybody from it and it's 2 dimensional. - It seems the developers attempted to make the game playable using only console controller. As a result every action including jumping, climbing, and looting is undertaken by cycling through context dependent possibilities, choosing one, and then confirming it. It results in hundreds of unnecessary clicks. Also Mordheim context dependence is quite clumsy - the player must frequently fervently maneuver their characters to trigger jumps or other actions which don't trigger even though they should. Context dependence extends to inventory and skill management resulting in even more unnecessary clicks. - Battles take too long for the wrong reasons - maps are big and there is no positioning phase so before the actual fight begins the opposing parties blindly move all over the map searching for each other. Also moves of the enemy take time without possibility to skip them, even when enemy is not visible. - AI is frequently stuck in labyrinthine buildings. Summing up the above - the game has nice ideas, but execution is terrible.
Playing the game after many years I can only sadly conclude it didn't age well. Looking back it's hard to say what Return to Castle Wolfenstein even attempted to be. 1. Theoretically it's an idSoftware game with a plethora of weapons, first aid kits lying everywhere, secrets hunting etc. However it completely lacks the smoothness of gameplay of its older brethren, so it plays very different from quick, relaxing boomer shooters. Player's movement is so cumbersome the long distance shooting is the only convenient play-style. 2. It's surprisingly full of 'stealth missions', for which the game's engine and interface is very clearly not designed. 3. It seems the game aims to be a bit more on the 'realistic' side of the shooters spectrum. Nevertheless its control scheme doesn't enable to take cover, go prone or shoot around corners. The weapons loadout is absurd for a half-realistic 'military shooter', bosses fight clearly come from a different genre and at least some of the enemies are complete bullet sponges. When you add to this the uninspired level design Return to Castle Wolfenstein doesn't have anything to offer to modern players apart from the atmosphere and a cheesy yet completely serviceable story-line. All other things the game tries to do are done much better in different titles, even in titles from its era (Quake! Thief! Call of Duty!). Obviously such an old game also won't awe anyone with graphics. Maybe in 2002 this particular gameplay combination was a breath of fresh air but today it's apparent it just doesn't work. So unfortunately in 2024 Return to Castle Wolfenstein is nothing but an unwieldy hybrid which can't be fully recommended.
