Make no mistake about it, there have been numerous games based on World War II - some realistic down to the letter, some that are based in real situations but slightly cinematic to add a bit of epic flair (see Medal of Honor), and, in the case of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the strange brand of WWII game that take extreme liberty with numerous rumors and facts about that great war. Originally released in 2001 for the PC, Activision, id Software, Grey Matter, and Nerve Software have gone to work on the inevitable console conversion; this particular edition for the PC-ish Xbox, carrying the Tides of War subtitle to emphasize the honest truth about this conversion - this is far from a PC port; it's practically a whole new game, with features that are an Xbox or Xbox Live fans' dream come true. Despite being slightly aged, RTCW: Tides of War is an exceptional first person shooter with enough options and extras to "tide" over Xbox owners until the next great first person shooter arrives (read: Halo 2).

The Facts

Return to Castle Wolfenstein contains both a single player story campaign as well as a horde of multiplayer options. The campaign tells the tale of B.J. Blazkowicz, an Allied spy and a former US Army Ranger, who's employed to go on an unusual mission - seeing what Hitler and his band of merry psychopaths are up to, since rumors are abound that the Nazi's are heavily into the occult and other strange things concerning the undead. As such, much of the game takes place in Nazi strongholds (including Omaha Beach, as all good WWII-based games make sure to include) as well as underground tombs of the dead - the result is the ultimate gamer orgasm - not only do we get to wipe out a hell of a lot of Nazi's (always a great pastime), we also get to hunt and kill a bunch of undead stuff as well!

The multiplayer aspects also can tie in with the main story; RTCW: ToW contains an excellent co-operative mode a la Halo. Unfortunately, despite the inclusion of Xbox Live support, co-op isn't available online - this would have been remarkable.

Despite that missing piece, there's still LAN play for up to 16 players as well as online through Live, RTCW's multiplayer modes are a cross between a Ghost Recon and Unreal - a bit of fragging, and a bit of tactical strategy as well. There's 4 different character classes such as a soldier or a medic who's biggest job is to heal teammates, giving plenty of options for structuring a game. The one thing to keep in mind, as there isn't a straight up deathmatch here - it's all teamwork based action, be it with Objective mode for accomplishing goals in a fight between Axis and Allied forces, or the Team Elimination. If you prefer every man for themselves deathmatches, you'll want to just stick to Unreal Championship.

The Playtest

No matter what kind of play you expect from this game, be it single or multiplayer action, RTCW is executed perfectly. As always, the biggest concern in a FPS conversion to a console is the controls - thanfkully, the controls are very well done and work well despite the translation from a keyboard/mouse combination; they're very intuitive and it takes all of a few seconds to learn, though at first a few buttons will be awkward, such as clicking in the right thumbstick to open doors or grabbing items.

There really isn't a true "auto-aim" that is the bane of a hardcore FPS fanatic; instead it feels very Halo-ish in that it's very subtle when you find the target, changing the target icon red to signify a good, clean shot will make contact with an enemy, then keeps a lock on the target until you move it away somehow. This is especially nice in multiplayer games with mixed skill levels, letting everyone get a shot to play and feel like they're getting a fair shake, unless you're playing an expert who will dice you up regardless.

Either way, whether you play with yourself or with friends (really, please, no jokes, you perverted bastards), the weapon selection is great, and gives plenty of ways for wiping out the baddies. All the weapons are based on the time-frame as well, so no futuristic guns like a Tec-9 or any of that stuff. Instead, you’ll get to play with a Luger, MP40’s, and old-school shotguns, along with a dozen or so other weapons of destruction. Projectile weapons include dynamite, and the fun grenades for some long-distance fragging. Needless to say, there’s plenty of options for eliminating Nazi and Zombie scum.

The single player game is exceptionally polished – each level is objective based, and a few have particular stipulations, such as not killing innocents or letting the Nazi’s hit the alarms. Combat takes place in may different locales – Nazi strongholds such as Castle Wolfenstein, German villages, and numerous tombs that are full of Nazi’s, and of course, different varieties of the undead. As a matter of fact, there’s a particular reminder of Halo when playing these particular levels, as the 3 way firefights between Nazi’s, zombies, and yourself get to be pretty ferocious when in a huge pack, like the Master Chief/Flood/Covenant battles were. Though, admittedly the straight up Axis/Allies fights are more rewarding, as the Nazi troops are smart fighters and present more of a challenge than the brain-dead, but still dangerous undead enemies. No matter though, as the entire campaign is full of great action and presents an ample level of challenge – even the easiest game mode isn’t exactly a cakewalk if you’re not careful. The ironic thing is the tomb-based levels feel more like a first person Indiana Jones game – though that’s not out of the question since, you know, Indy always beat the crap out of Nazi’s all the time. RTCW is a fairly lengthy game to boot, which is always a nice thing – and the ability to save anywhere can save some headaches, especially after escaping a tough fight.

Multiplayer is also polished well, with great maps to play on, and the ability to download new stuff via Xbox Live when the developers make it available. They’re well-balanced for all sorts of playing styles – and though they aren’t as good as a Halo would be (the Halo/RTCW comparisons are evident, though RTCW is a bit older, I think anyway), they’re just fine and a lot of fun to use when online or LAN play. Essentially, no matter if you have Xbox Live or not, or just prefer single player games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein has plenty to like.

The Looks

Admittedly, Wolfenstein isn’t exactly top of the line graphically, given the PC version is about 2 years old. Still, the game looks good, as the developers did a good job exploiting the Xbox hardware to create something respectable. The only real dark spot with the graphics is the tomb levels, which are annoyingly dark and difficult to see what’s going on. Perhaps it’s by design but it’s a tough call to navigate through the darker levels that aren’t lit. A good spy should have a flashlight anyway!

The rest of the game looks great, but not spectacular. The outdoor-based levels are full of great looking designs such as trees, water, and surrounding buildings, and the lighting effects cast off are very nice as well. Enemy animations are a bit sparse and the Nazi enemies all look alike, just with different uniforms. They do have some silly clipping effects when hitting a wall, though its made up for with the amusing animation of the Nazi’s getting blown to pieces by zombies or by blowing up a barrel nearby full of gasoline. RTCW, for its faults with the age of the game, still looks good and doesn’t look out of place on the powerful Xbox.

The Sounds

Where RTCW does shine is with the sounds. First off, the voice acting is top-notch, with great German acting as well to go along with Allied voices. It creates a true cinematic feel, and along with the outstanding musical score, creates an audio experience that only Medal of Honor can touch. It also keeps the serious tone of the game intact, despite the silly, wacky storyline – it might be a B-movie cliché to have zombies and Nazi’s, and even Nazi zombies, but the game maintains a Hollywood feel.

The sound effects aren’t too shabby either – you can actually hear the firefights that happen elsewhere get louder as you get closer, and hear distant sounds of your grenades going off if you’ve tossed one and ran off to avoid getting whacked yourself. The Nazi’s alarm their comrades when they see you, and sometimes will trip an alarm, that you can stop by blowing the alarm system to pieces. In multiplayer games (and for that matter, single player games), these sounds are even more important, as it can detect nearby enemies so you can respond as quickly as possible. If you have a 5.1 surround system, this too comes in handy for creating a great cinematic experience.

The Bottom Line

With the utter lack of interesting Xbox Live games outside of the early batch of games that were released, Return to Castle Wolfenstein will be an inviting presence for online gamers. Even if you don’t play online, RTCW’s single player mode is brilliant and will keep you going for a while until the next batch of Xbox FPS games start hitting stores, such as Soldier of Fortune II. It’s a bit old, sure, and it’s a PC port that a lot of people have already played, but it can’t take away the effort that Return to Castle Wolfenstein is. Thanks to all the different play modes, this is the kind of game that has replay up the wazoo and will last many gamers a long, long time.

Recommended: Yes