Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a well-executed update to id's Wolfenstein 3d from 1991. While the storyline is original (though it obviously rips from Raiders of the Lost Ark), there are a few technical issues that my anal-retentive brain just can't leave alone. Fortunately, I won't go into them here.
Once again placing the player into the well-worn boots of BJ Blazkowicz, the game starts you off just as the original did; you were captured and tossed into the dungeon of Castle Wolfenstein, and you just killed your guard. The start even looks about the same; You're looking at the door to your cell, the body of your guard in front of you. However, the original started you with his gun and 8 rounds. Here, you start with your knife (which looks like a Fairbairn-Sykes model), but you don't have to go very far for your first pistol (it's in the doorframe).
As the game travels through the Balkans, occupied Norway, and, of course, Germany itself, you almost feel like those are your hands holding that "borrowed" MP40. In one mission where you must escort a "liberated" Panzer through a town, you feel as though you're walking through a bombed-out city; piles of rubble line the roads, buildings look unsteady, and many of the NPC's you encounter have bandages applied.
My main gripe is that the members of the Wehrmacht you encounter speak in accented English. Sometimes, they'll say something in German (like when they're muttering to themselves, or when it'd be very easy to figure out what they mean), but when it's a miniature cutscene (the second and third people encountered on the Norway mission come readily to mind), the conversation is mostly in English.
Once again placing the player into the well-worn boots of BJ Blazkowicz, the game starts you off just as the original did; you were captured and tossed into the dungeon of Castle Wolfenstein, and you just killed your guard. The start even looks about the same; You're looking at the door to your cell, the body of your guard in front of you. However, the original started you with his gun and 8 rounds. Here, you start with your knife (which looks like a Fairbairn-Sykes model), but you don't have to go very far for your first pistol (it's in the doorframe).
As the game travels through the Balkans, occupied Norway, and, of course, Germany itself, you almost feel like those are your hands holding that "borrowed" MP40. In one mission where you must escort a "liberated" Panzer through a town, you feel as though you're walking through a bombed-out city; piles of rubble line the roads, buildings look unsteady, and many of the NPC's you encounter have bandages applied.
My main gripe is that the members of the Wehrmacht you encounter speak in accented English. Sometimes, they'll say something in German (like when they're muttering to themselves, or when it'd be very easy to figure out what they mean), but when it's a miniature cutscene (the second and third people encountered on the Norway mission come readily to mind), the conversation is mostly in English.