I wasn't going to buy Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RtCW). I was looking forward to it for some time, having thoroughly enjoyed the original so many years ago, but then as I watched the development of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (MoH:AA) it seemed less and less appealing to me for reasons of which I'm still not sure. Suffice it to say that I was leaning toward skipping RtCW in favor of MoH:AA.
When the January 2002 issue of PC Gamer arrived, and I saw that their review gave it a 91%, however, my gaming appetite was again whetted. In short, the review made it sound too good to miss, so I ran out and plunked down my cash. Fortunately, I managed to sneak under the deadline for the sale at Best Buy, so I didn't have to pay full price. I consider that fortunate because while there is much to enjoy about RtCW, it really didn't meet my expectations for reasons I'll explain.
Visually the game is really quite impressive. The artwork reflects a consistent stylistic approach throughout, the models and character animation are generally very good, and the use of the Quake III Arena engine is clearly a good choice, as framerates remained excellent no matter what happened. In fact, I played the entire game at 1280 x 1024 x 32 bpp with all the graphical goodies maxed out and didn't run into a single instance in which things bogged down noticeably—not even with lots of enemies on screen. The developers deserve a pat on the back for pulling off this level of quality. Indeed, RtCW is as visually impressive as any of its contemporaries.
My sole complaint in the visual department is with texture resolution. Despite having the texture quality maxed out, using trilinear filtering, and fiddling with compression, a number of the textures used for various characters in the game were noticeably pixellated. This was normally not all that distracting, but when zooming in with the basic sniper rifle things looked a bit ugly at times.
This was more disturbing still when viewing some of the otherwise nicely-done cut-scenes. At the very end, for example, when Heinrich is being summoned, the three super soldiers actually looked quite bad compared to what I'm seeing in other games these days. Perhaps there is a way to use higher-resolution textures, and I'm just not aware of it? If so, I would sure like to try that. I guess Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force and some other games with incredibly detailed textures have simply spoiled me (grin).
The aural elements of RtCW are almost as impressive as the visual elements. The weapon sounds are crisp and satisfying, the music is tastefully done and heightens the dramatic tension nicely, and even the voicings are done well for the most part. With a few rare exceptions (e.g., Ghost Recon, Thief, etc.), most games lack in the audio department to my ears, but RtCW wasn't at all offensive.
The only thing for which I sometimes wished was a bit more variety in some of the weapon-fire sounds. I've fired enough guns in my life to know that each weapon has its own distinctive "bark", but somehow each round seems more unique than what video games have done to date. Perhaps a slight and random detuning would help from round to round? I don't know what the proper technical solution is; I just know that the thousandth round from my MP40 sounded identical to the first, and that got old.
The boys at Id Software pretty much defined the first-person shooter (FPS) interface, and RtCW clearly pays homage to their work. The controls may all be remapped easily, as I've come to expect, but the game plays easily enough for any FPS veteran with the default configuration. The different symbols that appear in the lower center of the HUD were particularly helpful in helping me interact with the objects in the game world, changing weapons was easily done thanks to highly logical groupings and so forth. I have nothing but good things to say about the interface. It looks and feels as good as it works.
The nitty, gritty details of getting the job done in RtCW are pretty sensible. For example, one can sprint or jump, but only for a time—though it admittedly allows for a lot of jumping. Headshots clearly do more damage than shots to the body, legs, etc., though it seems ridiculous to me that I was able to pump 2 - 3 rounds into an enemy paratrooper's head without dropping him. I kept expecting him to shout from across the room, "Nyah, nyah! Ya missed all muh vital spots!" Crouching protects you from fire, moving stealthily is pretty predictable, and makes good sense, and the overall feel is a good. The mechanics of an FPS game need not be complex, and in this aspect RtCW comes through nicely.
Geeky as it may be, I must single out RtCW as particularly praiseworthy insofar as it is the first (and only) FPS game to date to get ladders right. Red Faction comes pretty close, but RtCW finally makes ladders work like they ought. In every other FPS game, I've always had to reload from time to time because I just couldn't get back onto the stupid ladder when coming down from some elevated platform, ledge, roof or whatever. Whether it's the mechanics of the ladders themselves or the fact that they have the appropriate sort of guiding structure at the top entry point, I don't care. What I do care about is that RtCW never made me, Mr. Action Hero, die stupidly from falling off a ladder.
As FPS story lines go, RtCW is a definite standout in my book. With many such games, it's clear that a paragraph or two at most has been developed as scaffolding upon which to hang weapons, environments and baddies to kill. In the case of RtCW, however, there is an engaging albeit simplistic plot at work, which helps move things along and ties the events of the game together.
My main complaint in this department is that the intelligence officers in the game surely don't deserve their titles. Perhaps I've played too many video games, but it was obvious to me by the end of the first mission what was going to happen. A non-predictable plot twist or two would have helped. I have to give the developers credit for coming up with a relatively sensible set of tie-ins between Nazi Germany, biotechnological horrors, and all sorts of occult mumbo-jumbo surrounding Heinrich. Given the fantastic nature of some of the material, it was handled in a better than average fashion for an FPS game.
This is where RtCW stumbles in my estimation. There are a pleasant variety of enemies to face, a good selection of weapons with which to face them, a number of interesting environments in which to face them, etc. I was particularly impressed with the degree to which all of the weapons seemed to be useful—as is rarely the case. I found myself switching back and forth pretty frequently from one weapon to another to make the best use of my ammunition, and in no case did I ever find a weapon completely useless. That says a lot.
The developers also deserve a lot of credit for integrating some very enjoyable and somewhat unusual elements (for FPS games anyway) into the game. The ability to sneak up on enemies and knife them in the back, as well as the silenced weapons, gave me some interesting choices to make as a player. I really enjoyed mission six, level two, in which one must make it all the way through Paderborn village without the alarm being sounded. That was an utter blast to play, and it kept me right on the edge of my seat, constantly checking around corners and then frantically sprinting to stop the guard from sounding the alarm. That was nicely done.
I have four observations, however, that render aspects of RtCW less than pleasant. First, the enemy AI is simply too good a shot at times. In one level in particular, I was walking through the fog toward a check point when all of a sudden I hear "BAM! BAM! BAM!" before dropping dead. Again and again I reloaded and tried to approach, only to be shot down like a dog before I could even see the enemy. Eventually, I pulled out the snooper rifle and managed to pick off the bad guys who were making my day difficult, but it seems ridiculous to me that they can nail me reliably again and again while I can't even see them!
Similarly, their reflexes are ridiculous. When ducking quickly out from cover to take a shot, I often got a bullet between the eyes before I could pull the trigger—even from hundreds of yards away in the fog! This same sort of complaint is particularly relevant in mission seven, level two, the level immediately prior to the final boss. In facing the last few bad guys with their paratrooper rifles, I eventually got so tired of dying the moment I poked my head around a corner, I resorted to what I consider a lame exploit of the AI: fire a shot or two to get their attention, then wait for them to poke their heads around the corner.
Second, a fair portion of the game was as woodenly linear as Id's original Wolfenstein 3D. Yes, the scenery is pretty to look at, but I am truly starting to develop a serious distaste for games that force me to approach everything in precisely the way the game developers intend. If games like Deus Ex show us anything, it's that being able to take multiple approaches to solving problems, or at least multiple paths through a level, is a must for the contemporary gamer. The exception, of course, would be if the missions were so well-scripted that one is continuously being led by interesting events.
In such a case, this complaint doesn't apply. In RtCW, however, I couldn't miss the glaring hand of the level designer pushing me through in exactly the direction he wished, despite having nothing interesting leading me in that direction. It's an admittedly tough line to walk, but where RtCW is concerned, greater flexibility in working through the levels of the game would really have improved the experience. This would have been an unfair complaint to lodge against Id's version of the game, but we've come a long way since then, and RtCW is behind the times in that respect.
Third, the pacing of the game was not at all even. As I have noted, some levels were a complete blast to play, whereas others managed to devolve into a ridiculous reload-fest until I could find precisely the right split-second timing and/or stupid AI exploit to get past the current obstacle. This is illustrated similarly in the progression of the bosses, which was just plain wrong. When facing Helga, for example, I had to reload once and give it a second try largely because I walked into exactly the wrong part of the courtyard by accident. Still, it was an enjoyable encounter and an interesting fight. She seemed just about right for the progress I'd made in the game up to that point.
In contrast, facing Deathshead's super soldier in mission five, level three was an utter nightmare. As soon as I walked into the room, he pinned me to the wall with the tesla cannon, and I was dead before I could even move. The next time I ran in, I nailed him with the panzerfaust to buy myself time to get down to the main floor, at which point he pinned me to a different wall with the tesla cannon and finished me off with a rocket. If I tried to stand on the catwalk, he would drop me with the tesla cannon before I could get off more than a hundred rounds with the venom gun. If I tried to run down to the main floor, he would waste me with rockets or just pin me in place with the tesla cannon until I was dead.
Eventually, after no less than twenty-seven reloads—good God did I get sick of that cut-scene dialog—I basically got lucky and nailed him before he could kill me. But it wasn't from skill or doing anything clever; it was blind, stupid luck. I hate that kind of thing in a game. I don't mind a tough fight; I don't mind a tough fight that requires doing something clever; but I hate a fight whose outcome depends almost completely on blind, stupid luck. Oh, and not being able to skip the cut-scene is simply unforgivable.
The end of mission seven, level two was the same, I'm afraid. In facing the last dozen or so baddies before exiting the level, I reloaded no less than twenty-five times before I could survive it. This was exacerbated by the ridiculously fast enemy AI (i.e., they could shoot me in the face when I peeked around corners before I could so much as blink), but it strikes me as a pacing problem. By the time I got to Heinrich, I was excited at the prospects for the toughest fight of my life.
As it turned out, however, Heinrich was a complete wimp. I nailed him with my only remaining panzerfaust, then whipped out the venom gun and alternated between him and his witch until she was dead. Since the venom gun was overheating, I switched quickly to the tesla cannon and poured all of my ammo into him, at which point he keeled over and the game ended. At no time during that encounter was I in any jeopardy. After getting past the paratroopers from hell in the previous level, Heinrich was a walk in the park. And compared to the super soldier, well, I think Himmler would have been better advised to fund Deathshead's projects. The super soldiers were a heck of a lot tougher.
Fourth and finally, the game was short. I remember Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force taking a lot of heat for being a relatively short game to play, but if that was short, well, RtCW is more like a cartoon. I finished it in three nights, and I didn't exactly spend a lot of time on it either. My total time through the game was just over seven hours, and I really took my sweet time in some spots! That makes me all the happier that I didn't pay full price for it. It wouldn't have been worth full price, and it is arguable whether it is a good buy at all in light of other games out there. The single-player component of Red Faction, for example, occupied me far longer than RtCW.
This is an area that helps redeem RtCW. While its single-player campaign suffers in various ways that I've already discussed, the multi-player game is an innovative step forward. It's so different, really, that I was tempted to write two reviews; i.e., one for the single-player portion and one for the multi-player portion. Fortunately, I overcame that temptation (grin). Suffice it to say that the team-oriented structure of RtCW multi-player is remarkably effective, if not downright brilliant. The scenarios are fun to play, the bar is set low enough that newbies can adapt pretty well, and yet the mechanics of the scenarios are complex enough that they encourage some serious team-oriented play among advanced players.
If I weren't already too occupied with other team-oriented FPS games (most notably Unreal Tournament, Tribes and Tribes 2), then I would be a rabid player of RtCW. The multi-player portion of the game really helps justify its purchase. I am going to be interested to see if RtCW develops a large number of clans as has happened with Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena and, of course, all of the Half-Life games and mods. It sure has the potential to do so. For the record, though, I'm going to predict that it won't. I actually think its multi-player component is too ahead of its time to be widely embraced by the on-line gaming community at large. We'll have to wait and see if I'm right.
The ultimate judge of whether a game is good or bad, if you'll pardon the Aristotelian approach, is whether it entertains. It seems to me that the very essence of a game is to entertain the player, and as such, if a game isn't fun, then it doesn't really matter how wonderful its visuals, audio, etc. are. In the case of RtCW, I've come away from the game strangely disappointed. As FPS games go, it's got its high points, but it just didn't draw me in and make me want to play the way Red Faction, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, Deus Ex, System Shock 2, or many of the other FPS games I've played did. In all honesty, I'm not so sure it was as engrossing as Id's Wolfenstein 3D, though my expectations have admittedly risen a great deal since those days.
To summarize, If you're the kind of player who longs for an FPS game that truly helps raise the single-player bar in its genre, then your money is likely better spent elsewhere. If you're one of those players, however, who considers the single-player experience useful only as a brief training ground for the multi-player component, then RtCW just might be your thing. If you can get it on the cheap (e.g., $30), then it's arguably a decent buy for either. I suspect, though, that the latter sort of player will ultimately be the only one to get his money's worth.
01/21/2002