Review (PC)

Because of the 'Wolfenstein' in its name, RTCW must shoulder the burden of its legendary predecessor. Ahh.. brand recognition, she is a harsh mistress. Developed in the shadow of the Zeus of 3D shooters (Wolfenstein 3D for those of you new to this whole gaming thing), RTCW faced what I believe to be unachievable expectations -- namely to satiate nostalgia. Thankfully, I've spent the last few years building up an immunity to hype, and I have a natural resistance to nostalgia. Thus, I feel like I was able to experience RTCW on its own terms. You'll have to take my word for it. On its own terms, the game is, at best, an above average shooter with gorgeous graphics, and at worst a misguided, underachieving, sporadically frustrating campaign.

Good

• Level design. For the most part, the levels in RTCW are enjoyable. In particular, all of the castle levels are great. They feature good interconnectedness, which I like.

• Not once, during the whole game, did I get knocked unconscious and have all my weapons/equipment confiscated. Good job guys! Seriously. Way to resist that urge.

• Stealth scenarios that work. Why do they work: because the bad guys have to physically run and push an alarm button in order to sound the alarm. That means that I can make my best attempt at being stealthy, while still having the opportunity to deal with the inevitable conflicts without having to resort to the quickload key ad infinitum. As an example of how to do stealth completely wrong, read my SoF2 review.

• Taking the Quake3 engine outdoors, and doing a decent job of it. It's no Tribes 2, but it certainly broadened the gameplay.

Bad

• Interface issue: if you're reloading, and press a key to change to another weapon, you don't change to the weapon until you've finished reloading. This is bad. The reloading animation is long enough to get you seriously wounded if you get caught reloading at an inopportune time. I don't mind having to fend for myself and deal with the consequences of when I choose to reload, but when I have the wherewithal to switch to another weapon quickly, by god it should happen right then. This significantly annoyed me.

• The lopers, or whatever the hell they're called -- the guys with no legs, that can electrocute you through walls and floors. Yeah, those guys. They were absolutely no fun whatsoever. For a game that really only features about a half dozen types of enemies, the non-human types were decidedly non-entertaining. The problem with the lopers is that there seems to be no good way to tactically avoid their damage, which leaves you as the player with no choice but to just stand still and take a few shots on the chin as you attempt to drop them with either the panzerfaust or the venom gun, since no other weapons deal enough damage. On several occasions, I willfully took advantage of some poor AI behavior which allowed me to snipe at them while they stood still, apparently oblivious to the fact that they were being sniped. That's very damaging to the immersion.

• Speaking of non-entertaining, non-human enemies: the undead (of both the warrior and mummy variety) have basically no redeeming value. Thank god they weren't given a leading role. It is absolutely no fun to have an enemy that absorbs bullets without any outwardly visible reaction, and then spontaneously disappears in a flurry of flying bones (I'm speaking of the mummies here). The warriors are no better, absorbing damage stoically until they simply topple over unceremoniously. When I shoot a machine gun at something, I expect it to react as though it is being riddled with bullets.

• While we're on the topic of non-entertaining, non-human enemies... the super soldiers weren't much fun either. Again, they mostly provide an opportunity to unload some panzerfaust rounds. No tactics necessary.

• Come to think of it... the only entertaining enemies were the plain ol' humans.

• The final boss battle is monumentally underwhelming.

Ugly

• I'm going to put the whole undead concept in this category. I was perfectly content to shoot nazis. And unfortunately, the undead were so trite that it actually lessened the tension and spookiness, which I'm sure is the exact opposite of what the designers intended. I believe that the freak-factor would have been more than sufficient if the game had simply exploited the supernatural as a backdrop for the gunplay. The mummies and undead warriors were just a big speed bump on Fun Street.

• No blood. I'm sorry, but when I shoot things, blood should come out. No blood in a shooter is like no car damage in a racing simulation. Whatever else you've done to make the game realistic is nigh moot, so conspicuous is this one omission. This is what the Activisions and EAs have done to our hobby -- watered it down so that the ESRB rates everything a 'T' or less. I hate to spoil the party, but when the game consists mostly of sniping black-leather clad nazi femme fatales in the head, it's already well past the "may contain violent content" threshold, blood or no blood.

Beautiful

• The flamethrower.

Summary

Is RTCW fun? As always, it depends on you. Ultimately, RTCW is like your average Tuesday at the office. It's not much of a chore to get through it, but mostly you're looking forward to something else. RTCW is a decent shooter, with neither any egregious flaws nor features. It's a quick romp that won't leave a bad taste in your mouth, but is ultimately forgettable.