First look at Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Brian Nash | Staff Writer

Who doesn't love to kill Nazi's?  I for one, love to kill Nazi's, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein makes it more fun than even the original.  For those of you who don't know, the original Wolfenstein 3D was created about 10 years ago.  It was the first First Person Shooter and a classic amongst gaming fiends.

The basic story line of the original Wolfenstein 3D was that you were a captured Allied spy, and you had to escape from Castle Wolfenstein.  Along the way, you got to kill plenty of Nazi's, SS soldiers, Officers, Mutants, and of course, Hitler!

In Return to Castle Wolfenstein, you play as B.J. Blazkowicz, an Army Ranger infiltrating the Nazi Castle Wolfenstein.  You are to infiltrate Wolfenstein and stop whatever monstrosities are happening.  These experiments have to do with an ancient scientist, Heinrich who was experimenting with raising the dead during the 9th and 10th centuries.  Heinrich's ancestor, Himmler (remember, we already killed Hitler in Wolfenstein 3D) is of course, continuing Heinrich's research.  So, maybe there will be a Hitler (undead, maybe, but still Hitler) that we can kill.  A more detailed history can be found at Wolfentsein's Official Web Page.

On Saturday the 15th, Activision and ID Software released a multiplayer test.  Upon release, thousands of people swarmed to download it.  I was one of the lucky few who were able to download it (most of the servers were so bogged down, that the test was impossible to access through most of the day).  The test itself was easy enough to install, and of course, uses Quake 3 Arenas famous engine.

Anyone who worries that their hardware may not be able to handle this game should fear not.  My good old Pentium 2 (450 mhz) runs it just fine at high resolution and the highest graphical and sound settings.  As far as playing online, I had a lot of lag due to my extremely poor cable modem.

The Wolfenstein test itself only has one multiplayer level.  This level is straight from D-Day.  While playing it, you get that feeling of running through the Normandy beachhead.  It's almost like watching Saving Private Ryan.   Barbwire and debris litter the beachhead.  Explosions are going off all around while snipers and gunners are raining bullets over your head.  The lieutenants (player classes explained later) can call down air strikes too, which can be a real bitch.

Approaching the fort that lies at the end of the beach requires the use of explosives to get rid of certain sections of barbwire.  After clearing the beach head (and probably dying a few dozen times from enemy fire) an engineer must lay dynamite on two sections of the fort, to clear an entrance into the fort.  After that, it's a blitz play to get some documents hidden deep in the fortress and return them to a radiobroadcasting center.  Of course, you have to try and slaughter the Nazi's defending the fort while you're at it.

If you're playing the Nazi's (someone has to play the bad guys, right?) you get the advantage of having an elevated view and extremely powerful stationary guns.  The snipers can pick off a few stragglers, while the heavy machine gunners mow down those just hitting the beach.  However, once the Allies breach the fort, flame throwers and heavy machine guns seem to work best at keeping them away from the valuable documents.  

This level is brilliantly designed.  So far being the only playable level, it shows much promise for the game.  We get a good look at the eight or so weapons available, and they seem quite impressive.  The flamethrower, rocket launcher, sniper rifle, and chain gun are of course, going to be the most popular.  Return to Castle Wolfenstein is actually one of the first FPS games to actually use a flamethrower.  The effect is marvelous.  Setting someone on fire with the jelly like napalm is just amazing.  It shoots out a napalm like substance from the spout; much like a high power garden hose shoots water out.   Of course, this napalm sticks around and burns the living hell out of anything it touches, including you.  It's loads of fun in a small room.

Some surprising and very well, implemented features of the multiplayer game, is the class implementation.  There have been class based Capture the Flag FPS modifications since Quake 1.  However, most FPS's never implemented class based multiplayer style games.  In Return to Castle Wolfenstein, there are four main classes:

• Soldier: Basically, he's the tough guy of the group.  He can carry any of the weapons, as well as grenades.  He's a bit slower, but can take hits better than his counterparts.  He's great with the flamethrower, chain gun, or rocket launcher.   He is also the only class who can use the heavy weapons, as well as the sniper rifle.
• Engineer: If you need something blown up, he's the man.  The engineer can place dynamite charges, which can take out certain walls (the only thing that can take out certain walls).  He can also disarm enemy explosives and fix machinery.  Unfortunately, he can only carry light arms.
• Medic: The medic is a light armed, quick class who can bring dead players back to life.  He's very useful, since you have to wait at least 5 seconds (sometimes as much as 30) before you respawn.  He can also place med kits around, which other players can use to heal themselves.
• Lieutenant: One of the more interesting classes in the game.  This guy can zoom in on a location with his binoculars, and then send an artillery strike to that location.  He can also toss smoke grenades to bring in an air strike.   Another useful function is that he can toss ammo packs around, which are EXTREMELY useful since there are no ammo rooms in this game (at least in this level).

Overall, this game has a very good feel.  The class based system gives it a very Team Fortress feel.  It should be interesting to see how this game turns out when they release the final product.