Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001 Video Game) User Reviews

Start the war machine, the Reich will rise!.

[Radu_Vladislas · 9/10 · 15 May 2007]

In the game Himmler is up to no good as usual along side his fellow Nazi's, only this time it is far worse than the usual murderous escapades. He is trying to resurrect a long and supposedly forgotten Saxon God to help create a dark force to conquer the Allies that will sooner or later be knocking at the door of Berlin.

And here enters your character, an operative of the OSS, that's sent behind enemy lines to throw a spanner, or five, into the works of one of Himmler's personal projects the "SS Paranormal Division" and their plan to hold the sacred ceremony to resurrect the demonic Saxon, Prince Heinrich I, which in the end if successful will literally be the beginning of the end as he will unleash an army of darkness on the world.

The atmosphere through the entire game is a creepy like atmosphere and also one of war. It blends the two of them perfectly well, with no fuss. The score for the game is the highlight as each music piece matches what is going on on screen. The controls are fine as well as I use keyboard and mouse, not a pad. I have lost count of how many times I have played this game and finished it, I have even downloaded single player levels people have made with the level editor. This adds tenfold to the experience of the already excellent single player mode in the game.

If another Return to Castle Wolfenstein is going to be made, as I have heard rumours there is another one on the way. They had better keep all that is good about this one in the next one.

Thanx for a killer game to play well done to those who made it!.

Rough around the edges but great fun!

[those_who_dig · 8/10 · 18 June 2022]

All these years later, Return to Castle Wolfenstein offers a very fun single-player experience.

The level design is generally intuitive, and grows stronger as the game progresses. The areas you occupy in-game are made more immersive through immaculate attention to detail and period-appropriate decoration.

Certain aspects of the game's visual presentation have aged particularly well, for instance characters' faces and the weapons.

There's good feedback in firefights - you'll usually be able to tell whether you've hit your enemy. However, hitboxes aren't very accurate. Spend enough time using a sniper and you'll realise that many of the shots you clearly miss in fact hit the intended target. It's better to wrongly register misses than not recognise hits, I suppose!

The stealth can be frustrating. It's almost as if AI detection works using RNG instead of a coherent pattern. Sometimes you'll be spotted half a mile away through a dark mist; sometimes the soldier you're sneaking up on will have no peripheral vision whatsoever.

It took me a while to adjust to the absence of an aim-down-sight ability for most weapons in the game, but as your arsenal expands you'll find something that works for your play-style.

A slightly frustrating component of the game is its tendency to use a start-of-level save instead of your latest quicksave for its automatic reload.

There are probably fixes for all of the issues I've raised in this review, but nothing in Return to Castle Wolfenstein agitated me to the point of caring to seek out mods or patches. Take the game as you find it and you'll still be having fun most of the time.

Fun but not a classic

[gelziabar · 8/10 · 17 November 2006]

While Return to Castle Wolfenstein may have some good level design, good weapons, good graphics, good sounds and very balanced gameplay, there is nothing in it that one would'nt have seen before in other games. They've tried to squeeze in a proper story for the game but at the end, the story becomes pretty useless and is entirely predictable. But as far as fun alone is concerned, it just falls slightly short of being a classic. There is unfortunately not much long term appeal and there would'nt be much of a multiplayer following for it either. Worth giving a try if can pick it up cheap. While it does have several shortcomings, it is still more fun to play than most games today.

Better than its press

[dr_foreman · 24 October 2005]

Most people seem to like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but they qualify their praise with criticisms and reservations.

Well, I have almost no criticisms. This game is simply the bomb. For me, it's a near-perfect blend of horror, wartime action and - very occasionally - gritty realism. The graphics are lovely, and the game simply has a cool aesthetic. I've always found Wolfenstein games to be much more attractive and engaging than, say, Doom, which usually takes place entirely in a dark corridor.

This version of Wolfenstein has a nice variety of missions, too. You fight Nazis in castles and chateaus, undead in gloomy catacombs, and robotic supersoldiers in a top-secret lab. Some missions are reminiscent of the ultra-tough WWII game Hidden and Dangerous, which involved lots of sneaking around and careful gameplay, whereas other missions are all-out slugfests. For me, the game's fairly frequent shifts in tone, pacing and emphasis aren't a weakness, but a strong selling point.

I also love the far-out villains. The armored undead are creepy, and thankfully not nearly as revolting as zombies from other games. But I particularly love the leather-clad babes with machine guns - they're a little sexist, I'm sure, and somewhat tacky, but they're also entirely appropriate for a game like this.

Sure, Return to Castle Wolfenstein has some flaws. The cutscenes are boring, and the dialogue is a little corny. But hey, I didn't expect a good script from Wolfenstein. I expected fun (and carnage), and I got it. It's prime stuff, and very hard to stop playing.

The granddaddy of all first person shooters is back!

[tcestill · 10/10 · 6 December 2001]

I played and finished Wolfenstein 3D back in '92 (I believe that was the year...) and it was a great game! Following that game was the Doom series, then the Quake evolution, now RtCW. Using the powerful and beautiful Quake III engine, this game includes multiplayer and single player modes. This game screams quality, from the grand architecture to the brilliant flame effects. Tired of the monotonous deathmatch modes in Doom and Quake? Not to worry, multiplayer in this masterpiece is all team-work. Like puzzles? This game is full of difficult-to-find secret areas and interesting puzzles. But the grandeur does not end there! You will overhear important nazi conversations, read interesting documents, experience the awesome A.I. abilities (such as tossing your grenades back at you); and more! This title rightfully should be awarded game of the year. I give it a perfect 10! Hurry over to Electronics Boutique, Gamestop, or an other major video game retailer; and purchase your copy of Return To Castle Wolfenstein! See you on the battlefield!!!

Excellent sequel/reboot!

[swedzin · 10/10 · 2 July 2012]

This game is actually a pretty good vision and rebooted sequel to a legendary first person shooter "Wolfenstein 3D". It gives you a completely new visuals, characters, possibilities, weapons, gameplay, atmosphere, music and enemies. Now, all mentioned above... is pretty cool in the game. The graphics are excellent, and remember, this is 2001 we are talking about. Id made a quite good step with this one and they gave us a faithful sequel to the "Wolf" fans and upcoming game playing generations. There's nothing much to say for my side anymore, but there are several good things I'd like to mention. The plot is terrific, again as Agent Blaskowitz, here to fight Nazis and merciless ghosts and demons. The game is pretty dark and has this scary atmosphere, combined with eerie music, which is good, while in old game we had quite a colorful themed levels. While you fight Nazis, the atmosphere is reasonably different and it is followed by high voltage music score and very dynamic action. There are also few levels which contains only Nazis and certain nazi bases without ghosts, so it's good to have some balance there. It is very enjoyable and fun. Take my word for it and play it.

Nearly 20 years later

[rambo-91791 · 10/10 · 22 June 2020]

It's still a class game I absolutely love it The best shooting game I played

A bit of a missed opportunity

[Reaper Man · 8/10 · 24 July 2002]

This game has picked up loads of awards for it's graphics recently, and it's not hard to see why. Even on a medium-spec PC, it looks pretty amazing, with excellent lighting effects, decent character animation and impressive level design (my favourite being the secret Nazi airbase). But where id have pulled out all the stops for the visuals, it seems that they gave the writing team a day off for this game. I gave up caring about the plot after first running into the zombies (which were v.cool), as it wandered between Indiana Jones-esque fantasy, with eerie pagan rituals and undead hi-jinx, and more realistic Hidden & Dangerous style missions, such as capturing the experimental plane and picking your way through the rubble of a bombed out factory. In fact, I wish they'd have put more thought into the overall plot, as the fantasy elements of the game are rather weak and let the side down a little. Sure, the first time you bump into the Uber-Soldat's, you can't help jump in shock, and the excellent 'Lopers' add a real horror feeling to one of the missions, but they aren't used enough, and the level designers seem content to pop them in as mid-level bosses after their initial appearance. Then we go back to running around mansions, shooting plain old Nazi's. Why? Why not more freaky creatures? Why not a more involving plot? Castle Wolfenstein itself is little more than a bit part in this game. It's a shame to see such a well known license squandered on what is little more than an exercise in programming. The end of the game seems to tail off, with more and more empty levels dotted with the occasional enemy. And as for the final boss? Well, it's like id are stuck feet-first in 1994. I'm hoping some decent mission packs surface for RTCW, as the one-player game provides little sustenance for the likes of me. To be fair, I'm just disappointed that they didn't have Cyber-Hitler make a return! Oh, and the multiplayer game is fantastic. Simple as that. Taking part in a 32-a-side war with airstrikes, artillery barrages and flamethrowers. This IS war. Get it right next time id, and stop employing 6th formers to write your plots...

Superb Eye Candy, but a little uninvolved

[Lu Tze · 6/10 · 5 February 2002]

This game looks fantastic. The flame effects are superb, as is just about everything visual about it. The story is good as well, and it plays excellently, but it all just doesn't seem to work together.

The visuals feel like the main aspect, almost as if the game was made to show them off. The gameplay puts you into good circumstances, but they never seem really challenging. The stealth missions are a nice addition, but Thief did it years ago, and much better. And why oh why did they bother to make the bodies go down stairs? No-One lives Forever managed to get this right, with older technology. They really shouldn't have bothered trying, the end result is worse than it would have been otherwise.

Overall it looks great and I would recommend anyone to play it, but it never really involves you in the game, the story is an excuse to 'run to here, kill all bad guys, collect item, run to here, use item, kill all bad guys' and you never feel part of it, dispensing few and far between enemies with ease.

But when all is said and done, this IS a classic game, and will be praised for years, even though all it's great parts don't seem to make a great whole.

A good game that could and should had been a much better one.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 19 May 2006]

It was already very hard for this game to live up to its hype. It's based on the classic and immensely popular, WW II first person shooter, "Wolfenstein 3D", from 1992. It's was already quite hard to live up to the success of its predecessor and with the Medal of Honor games already out on the market, it became even harder to make a both original and impressive enough game, to please the Wolfenstein fans as well as offering something new to the players of other WW II shoot such as the Medal of Honor games. Even though the game is not bad, it still is a disappointing one to both of these groups of gamers.

The game has a solid story-line and both the story and atmosphere remain loyal to the classic "Wolfenstein 3D". Even though the game-play is more like the Medal of Honor games, the atmosphere was really like "Wolfenstein 3D", which gave the game a certain degree of originality and playability.

The game at first begins as every other WW II shooter but as the story and the game progresses, the game becomes more and more dark, especially when the first occult elements are introduced into the game. The occult and monstrous elements of the game make sure that the movie is a really scary one to play at certain moments. Some the monsters really pop out of nowhere at times and the sound effects are what make those moments even more creepy. Some of the creatures in the game are very well constructed and also hard to beat. Especially the Uber Soldat, who is half human, half machine and is extremely hard to beat is one scary opponent. Normally characters like these are used as level end-bosses but in this game they pop up regularly, like any other monster. Just the sound of an huge Uber Soldat slowly approaching and just knowing that he's ready to fire a missile or his Venom-gun at you is reason enough to crap your pants. The game is filled with 'crapping-your-pants' moments like these, also especially with the characters known as Lopers. I especially remember playing this game late at night, with the lights off and the sound turned up was a quite scary experience.

But has the game more to offer than just original opponent and a good atmosphere? Unfortunately not really. With the Medal of Honor games already out on the market at the time, this game falls flat as a WW II shooter. The game-play and levels are not as good and also the weaponry is lacking, with the excepting of a few 'futuristic' weapons such as the mini-gun and Tesla gun and original weapons such as the flamethrower. The game just doesn't play as easy and familiar as other first person shooters

Some of the levels are really great to play but as a whole the game doesn't really have a very high re playability value. I remember maybe finishing this games about three times and after that I was already fed-up and bored with the game and just went on playing the Medal of Honor games, of which I never grew tired (still play those games occasionally).

Most of the level end-bosses are good and hard to beat. So are most of the other normal characters in the game. The Nazi's have a good gaming intelligence and the monsters are scary and original enough to enjoy playing against. The game has some more original characters besides just monsters, such as elite troops and Nazi-women who are quite hard to beat in the game. Unfortunately the end boss is a disappointing one. Beating a guy who has just a sword, when you have a mini-gun, machine guns, rocket-launchers and other explosive isn't a very hard task. I had more trouble beating the other level end bosses than the final one. I even expected the game to continue and was really surprised that I had finished the game after I had beaten Heinrich I. It was really quite disappointing to be perfectly honest. Like many other Wolfenstein fans I had hoped to fight Hitler in a mechanical suit just like in "Wolfenstein 3D".

"Wolfenstein 3D" is still the best Wolfenstein game ever made, even despite the fact that this game has still more to offer the gamer.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

It's baack...

[ltnukem · 20 August 2004]

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.

The best horror game that had ever made...

[Dozermelon · 6 December 2004]

Whoever created this game was a genius... It had a good story plot and had some cool graphics and some action and adventure and some great elements that has added onto this game...

Also... The enemies are hard but it was still fun after all... And some power guns that you can also use them to shoot...

This game is like a Shoot, Think and Run genre... 1st level was so hard that everyone would took time to play it but it was still fun though....

So save your money for the other wolfenstein[Enemy territory is fun]or this if you want to....

10/10

A ton of fun...but falls into same trap

[panzerphil · 7 July 2002]

I cant say enough about this game. It has some of the mose realistic graphics and the most creep situations avalable. FINALLY some one put some real effort into the AI. When shots go off people come a running...no like in men of honor 2 were a mechanic is carrying a box about 20 or so feet from where you are filling this German full of lead.

The variety of the missions was refressing but the only thing I didnt like was the anti-climacitc ending (as is common in most games). Heinrich was a bit too unrealistic for a sci-fi junkie like me. And I would have liked a stage where one can go pop deaths head.

Aside from all the nit-picking this is my pick most recommended.

Doesn't live up to its name

[Quackle · 18 February 2003]

[CONTAINS SPOILERS]

As far as I can see, the title "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" shows very little relevance in this follow up to the 1992 classic. I got this game in 2001 when it came out and I was amazed by the technology, and the realism. You start off in the same position as you were in 1992; in a dungeon, you've just killed a guard, and you grab his feeble pistol and get escaping. When I bought this game, I believed that, like the classic, you'd spend the whole game in the castle. I was very wrong. You leave the castle on level 3, only to return at the end of the game. The rest of the time is spent in villages, airbases, dams, chateaus, trainyards, and so on. Overall, not the biggest tribute to the 1992 game "Wolfenstein", but the gameplay is overall exciting. 8/10