Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Operation Resurrection

Written by Chris Reiter on June 01, 2002

First Impressions: The game that doesn't require you to know how to speak German in order to kill one.

The worst of times is also the best of times when it comes to referencing World War II: one of the most memorable historical fazes of war. The reason I mention World War II's occurrence being relatively good is because.... Years ago, in the early days when PC gaming had started to sprout up, and become popular with games such as Doom and Quake appearing on the market, and parents started to question the maturity in the video game world, there was one title that mirrored World War II's Nazis, in a game where death was their only option, as you had to pound enemies with various types of weaponry as an American soldier in the game Wolfenstein. Just a few months ago, a sequel to the popular Wolfenstein series was released, titled Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and it was quite remarkable. Now, Activision and Raster Productions are porting the PC version onto the PlayStation 2, and console addicts couldn't be happier.

In the year 943 A.D., an all-powerful evil existed within the world. To stop him, a mysterious character enslaved this invincible and dark creature within a magical prison, never to be seen again. Now, the focus shifting to 1,000 years into the future, a dig is underway by Nazi troops to unravel this once imprisoned Heinrich I. As the American secret agent Blazkowicz, it's up to you to blast your way through battalions of Nazi troops to stop them at their fiendish game to return Heinrich to his once unstoppable form to help them take over the world, and to ultimately destroy it.

What is already known about Return to Castle Wolfenstein is that Activision doesn't have any plans to change the game's design around, other than that the title will retain the original features while being shaped by the PlayStation 2's structure the game will pertain to. Based on the Quake 3 game engine, Return to Castle Wolfenstein's gameplay will move smoothly and freely through a fast paced, 60 FPS rate on screen. Knowing Activision, the gameplay will be just as intense and exciting as in the PC version.

Right now, it's unknown whether or not the port of Return to Castle Wolfenstein will share the multiplayer option that made the PC version so enjoyable. But, the single player mode was so great, that the game might not even need it. Within the one player mode, you'll explore the game's environments from inner castle walls, underground cavernous interiors, outdoor forest locales, and even war torn streets to disband Nazi troops of their tyrannical soldiers. Including a plentiful amount of such trademark First Person Shooter weaponry, from handguns, to automatics, to a set of shotguns, sniper rifles, and even an electrically powered supernatural device, the game will offer a wide variety of really spectacular stuff to bombard the opposition with.

Considering that Activision has no plans to change the gameplay, the computer controlled AI should also be just as good as in the original version. A perfect example of just how well the computer reacts to your character is if you were to shoot an enemy in any certain spot of their body, such as their head, they'll cover up that spot, and fall backwards playing accordingly to how a real person would die if they were to have gotten a bullet in the skull. Often at times, the enemy AI will run away and cower behind walls, trying their best to stay alive. Given the distinctive indications from playing the PC game, the ported version should be similar and sweet.

At the very core of the gameplay, visually, the game will reveal a great extent of content that will push a lot of hard work and effort into creating such realistically detailed worlds. The game will take you through thick and thin, as you can demolish the environments around you. For instance, you can take control of a large machine gun and blast away at a concrete bridge while chunks of the structure comes off and guards drop to the ground. More so, gas canisters lay put throughout several areas, in which you can blast away at to blow a hole through the wall, and see before your eyes blackened smoke that fits, making the game even better looking. While great, the graphics for the original version of Return to Castle Wolfenstein still had a few problems. Certain character models weren't as smoothed out as they could possibly look, with textures that were really grainy and pixilated up close. In a finished result, the PlayStation 2 port should not absorb these same problems, and hopefully will not appear to be as badly.

Another thing that's surely a welcome addition to the PlayStation 2 port is the music from the PC version. A tension building momentum of dramatic orchestrated sounds and sometimes even eerie themes were what made the experience of being a World War II soldier so realistic. Guards are all programmed with a set of dialogue that you can actually listen to if you're efficient enough to not terminate them too quickly. And even the in-game sounds will all be too real, with loud gunfire, blazing alarms, and all kinds of miscellaneous chaos going on. Return to Castle Wolfenstein shouldn't fail to appeal to the audience's ear lobes in the least.