I'm sure the majority of you have played the old, old game that launched the first person shooter as a genre almost ten years ago. (If you haven't, shame on you! Go find it and play it a little. Shesh. Llama.) Some of you really old guys may even remember an older Castle Wolfenstein, from 1983... The 'old above head stick figure game. :)

I've been looking to make a Return to Castle Wolfenstein ever since I beat the original Wolf3D, and then smoked Spear of Destiny. Now, thanks to iD and Gray Matter, the Nazi killing fun is back, and better than ever before. And I mean, MUCH better. They've kept the feel of the old game (Love the score screen at the end of each level!) but wow. Totally different game (As you'd expect 8 years later. ;)

One of the problems in recent gaming history is a lack of really, really good villans. The Russians are our buddies now, so who else to pick on.... Ohhhh.. The Nazis were just complete, total bastards... :) And so begins the rush of Nazi shootemups.

Back Story/Gameplay

Well, it seems those bastard no-goodniks the Nazis are up to their usual wacky shenangians. Torture, murder, taking over small countries...... Oh, and trying to raise a 1,000 year old dark prince from the grave to take over the world. You know, the usual sort of things that twisted masterminds from the third Reich were known for.

Reports of odd happenings and goings on have caused the Joint Operations office to send you, Agent Blazkowicz to Castle Wolfenstein to find out just what the hell is going on. Unfortunately while trying to hook up with your contact in the German resistance, your partner (known only as a number, depressingly) are captured. You escape, Agent #1 isn't quite so lucky. Actually, since they tortured him to death I guess you could say his luck ran out completely.

Anyhows, as you venture through the game you'll discover various nasty things about the Germans, other than their obsession with the occult and raising dead bad-asses. They're also attempting to create the ultimate soldier. (Uber Soldat) using a bizarre combination of mechanical and biological technologies. Oh, and developing quite a large number of secret weapons and vehicles, most of which you will appropriate in your journeys through Nazi Land.

The story of course unfolds as you journey along, with some interesting twists and turns. You'll be doing a variety of missions, all the way from espionage/infiltration and assassinations to stealing experimental planes and plans for new weapons.

The locales you'll be fighting your way through include a ruined church, catacombs, an arctic base, a U-boat pen, a research laboratories, and of course... The castle itself. Locations are gorgeously detailed and extremely realistic.

Intro Movie

Normally I'd never even bother mentioning the intro movie... But in that case it is truly worthy of special note. The movie basically tells the story of how Heinrich 1 the lead bad ass the nazis are looking to resurrect was imprisoned in a secret tomb, and how the nazi's came to find him. The rain at the start of the intro movie is extremely well done, and for a few seconds I actually thought that the actors were motion captured, they're that smooth. Count me as blown away.