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| RETURN TO CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN |
Remember the days of old. Around the 1980s BP - before Playstation, crap consoles with rubber keys and crummy PCs with totally addictive games ruled the earth, then a big meteor wiped them all out. Or was that those dinosaur things? Well if games were dinosaurs what would be the T-Rex? If I had to pick it would be wolfenstein 3D. It was truly the daddy, the first EVER FPS! It has to be a landmark in video gaming history, where would we be now without it? Would we have seen great games like Half-Life? Anyway, you might remember old wolfy whereby you ran around a big castle trying to escape the Nazis and Hitler, uncovering their mutated conspiracies along the way. It was very simple but quite addictive and very popular and even I still like to have the occasional rumble with the nazis now.
Well now in the age of film like graphics and flexible life like gameplay it would make sense to go back and revamp the old beast making it the daddy once again. ID have done this releasing the already critically acclaimed Return To Castle Wolfenstein on the PC. Now Activision are bringing IDs beast to the Playstation to and some other console no one will care about, X-Box I think its called.
It will most probably be virtually a straight PC to PS2 conversion but you wont get any complaints from me if it is. The game is set against world war in an alternate reality where it is around 1960 and the war has been raging for around 50 years. As an American soldier you are asked to infiltrate castle Wolfenstein in nazi Germany to uncover and put a stop to the third Reichs plans. Youll need your wits about you take part in this dangerous covert operation battling some of the best AI ever seen in a game in the form of nazi foot soldiers and distorted mutants that are bread by them.
As the player it is said that you will be thrown in to an 'immersive' story that unfolds, twisting and turning like a film. Fans of stealth, accuracy and just all out shooting serious sam style should all enjoy alike with a nice mix of gameplay elements. Some though may be uninspired by some of the unoriginal bosses where all the skill that is needed is just how long you can hold your finger down on the trigger for.
Its most likely to look a lot like the PC version including photo realistic backdrop textures and character animation. The game will be modified to take full advantage of the platforms capabilities that perhaps my even mean a slight improvement from the PC version if the console can handle it.
Exciting quotes taken straight from press are as follows,
"Return to Castle Wolfenstein has quickly become the most critically acclaimed and widely played action shooter of 2001, and were thrilled to bring the Wolfenstein experience to a new generation of gamers." Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software said. "Were working with Raster on a number of technical and design modifications that will provide Xbox and PlayStation 2 owners a definitive gaming experience that is designed and built for their systems."
"The QUAKE III Arena engine coupled with the power of these next generation gaming systems creates a remarkable synergy that will serve as the benchmark for future action-shooter games," states Larry Goldberg, executive vice president of Activision Worldwide Studios.
It amazes me still after all the time of being around, developers are still using the Quake 2 engine and developing fantastic games that seem to get graphically even more stunning every time.
This is really exciting news and the game, if anything like the PC version should be great, and if its online it should be even better. RTCW online has really got the blood racing amongst PC gamers and some may even say it is the best online game for some years. A tweak on the rather limp single player game wouldnt be a miss though or perhaps an all-new single player mode, but time will only tell. Lets just hope PS2 owners dont get bored with the plethora of PC conversions that seem to be popping up or late. | |
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