Mine Leiben
Tides of War has a few extras to set itself apart from the PC version. The most prolific of these additions are a set of prologue levels which explain why Blazkowicz is going back to Wolfenstein. Blazkowicz discovers that the Nazis have set up the S.S. Paranormal division, under the command of Himmler. S.S. Paranormal’s goal is to release a 1000 year old immortal knight from his prison. As Blazkowicz, you must prevent the Nazis from achieving their goal, as the raising of the knight could mean the end of the war.
Troop trouble
It’s fair to say that Wolfenstein didn’t really change too much on the way from the PC to the Xbox. The mechanics of the game are identical for the most part, though a few of the flaws from the PC version are still present. Nerve should be applauded, because the conversion is very good, especially compared with the recently released Playstation 2 port Operation Resurrection. Controls are very well suited to the Xbox pads (but you can customize it), though certain control changing options have been well hidden, and can be of slight annoyance.
The single player portion of Wolfenstein is seemingly broken up into three parts: the new prologue, a more occult section and then a more (slightly) realistic World War II section. The prologue is entirely new, though it just doesn’t seem as well composed as the other sections in the game. The occult parts can be pretty spooky, but they don’t really offer too much challenge until around the finale. The more realistic war section of the game is the most enjoyable section of the single player game, but is not without its frustrating moments (the stealth mission). The armoury of Wolfenstein is filled with the usual suspects – pistols, machine guns, grenades and so on, so there isn’t anything exceedingly original provided (though the flamethrower is probably the best we’ve seen to date).
Anyone who has played the PC version of Wolfenstein can tell you that the multiplayer modes were easily the best part of the overall package, and the tradition continues here on the Xbox. A major new addition to the multiplayer is a co-operative campaign mode, which allows two players to run through the single player mode together. There are a few frame rate hiccups, but it’s relatively enjoyable on the whole. The Xbox Live play is a huge plus (well, it would be if this PALGN reviewer had the resources to play on Live), as it retains all of the strengths of the brilliant PC multiplayer mode, and adds in a couple of new play modes, as well as the much fabled voice headset support. Wolfenstein is easily one of the premiere games on the Xbox Live service.
Wolfenstein shines in terms of lasting ability, provided you have access to Xbox Live. Single player is only about six hours long, though you are assured a few opportunities to replay the game via the co-operative mode. Multiplayer should last almost indefinitely over Life, or at least until everyone moves onto the next big multiplayer game. Wolfenstein also offers a couple of bonuses along the way, the sweetest one being the inclusion of the entire 6 episodes of the original Wolfenstein 3D, the early 90’s PC game which put id software on the map.
The goggles, they do nothing!
The graphics looked amazing on the PC back in 2001, and they still manage to do the job today, though thanks to some optimizing, Wolfenstein has a much smoother frame rate on the Xbox than most PCs did back in the day. The character models have a photo-realistic look to them (the facial texturing is especially good), but have since been super ceded by other games across the three main formats and they suffer from looking a little bit blocky in the limbs. Animation on the models is fairly pleasing despite some frustrating issues with the hit zones – the soldiers’ death animations are a minor highlight.
The occult and World War II environments featured in the game are still impressive today, though the new prologue maps lack the same level of quality in their construction. A variety of new cut scenes have been added to the game to further the plot but feel like they’ve been tacked on, and consequently are ineffective in the overall scheme of things. Wolfenstein provides support for widescreen and 60 Hz display modes, so anyone with a 16:9 TV should be spitting chips.
As far as PALGN can tell, the sound effects in Wolfenstein are fairly accurate, with every sort of gun sounding strikingly similar to its real life counterpart. These effects are further enhanced by the inclusion of Dolby Digital 5.1 support. The Dolby Digital 5.1 could be considered an unfair advantage in online games due to the high quality of the separation – you’ll have a good idea of where your foes are coming from. The musical score helps to achieve a good sense of tension while you’re roaming through the catacombs, surrounded by the undead, but doesn’t really offer the same level of excellence during the latter half of the game. Voice acting is highly suspect as the usual stereotypes are profiled – in the comms room, it’s always a British and American soldier having a conversation in their respective (though highly typified in this case) accents.
And that’s how I single-handedly won World War II
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War is easily amongst the best titles on the Xbox, and the one of the premiere titles on the Xbox Live service. The main single player game may be a little short, but the inclusion of co-operative play and the original Wolfenstein 3D help to offset this, and other minor flaws. PC owners may want to test the waters before laying down their $99 or £40, but if you’ve got Live, you’ve probably already got this game already, though no self respecting Xbox owner should be without Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
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