Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RtCW) is a Jeu of subjective shooting (FPS) developed by Id Software, Gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software and published by Activision. It left the December 7th 2001 in Europe.

In June 2003 left two versions console the play on PlayStation 2 and Xbox and respectively named Operation Resurrection and Tides off War .

In July 2004, Todd Hollenshead, chairman of id Software with announced at the time of a conference that a Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2 was officially in preparation. Developed by Raven Software and Nerve Software, for the part multijouor, RtCW 2 is planned on PC and Xbox 360 has a still unknown coming out date.

Overall picture

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a continuation of a play founder of the kind: Wolfenstein 3D.

The engine of the play is a version improved of the Quake III engine created by id Software.

The scenario tells the history of the American soldier William J. Blazkowicz (BJ) captured in 1943 by the Nazi S during the Second world war. The hero must escape and eliminate from the hundreds from enemies from any kind.

The Gameplay is very simple: one draws, one advances, while collecting a médipack or ammunition from time to time. Nevertheless to contrast with the pure and hard sequences of action, the developers inserted passages making the good share into the infiltration and where the fact of being located can involve the failure of the mission. This alternation avoids the lassitude of the player and makes the play even more interesting.

The Artificial intelligence of the enemies is rather well carried out and the player will learn how to react according to his adversary: those of human origin showing a certain intelligence (being able to return you a grenade or to follow you while using the scales to provision) while the supernatural creatures will compensate for their lack of reflection by their number or the particular techniques of attack.

Scenario

The history of the conspiracy is discovered throughout the play by the player through kinematics, documents and conversations that its enemies exchange themselves.

All begins at the 9th century with the invasion from current the Germany by Charlemagne and the evangelization, destroying the pagan traditional religion.

In 918, Henri 1st, Germanic king of , reintroduced the worship pagan and destroyed Christianity in its kingdom. It passes a kind of pact with these traditional divinities, enabling him to acquire many capacities malefic, with which it raises an army of death-alive. It grants the Black Knights, his three more faithful companions, of the similar capacities and undertakes to conquer Europe. Its road crosses in 943 that of Simon the Traveller, a monk Benedictine. This one at a long time traversed the world and studied esoteric and spiritual knowledge ancient civilizations. Thanks to that, also has magic capacities to him. After a hard combat, he manages to destroy the Black Knights, and to immure Henri Ier, in the mountains of Harz, in central Germany.

During the Second world war, in 1943, the Alliés secret services wonder about the activity of a special section the organization S, called “Division paranormale S”, in the area of Wolfenstein, the mountains of Harz, more particularly in its castle. They thus send the Blazkowicz agent there low to know what the Nazis plot. He discovers that the S make archaeological excavations in several old pagan sanctuaries of the area under the crook of the esoterist Helga von Bulow and Himmler, like in the Roman catacombs of the village of Wolfenstein, where they managed to bring back deaths to the life. Which are unverifiable and massacre very alive that they cross. The agent discovers then that Himmler believes being the reincarnation of Henri 1st and that the S undertake research to bring back it to the life: the “operation Resurrection”.

Except the zombies, the agent will have to face a monstrous creature in the church of Wolfburg, that Helga von Bulow and professor Zemph has ressuscity before being dismembered by this one.

Blazkowicz will be then on the track of Wilhem Strasse, known as the Butcher, dangerous officer Nazi working in Norway, large friend of Himmler but holding the Resurrection operation for one is delirious ridiculous and expensive. Person in charge of the department “Projects Special” of the S, it works on human guinea-pigs. The secret agent will in particular make fall through the launching of a V2 with bacteriological head on London. The Butcher is also the instigator of the Super-Soldier, a kind of creature of Frankenstein mixture of human organs and parts mechanical, equipped with an armor out of titanium and army of a rotary machine-gun and a rocket launcher. He hopes to manufacture some with the chain for a traditional military use on the battle fields. It will be however obliged to work with Division Paranormale S, against its will. Indeed, Mariana Blavatsky, a witch S, needs, to awake Henri 1st of his long sleep, of ressusciter before the 3 Black Knights. However for that one needs physical supports so that the three hearts can be incarnated, it will be the role of 3 Super-Soldiers. The S will be able to then awake Henri 1st, that Himmler hopes to be able to convince to raise a new army of death-alive to overcome the Allies and to dominate the World.

Blazkowicz will not be able to prevent the rite of resurrection from taking place close to the village of Paderborn, on the place even of the combat of 943 and will have to face itself Henri 1st and his 3 henchmen, under the eyes of Himmler in person…

Multijouor

The part Multijoueur, developed by the studio Nerve Software, is based on a system of co-operation of the classes of characters.

This system makes the play very dynamic and interesting. Lieutenants, doctors, engineers, soldiers, having each particular competence, must play in co-operation in order to beat the adversary.

4 modes of play are available and the parts can lodge to 64 players.

In May 2003 Return to Castle Wolfenstein was seen offering to an extension multijouor exclusively: Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory . Initially paying extension for RtCW , Enemy Territory, after being cancelled, then became a completely free stand-alone which, thanks to its gameplay captivating, still joins together thousands of players each day in spite of a growing old graphic engine.

Influences

The developers of Return to Castle Wolfenstein took again elements of several films for their play, so thanks to these references, RtCW has a very cinematographic environment.

The general atmosphere of the play points out the universe of Indiana Jones , in particular the first shutter of films: Adventurers of the lost arch ( Raiders off the Lost Ark , 1981) where, just like in the play, the scenario is based on a plot of the Nazis trying to raise an invincible army. The passages in the crypts, with their enigmas and their traps, where the player must face kinds of death-alive, recall them also Indiana Jones as well as the films the Mummy ( The Mummy , 1999) and the Return of the mummy ( The Mummy Returns , 2001). The fact of playing a soldier on mission commando behind the enemy lines and the first levels of the play point out the film When the eagles attack ( Where Eagles Dare , 1968), more especially as the castle in which the character evolves/moves is the exact counterpart of that of film.

As for the scenario of the play, the programmers were very strongly inspired by the real History by IIIe Reich. Indeed, Henri Ier of Bavaria indeed existed, more especially as it really fought the Church while leading an expansionist policy to the East. But the bond between reality and Return to Castle Wolfenstein stops here, because the monarch forever have of army of death-alive, and it is the poison which is responsible for its death. As for Heinrich Himmler, he believed indeed to be the reincarnation of Henri Ier, to whom he dedicated a true worship (on July 2nd, 1936, Reichsführer and S celebrated in the cathedral of Quedlinburg the 1000e birthday of died of Henri Ier). The castle of Wolfenstein is also inspired him by reality because it resembles curiously the castle of Wewelsburg (Westphalia) which was to become the arts center S after the war. Lastly, the " Division Paranormale SS" did not exist as such, but the passion which Himmler for the occultism nourished had given place to the creation of a special section of the S of which missions, all stranger from/to each other (like leaving to the research the Aryan race in Tibet, or carrying out the search of Graal (authentic!)) he were entrusted directly by Himmler. (source: the S, a warning of the history of Guido Knopp, to also see the article Mysticism Nazi)

Polemic

Just like his/her little brother, Wolfenstein 3D, Return to Castle Wolfenstein attracted himself the opprobrium of many personalities because of the signs Nazis strewing the decorations here or there. This aspect therefore not having prevented the play from being a great success. Nevertheless to counter any legal action in certain countries where these symbols are reprehensible penally, the developers replaced the signs in question by others more asepticized and less lending the side to criticisms.

Thus in the German version of the play, all the references to the Nazism and the Third Reich were removed: the swastikas were replaced by the logo present on the box of the play, the player does not fight more the S but the members of an obscure named organization " The sect of Loups" , the name of Heinrich Himmler at summer modified to become Heinrich Höller , the portraits where Hitler appears were modified, etc

See too

Mysticism Nazi

External bonds

Official site
Return to Castle Wolfenstein Files
Page on id Software
Planet Wolfenstein

Simple: Return to Castle Wolfenstein

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