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Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War
: Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War is everything Medal of Honor for Xbox should have been and much, much more. The presentation is suburb and the graphics are so sharp you should be careful not to cut yourself. I suppose a person could get into all the subtle details about this and that but the bottom line is if you're looking for a first person shooter that moves fast and furious and finds that perfect balance between run and gun action and an entertaining plot, Wolfenstein is it in spades! Each level slips you deeper and deeper into a creepy world of Nazi mutant zombie experimentation and into the bowels of a Third Reich hell on Earth. And it's your job to stop them before they stop you! The "wow" factor of this stunner can be found on all fronts, from it's beautifully rendered world and characters, with lighting effects to drool for. The throbbing theme music is spot on and the great voice acting rings the life out of the nifty story line. The levels and game play are deep, well designed and executed, which will most certainly keep you coming back for more. Tides of War is a mighty romp, well deserving of not only 5 stars but also a medal for gaming valor.
 In reality Heinrich Himmler did believe and follow the occult and he did have great influence over Hitler, so this game takes a fictional detour and embellishes the storyline. The Nazis have discovered how to raise the dead and are engineering even more powerful demons they can use to field an army and crush the Amerikaners.
So you're sent in to HALT this and the game sort of patchworks together a storyline to explain how you're to stop 'em. Um, it makes little sense and that's if you can even muster the patience to sit through cutscenes and read letters scattered around the environments.
So, the story is a wash, but that aside what really matters is the game and if it is fun. Frankly, it's not. This game came out a couple of years ago before getting ported to xbox and by today's standards, say Halo, or upcoming games like Halo 2, Rainbow 6:3, XIII, and Half-life 2 I wouldn't recommend this game to sophisticated players- it will fry your brain. If you want something to kill time and aren't picky give it a try. One caveat is that the MP is fun. Try to find a good server with at least 10 people playing. It might be where I live and what time I play but it seems like few people are on and the maps seem large for say, six people.
I got this game 2 days before the release date. I played it before on PC so I didn't really expect anything new. In fact I only bought it for cooperative multiplayer mode (split screen). It was a nice surprise straight out of the box. Not only you get additional levels (beggining only), new weapons but AI is really impressive to. This game really forces you to rethink your strategies. Stealth is really more important than both guns blazing open approach. Yes it's a still good fashioned first person shooter. Yes you still get to fire big guns. You just have to think and rationalize many times if it's worth to shoot the guy or just use stealth to stab him. Now pros and cons of the game. Lets start with pros:
- multiplayer mode: both for xbox live and cooperative on the single unit. I'm sick and tired of competing against my friends. Usually one who wins is one who has the most amount of hours behind the controller. In cooperative mode both of you can work together and since most likely you sit next to each other calling out moves, shots and pick ups makes it fun.
- extra levels. I knew that some of them will overlap what I had on the pc but extra levels right off the bat was really nice. Levels are well constructed so the flow of the original game was not interrupted.
- weapons. Real performance and realistic sound effects. Firing in small room changes the way that weapon sounds. Reloading is crucial and since you don't really get that much ammo you really have to be careful. New weapon: shotgun. Good ol' American pump action 12 gauge is a perfect cure for them pesty Nazis.
-controls. Straight out of the box, natural for any gamer (very intuitive).
-special items. I mean it's a good thing that they are there but in the end I happened to very rarely use them. But that's maybe I finished this game once (PC) without them so I didn't see where would they fit.
-AI. Enemy is well conditioned, they listen and attack the right way. Yes every now and than one of the soldiers make a dumb move but hey they are grunts, not all that bright.
-Bonus game. After you finish playing the one player game you will get a full original Wolf 3D. How cool is that? And cons:
-Graphics. Don't get me wrong they are good but not as good and clear as halo or pc version of Wolf. I guess since environment is so intense some of the details had to be sacrificed.
-Automatic load function. Lets say you run out of ammo and than pick up some. Last weapon you used will be loaded. But if you picked up just 4 or 5 rounds and your last weapon was a machine gun it doesn't do me any good. I will not really hit much due to poor rifle accuracy. I would have much rather have the pistol loaded.
-Difficulty level. Sometimes it feels like that just by running around you get stuff done. I mean setting a higher difficulty level will generate more enemies and will make it hard to kill them but the basic idea to find and pull the switch is the same.
-Super natural element. Aliens, zombies and robots really have no place in WWII based game. That's just my opinion. But on the positive note it adds variety.
-weapon scrolling. With full arsenal it's a pain to get to your favorite weapon.
-no saves in cooperative split screen mode!! That's just plainly wrong. Of course once you finish the game in single player mode you have access to all the levels anyway. In the end it's a good game. Maybe not as good as Halo, little different than Medal of Honor but quite fun. Multiplayer for Xbox life is excellent gives this game a high play value. I can see my self already replaying certain missions over and over again. I think I played the Airfield assault like 10 times. It's just pure fun.
This game is exciting and pretty cool. I am dissappointed by the fact that you can't save when playing as co-op. It's cool
because not only do you get to face nazi soldiers but you get to face the undead and the x-creatures. I think that is to cool.
I have read tons of reviews for this game and seen what is to come and this game seems awsome. I own Return to Castle Wolfenstein for the PC but i know im going to buy this game for the xbox. It has extra levels, characters, co-op mode, xbox live, new maps, and everything. This game is garenteed to give you a long good single player campaign. The game also allows you to play throughout the whole single player campaign with a friend so it makes the game even more worthwhile.
Just be sure to pick this game up when it comes out!
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