So, if you're like me and hate PC gaming with an obscene passion, you were just as tickled to find out that Return to Castle Wolfenstein was coming to the consoles. Well, after months of screenshots and rumors, the playable version is at hand and the moment of truth has arrived; can the Xbox do it justice?
From the two levels allowed, the answer is a very loud yes, with one small exception.
The graphics are phenomenal, with high resolution, crystal clear textures, and an insanely smooth frame rate. Granted, this was to be expected considering all the power that's underneath the hood, but after seeing games like New Legends, sometimes you just have to re-assure yourself.
What's peculiar is that even with the TV's brightness turned up, RTCW is rather dark…too dark in fact. There were several times within the same two rooms that I had no clue what was going on, or what a switch would do. It was by sheer luck I decided to try and kill myself in a spiked pit only to realize the last switch deactivated the spikes.
The sound effects and music are good, but my main concern here is with the Xbox controller's vibration function. In the demo, small rumblings from the game wouldn't register correctly, causing the controller to act more like a cheap pager than an actual rumble effect.
Now that's only a small problem; usually I don't complain about stuff like this, but here it is required. Microsoft needs to get off its high horse and release a damn keyboard. While using the analog stick in a slower paced game (Say…Nightfire) works just fine, in games like Unreal Tournament and Wolfenstein, it's a self-inflicted massacre. The enemy characters are just too fast with their shots to try and survive with a controller. I must have died about 10 times coming out of the very first room simply because I couldn't pinpoint the damn Nazi that was across the way. Other than that, general movement was pretty much dead on.
There's still another month to go before the Castle invasion begins, but rest assured, the allies will be there with sniper rifles secure.
