I had a hard time finding it in stock in NYC. It was sold out at Best Buy and Game Stop. On my way to see X-Men 2 at the AMC Theater on 42nd St., I stopped at Toys R Us in Times Square. They price matched Best Buy. In addition, thinking that I had no chance, I managed to sweet talk the Supervisor into authorizing/excepting the additional $5 off coupon. That coupled with a $25 gift card I received as compensation for a survey/focus group I belong too, brought my total to $5+tax.

BTW, X-Men2 was great!!!

X2 is pretty sweet...

Okay, I only played through the first few levels of the single player mode but I can say I'm really liking this game so far. It's very polished and has a great storyline, complete with lots of cutscenes throughout gameplay as well as between each level. There's also an awesome opening movie that really got me pumped to play. Never played the PC version so I don't know if it was in there or not, but the game has a very cinematic feel to it.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, it's also well done. The controls map well to the Xbox controller (I'm using the original Xbox controller). The one thing thought I should comment on is how claustrophobic the game makes me feel. The view distance is very tight and the focus seems rather near, and gives me motion sickness more than other console FPS like Halo and Serious Sam. It's almost as if the game was made for 16:9 screens, and the view is scrunched down to normal television.

Graphics are really good, although I haven't likely seen the best of them considering I've been wandering the tombs of the middle east. AI is tight, even on normal difficulty - the guards will run for cover behind a crate or pillar and never stay in the open to get shot. They also take a whole lot of bullets, which sucks because I'll load someone with lead and have them still come at me. Damn Nazis!

And on that thought, the auto aim was implemented very well. It's not at all cheating - it will only lock on after you've take a shot at someone. It's not blatant either - you have to really attempt to target someone or else you won't lock on. And once it does, it does very subtly as well - it will track someone but not forever, only for a step or two before it loses them. It really adds to the challenge of the game. This was well done.

Graphics also keep up a nice framerate, usually running around 30fps or so (I'm guessing, based on other games I've played at that same rate). It seems to chug in the larger areas, slowing down it seems a quarter rate or so. Nothing to deter from the gameplay though.

Music is also really good. A cinematic score that is also dynamic depending on what's going on in the game. If you are spotted, or if guards are on your trail, the music kicks up a couple notches. This is good because there were a few times I didn't see any guards, but I was alerted to look out for them because of the music.

You can save anywhere in the game, which is nice. It also automatically saves at checkpoints, which occur after every mission objective. Two or three objectives to a level for the first few levels so far.

Overall, a great purchase. I can't wait to take it online, but right now I have to say the XBL play is icing on the cake to a polished single player mode.

Jeremy

Should I get this game or wait for Brute Force

Jeremy,

I took it online last night and had a blast. Zero lag with 14 players. Ocassionally I play with a bunch of guys over at the hometheaterforum. We had a great time but I'm real tired at work today.

The live experience on wolf is definitly much faster paced than GR but not nearly as fast as UC. It sort of reminded me of some of the half life mods like TFC. If your liking single player, your gonna be estatic playing multiplayer live.

I should be playing later tonight around 11:00PM EST.

Enjoy.

I thought that game was pretty fun. i usually play multiplayer fps games on the pc. I was able to adjust to using the control pad for ghost recon, prolly because it wasn't as fast paced as wolfenstein. I just can't get use to using the control pad for it, i need my keyboard and mouse. I can play, but i know i would be better with a them too. i guess ill just keep playing and i will be able to adjust if i play enough.

This game has the worst co-op I've ever experienced. There are no save points at all. You have to play through the entire game in one setting. Or play through it on single player and pick what level you want to play in co-op.

And only one player on Live is dumb. And where is the 4 player split screen?


They really missed the boat on this one. It could have been so much better.

Great Tips From "GT SmooshyFace"
 

Played for a few hours last night online and off and was very impressed by the game. If I didn't have to be at work today I'd likely still be playing right now (though I am visiting this board while at work, so I guess I'm meeting it halfway). The game had some lag, but I think it's really about finding the right server. Near the end of my play time last night I was in a game of 7 vs 7 completely free of lag. I'm sure I could have found one that was 8 vs 8 too.

Since a lot of people have been posting their initial impressions I'll keep mine to a minimum, unless you ask for it. So onto the tips.

1) Drop those packs!!:
I've seen a lot of interest on these boards about people wanting to be medics and Lts. because of all of the fringe benifits. However, there were tons of games where I was standing next to a Lt., and I'd hit the "need ammo" command and the guy would just stand there. Being a Lt. isn't all about airstrikes and artillery. Anyone's who's played by now will realize that with the exception of the soldier class, you run out of ammo VERY quickly. If you are going to be a Lt., do your team a favor and drop those packs!! Same goes for medics. You are a medic to heal and revive your teammates. Yes you can go for the objectives, but if he see someone calling for health or a revive, go to them. Your team will be stronger for it.

2) Wait for the revive:
If you have medics on your team who actually are willing to heal and revive you, wait for them. Last night I was in a game with a 20 second respawn. I played a medic and unless I happened to be standing next to the guy when he died, people usually didn't bother waiting for a revive. People figure if the respawn is a short wait they'd rather just get back into the action. However, when you constantly have to wait for teammates to start from the spawn point, it really hurts the team. Even if the spawn point isn't such a far run, it's still a disservice to the team. Your enemy knows where you will be coming from and can spawn kill you. I don't know how many times on the beach my team mates were killed, didn't wait for revive and then were killed again just after they respawned. Had they just waited a few extra seconds, there would have been a good chance I could have revived them and healed them on the spot and we'd continue towards the objective together.

3) Follow those who know their way around:
One of the biggest challenges to a new game is not knowing where to go or getting lost. A lot of people have played the PC version and know the maps pretty well, even if some are slightly different than the PC. On beach for instance there are many ways for the allies to reach the documents, including 2 routes through the ventilation system. Unless you know your way around there could be a lot of options you are missing. If you are unfamiliar with a map ask your teammates if anyone knows the lay of the land well. Maybe even ask them to show you the various routes, good places to hide, etc. If you get a nice person it won't take you long to know all the routes. There's nothing wrong with just exploring yourself, but in some maps you could play it dozens of times and still miss things.

4)Long distance kills:
On many maps there is only one route at the beginning for the attacking team. Like in beach the allies have to make it up the beach. You know where they are starting, you know they have to make it to the wall and it's a fairly wide open area. Axis, use that to your advantage. Get high up in your base, and snipe them! Nothing more devistating than a team of axis snipers keeping the allies pinned down at the foot of the beach. Most of the time they won't even know where you were shooting from before they are dead. Rockets work too but they give away your position a lot more, plus they are a lot slower, if you miss with a sniper rifle you can try again right away. This works on several maps where there is a bottle neck. Just be sure to switch from the sniper rifle if/when they do make it up the beach. They aren't very effective in close quarters.

5) Get those flags:
Obviously a no brainer on checkpoint maps, but some maps have a check point that allows a team to spawn closer to their objective. I've seen many a game where once the enemy takes their flag the other team just falls back. Keep going for the flag. It forces the enemy to battle for that position instead of being able to mount an attack on the objective and if you take it back from them it sets back their spawn to the start of the map. Likewise if it is your team that needs the flag for a better spawn position, make sure you get it back and hold it!

6) Efficient class usage:
Pay attention to what classes are on your team. If you see there aren't any Lts and everyone is running out of ammo, become a lt. No medics, be a medic. The objective call for an engineer and you don't have one? You get the idea. Nothing funnier than a bunch of soldiers standing around an objective that needs to be detonated and no engineers to be seen. If you are already a specialty class, say a medic, and your team lacks eng. or Lts. get on the horn and point out that your team needs those classes. Chances are someone will switch and the team will benefit. The game is new and people are still getting comfortable with it. It won't take long for people to realize that their best chance of personal success in the game goes hand in hand with team success.

7) Alternate points and team play:
Often the biggest downfall of a team is everyone runs around doing their own thing hoping to pile up the most kills. Luckily, there are lots of ways to gain points other than killing and all of them benefit the team. Medics get extra points for reviving teammates (more than you get for killing an enemey) Engineers get a heap of points for destroying an objective or disarming an emeny explosive. All classes get points for claiming a checkpoint/spawn flag for their team. If there are documents (or something equivelant) to be taken all classes get points just for taking them, whether they successfully take them where they are supposed to or not. Likewise, the opposing players get extra points for killing the carrier of the docs and returning them. And of course you get points for successfully transmitting (or delivering items) the docs. All of these help your whole team while benefiting your own score. The best part is, the scoreboard doesn't differentiate how you got your points. So whether you racked up 50 kills, revived your teammates, or kept reclaiming an enemy checkpoint, your score would read the same.

Hope these help and maybe I'll see some of you in game (GT SmooshyFace)

I'm *so* glad I rented this instead of buying it. After completing the single player PC game, I wasn't really interested in that. I never play Live, so online play isn't that appealing. The co-op was what I was looking forward to. Why in the hell would they not allow you save in a co-op game?

Okay single. Crappy single-console multi. Excellent live.

I played through the single person game on PC and never got too into multi-player. I wasn't even considering this game until I saw it had XBOX LIVE support. After trying in out on XBOX LIVE at a friend's house, I was sold. It is a great LIVE game especially with the voice chat. This is what separates XBOX LIVE shooters from PC online shooters. Yes, I know you can use voice chat programs on PC, but they are usually more trouble than they are worth. XBOX LIVE voice chat makes this a great game, especially with the teamwork aspect that is so important on most of those maps.

I do think it sucks that you can't play it split screen though. Very bad call.

Some more "expert" reviews:

TeamXbox: 4.7 out of 5.0

Gameplay: 4.8
Graphics: 4.4
Audio: 4.5
Longevity: 5.0
Next-Gen: 4.6

http://www.teamxbox.com/view_reviews.php?id=484

*****************************

GameSpot: 8.2 - Great

Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 7
Value: 8
Tilt: 9

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/...tow/index.html

GameSpot Review

"The name Wolfenstein conjures up a lot of memories for a lot of people. The older set will probably remember the classic computer games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, which set you up as a prisoner of war in a castle the Nazis were using as a prison. But more people will remember Wolfenstein 3D, the id Software game that launched the first-person shooter genre. In 2001 id released a follow-up to its breakthrough game in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Nerve Software has now brought that game to the Xbox with most of its PC features intact, as well as some new levels and modes. But like its PC counterpart, the great multiplayer really overshadows the single-player campaign.

Wolfenstein's single-player mode isn't terribly exciting...

The story of Return to Castle Wolfenstein is told mostly through a few short cutscenes and the various documents and journals that you find along the way. You play as B.J. Blazkowicz, the hero from the previous game, on a quest to stop the head of Hitler's secret service from acquiring ancient artifacts that have the power to raise a huge army of undead Nazis. Along the way you'll face human Nazis, zombies, laboratory experiments gone horribly wrong, and more. While the PC version opens with B.J. trapped in a cell inside Castle Wolfenstein, the Xbox version tacks on a handful of new opening levels that are better at setting up the game's story.

Wolfenstein's single-player campaign is OK, but it rarely gets very exciting. The level design is fairly straightforward, and most of the objectives are of the "get this item, then get to the end of the level" variety. The Xbox version adds a split-screen two-player cooperative mode to the campaign, but this mode really feels like it was thrown in as an afterthought, as you can't save your progress when playing co-op, and you're limited to playing on levels that have already been unlocked in the single-player mode. In addition to that, the frame rate takes a very large hit when you're playing split-screen.

The enemy AI is probably the single-player game's strongest point, but it isn't exactly earth-shattering. Enemies will take cover behind objects, popping out to fire off a few shots in your direction and then taking cover again. The game also has its fair share of zombies and other undead warriors, and just like any good zombie should, the game's undead tend to just lumber in your general direction, begging for you to blast their heads off. The single-player game has a useful auto-aim function that's great for beginning players, but it isn't without its problems. Zombies are best killed with shots to the head, but the auto-aim locks your cursor on a zombie's chest, forcing you to fight with the targeting reticle to move it up for a headshot. Considering that the auto-aim is best suited for beginners, it should probably have been designed to lock on to a zombie's head in the first place.

...but the multiplayer mode more than makes up for that.

The game's Xbox Live support is what makes it stand out. The game can be played with up to 16 players online, and it comes with all the standard Xbox Live player-matching bells and whistles. It also does a very nice job with statistics, keeping track of weekly, monthly, and overall stats in lots of different categories, from points scored and kills to the amount of time you've spent playing as each of the multiplayer mode's four character classes.

While you'd expect a straight-up deathmatch mode from a first-person shooter with the id Software seal of approval, all of Return to Castle Wolfenstein's multiplayer modes are team-based. You can play a plain old team deathmatch game, but the real thrill of multiplayer is found in the objective-based maps. Each map has its own set of objectives, from destroying an Axis submarine to stealing Allied war documents and getting them to a radio for transmission. This means that, depending on the map, one team will be on the offensive while another defends, much like in Unreal Tournament's popular assault game type. This sort of objective-based gameplay requires some pretty refined teamwork, which makes it a natural for Xbox Live and its nicely implemented voice-chat features.

Each team is made up of four character classes that work well together. The soldier is a standard player class, with access to the game's heavier weapons. The engineer class can drop or defuse dynamite, making him necessary to complete objectives that include blowing something up or preventing something from being blown up. The lieutenant class can drop ammunition packs for his teammates, which is a must, as there are no ammo or health power-ups in the multiplayer mode. He can also call in devastating air strikes. The medic drops health packs for injured teammates and can also bring dead players back to life. This is useful because Return to Castle Wolfenstein doesn't just let dead players respawn instantly. The game uses the concept of reinforcements that spawn in waves. When you die, you can either wait for a medic or just jump into the reinforcement queue, which is basically a timer that ticks down a few times every minute. Advancing players can also capture forward reinforcement points on the map, which lets players respawn a little closer to the action.

Killing Nazis and beheading zombies is the order of the day.

While Return to Castle Wolfenstein's multiplayer is fantastic, it has a steep learning curve and a few technical issues. The learning curve comes from having to learn each of the game's large multiplayer maps. The first time you jump into a match, you'll be thrust into the fray without any indication as to what you're supposed to be doing and where you're supposed to be doing it. You'll have to call up the objective screen to see what you're supposed to be doing, but the only way to find out where you need to be is to explore. A multiplayer-map tour mode that let you do flybys of each map's major choke points and areas of interest would have really worked wonders here for getting new players up to speed.

The multiplayer mode's other problems are technical. Like Unreal Championship before it, Return to Castle Wolfenstein can suffer from some pretty awful lag when you're connected to a bad server. As of this writing, the bad servers seemed to outnumber the good, lag-free servers, but as most things go with online games, this could change at any time. Suffice it to say that it's definitely possible to find a smooth, perfectly playable server, but don't expect to find one terribly often using the quick match option. Careful filtering with optimatch is the easiest way to find servers that are fast and full.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein's large environments look great, and the player models are all sharp and decently animated. However, the game could have used some higher-impact death animations, as you never really feel like your weapons are doing real damage. The game has some really fantastic special effects--particularly the fire from a flamethrower and the explosions from air strikes--but they do come at a cost, as the frame rate isn't very stable. It never completely chokes and slows to a crawl, but even when there aren't any other players or enemies onscreen, turning past a large section of ground causes the frame rate to noticeably fluctuate. Owners of high-end televisions can play the game in 480p, which looks a bit sharper.

Anyone willing to take the time to learn the game's multiplayer maps will have a great time.

The game's sound is good but not great. The music is all good, and most of the weapon sound effects are nicely done as well. The fact that, for the first time in the series, the Nazis all speak English--in poor German accents, no less--is disheartening. Beyond that, the voice work for some of the characters can be pretty grating. The game makes use of its Dolby Digital 5.1 support in typical first-person-shooter fashion, so if you open a door and quickly turn around, you'll hear the door opening in your rear speakers.

In the end, Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a fairly uninteresting single-player game, but its multiplayer mode is a ton of fun. Xbox Live subscribers willing to spend the time to learn the game's maps properly will definitely get a lot of enjoyment out of the game's online component. - Jeff Gerstmann "

I finally had to pick this up tonight. After being totally umimpressed by the lackluster Enter The Matrix I needed something that would have more replay value.

I haven't even popped the game in yet but I looked forward to it. I wanna get used to the maps a bit before I jump on LIVE but it'll be hard to wait.

I'll be looking for you all.

GamerTag: MasterofDVD

This game is so addicting, on Live. Hours go by so quickly and I tend to average about 3 hours of sleep now since getting it.

I'd love to play with any other DVDTalkers out there. Feel free to add me!

This game is so damn_fun.

This may be a bit off topic, but....

Any B&M still have Return to Castle Wolfenstein
for 39.99 or less?

Thanks,
Josh

Not likely unless you are going to a membership plave like Sam's. My general rule with games and DVDs is I either get it on the week of release or I probably don't get it at all. By the time the price goes back down I'm interested in something else.