Format: Floppy
Genre: Action
Developer: Muse Software
Publisher: Muse Software

As a 1983 release, Castle Wolfenstein is nearly as minimalistic as one can find: a black background, with brown tiles for the room layouts. It would be nice if they rotated colors across floors-- but brown it is! Brown shirt guards and blue SS will be immediately recognizable to those who cherish the 90's id release "Wolfenstein 3D", which is heavily based on this title. Everything from the treasure chests to the various game actors are simple to understand, but not exactly filled with eye candy.

There is no music in Castle Wolfenstein, and the silence works into the game's favor due to the next thing to discuss: the sound effects. Just like id's classic "Wolfenstein 3D", Castle Wolfenstein uses full-on digital effects, including voice acting! In fact, the "Wolf3D" expressions we all know, such as shouts of "Achtung!", originate in this game. And it is jarring to have the suspense of silence broken by the loud scream of an enemy guard!

This title is broken into single-screen rooms, displayed from a rather strange combination of overheard and 3/4 overhead perspectives. The player moves with the joystick, and can aim a gun by holding the fire button and pressing in the desired direction. This allows the player to shoot in that direction, and also acts as a targeting reticule for searching chests and unlocking doors. Guard bodies can be scoured for bullets and keys. Guard and even SS uniforms can be found in chests, eliminating the need for stealth! Shooting is done via the backspace key, and it's awkward to hold the joystick up to the keyboard in such a manner, to move and fire at the same time.

This reviewer wanted to love Castle Wolfenstein, but the game has some issues. First, on every single death the player has to sit through excruciating load times to get back in the action. Second and compounding the first problem, guards sometimes are generated right in front of the entrance to a room, leading to cheap, unavoidable deaths. Chests take sometimes two or more minutes to search, nominally leading to tension-- but in practice the player has generally cleared any threats in the room prior to searching, making the on-screen countdown timer feel more like a real-life time waster. Thankfully, most of these issues are mitigated by the modern-day advent of emulators and save states-- but playing this release on real hardware is a test of patience, in spite of its many other positive qualities.