Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Gray Matter Studios
Publisher: Activision

The Quake 3 engine still has life! It's amazing how much better RtCW looks than the venerable Q3, mostly due to the use of textures with vastly improved resolution, and to some extent more detailed models as well. Dynamic lighting is used often and to great ambient effect, and some of the areas, such as the catacombs, generate spine-tingling scariness. RtCW has very nice textures, yes, and thus looks sharp, but it still doesn't match the visuals of, say, Max Payne, with its more sophisticated technology. This is a Quake 3-engine game, just a rather pretty one.

The soundtrack is something that the development team made something of a hooplah about some time back, and I certainly don't see why; it's a cliched mass of orchestrated action/war music that doesn't appeal, and makes me think Bobby Prince should have been brought back to work on this quasi-sequel to the original classic. Except for the return of the original Wolf3d theme song, the music generally isn't exactly well done. The sound effects, likewise, are mediocre- lots of machine gun fire, chatter from your Nazi opponents, and growls from scary monsters. The sound package isn't great here, but the humorous dialogue between the Nazi soldiers overheard when standing around a corner, along with the occasional, "Ok, this music is so cliched it's funny" reactions adds some charm to the game.

The player movement in RtCW feels as though they didn't change the attributes at all from Quake 3. The only real gameplay addition is the ability to "peek" around corners by holding down a key, which gives you a nice, spy-like vantage point while keeping you hidden from the baddies. The weapons are mostly vintage WWII of course, with a nice assortment of machine guns, sniper rifle type arms, and also some fictional weapons, such as a Quake-esque lightning gun. The level design is mediocre overall, with some of the maps feeling almost like they were created by the Daikatana dev team- not a good feeling at all! Nothing too exceptional in the gameplay department that hasn't already been done.

It's tough not to like RtCW at least a little. It may have already been done before, but by golly it's still fun, running around relatively simplistic maps blowing Nazi's away like the good old days of Wolf3d. That's not to say there's no strategy or missions to accomplish; some of the maps force you to use stealth to your advantage, and stab unaware bad guys in the back Kingpin-style. For some people, the multiplayer mode might be their cup of tea, as it's mission and team based, sort of like an improved assault mode from Unreal Tournament. However you play, alone or with some pals, RtCW is a fun, albeit not very innovative FPS that should entertain for some time regardless of its redundant nature.