Return to Castle Wolfenstein

This is a direct sequel to Wolfenstein 3D. It was released nine years after, exactly the span of time between Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein 3D. The release was accompanied by a lot of hype and expectations. Penny Arcade had a rather funny cartoon about the previews people put on their websites in early 2001.

You are B.J. Blazkowicz, a highly decorated Army Ranger recruited into the Office of Secret Actions (OSA) tasked with escaping and then returning to Castle Wolfenstein in an attempt to thwart Heinrich Himmler's occult and genetic experiments. Himmler believes himself to be a reincarnation of a 10th century dark prince, Henry the Fowler, also known as Heinrich. Through genetic engineering and the harnessing of occult powers, Himmler hopes to raise an unstoppable army to level the Allies once and for all.

OBJECTIVE

You must first escape from imprisonment in the castle to report the strange creatures and happenings in and around Wolfenstein to the OSA. Your mission takes a drastic turn as you learn the depth of Himmler's plans and what you must do to defeat the evil he has unleashed.

This is what you have been trained for. Your surroundings will be dangerous and hostile. The OSA is currently tracking activities believed to be associated with Himmler in locations throughout Germany including; villages overrun by the occult, hidden crypts, forests, air bases, secret weapons facilities, and genetic labs, to name only the few we are aware of. There are more, and you must find them.

Failure is not an option. If Himmler succeeds, the war is over for the Allies…and the war is over for everyone.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein was released in November 2001. It may have been the first retail game available for Linux from the beginning: You could download Linux binaries from the official website. There was a Game of the Year CD with the following additional features:

• Seven additional multiplayer maps.
• A behind the scenes look at how Return to Castle Wolfenstein was made.
• WolfRadiant level building tools—Includes everything needed to create game levels. (No technical of customer support)
• Wallpapers, cartoons and concept art.

A Macintosh version was released in May 2002, both for Classic and OS X. System requirements are rather complex:

Mac OS 9.2 or later with virtual memory active or Mac OS X, version 10.1 or later, Power Mac G3/G4/iMac (Flat-Panel or later)/PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet or later), 500 MHz or faster processor, 128 MB of RAM (256 MB under Mac OS X), graphics acceleration required (ATI Radeon, Nvidia GeForce or later).

Meanwhile Aspyr's homepage does not mention OS 9 any more and gives 10.2.8 as the minimum system software. This may be due to update 1.32.

Surround Gaming

How to configure Surround Gaming with a Matrox Parhelia for Return to Castle Wolfenstein:

1. Run game 1st time (required to create configuration file)
2. Go to Wolfenstein installed directory
3. Go to \Main subdirectory
4. Edit file wolfconfig_mp.cfg (for multiplayer gameplay)
5. Find line seta r_customwidth, set to "2400" (if not present, add seta r_customwidth "2400")
6. Find line seta r_customheight, set to "600" (if not present, add seta r_customheight "600")
7. Find the line seta r_mode set to "-1"
8. Find line seta cg_fov, set to "143" (if not present, add seta cg_fov "138")
9. Edit the Wolfenstein Multiplayer shortcut (Right-click on shortcut --> Properties)
10. Add +set sv_cheats 1 to the end of the 'Target' line.
11. Run multiplayer game (HUD should now be only displaying on central screen).

Note: Do not change resolution in-game, or these changes will have to be repeated.

Links

• Aspyr's Return to Castle Wolfenstein Homepage
• Linux Return To Castle Wolfenstein FAQ