First post, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman
- Rank
- l33t
I remember those days when I played Call of Duty and Medal of Honor for the first time. Despite they're both scripted and linear, I love the little twists that makes the game interesting, like cooperating with your scripted teammates, and having to complete mini objectives instead of simply killing everyone in the said level. However, I ended up playing Return To Castle Wolfenstein instead. In fact, I was more glued to RTCW than either CoD or MoH, despite the more sophisticated gameplay of the latter two. Turned out it was RTCW plot premise and atmosphere that intrigued me.
Yes, the plot wasn't perfect, and the scripts aren't as advanced as those in CoD or MoH. But there are nice, thrilling moments you cannot find in either games. My most favorite RTCW levels are those crypts and catacombs underneath the village; as soon as you peek down, you see Nazis retreating while strafing at the advancing undeads. Very cool! In the catacombs, as you pass through certain coffins, you see them shaking and you hear loud knocking sounds from the inside. Then you peek through a grate, and you see another Nazi backing off while strafing at an incoming skeleton. I also busted into laughter as I see a skeleton raising it shields to protect its head when I strafe it my my Thompson. Too bad the scripts are not advanced enough to enable you to cooperate with the Nazis to survive against the undeads, but regardless of its shortcomings, RTCW is still a thrilling FPS experience. Later levels doesn't disappoint either; Deathshead's Secret Weapons Facility is far more eerie and interesting than the boring Strogg installations in Quake II. And while RTCW's ending cutscene is as cheesy as 80's cartoons, it is an enjoyable kind of cheese; the way I enjoy Red Alert's cheesiness.
So, RTWC is one of those rare moments when I choose atmosphere and plot premise instead of gameplay in an FPS, and I think RTWC does it right. CoD and MoH has interesting missions and plots, but they're all history and no fantasy. Doom 3 has interesting tense buildup, but once the shooting starts, turns out the gameplay sucks and not really balanced. Quake II's gameplay is similar to that of RTWC; a "good enough" shooter, but too bad the game has no personality at all. Even Quake, which is explicitly stated to not have any plot at all, has much better personality and atmosphere than Quake II.
Sometimes I wish for a zombie or "supernatural/fantasy WWII" expansion pack for CoD or MoH. Either that, or RTWC with more advanced scripts and gameplay. I mean, wouldn't it be groovy if we could hijack a tank to disrupt Heinrich's final ceremony, just like Ash using his DIY deathmobile to wreak havoc among the deadites in Army of Darkness?
So, anyone has any suggestion for such games? I think the most obvious choice is Wolfenstein, which is the sequel to RTCW, but I missed the gameplay on the first place, so I wonder if the game is still cheesy-interesting like the previous, or has become grimmer and more serious.
Never thought this thread would be that long, but now, for something different.....
Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman.