Castle Wolfenstein
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| Castle Wolfenstein | |
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| Developer(s) | Muse Software |
| Publisher(s) | Muse Software |
| Designer(s) | Silas Warner |
| Engine | Custom |
| Release date(s) | 1981 |
| Genre(s) | Stealth-based game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | N/A |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, DOS, Atari 400/800, Commodore 64 |
| Input | Keyboard, joystick |
Castle Wolfenstein is a stealth-based computer game developed by Muse Software for the Apple II. It was first released in 1981 and later ported to DOS, the Atari 8-bit family and the Commodore 64.
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[edit] Description
Castle Wolfenstein is a slow-paced stealth game set in World War II. The game's main objectives are to traverse the levels of the castle to find the secret war plans and escape alive.
The game is played from a top-down perspective, though the characters are seen upright like in a side-scroller. The player traverses the levels by sneaking past guards, impersonating Nazi soldiers and sometimes even killing opponents. Castle Wolfenstein can be controlled with a joystick, paddles, or a keyboard. The game is over once the plans have been found and the player escapes the castle.
[edit] Gameplay
Upon starting the game, the player is equipped with a gun and bullets, which were taken from a dead cellmate. Once the player starts moving, he attracts the attention of the guards, who will try to shoot or apprehend him. He must either run from the guards, or kill them.
There are two styles of guards, the basic guards, and the SS Stormtroopers who wear bullet-proof vests marked with the SS insignia. The regular guards are not very intelligent, reacting only to the sounds of gunshots and grenades, or after seeing the player wandering around without a uniform. The SS guards are much smarter and once alerted, tend to chase the player. They require a large number of bullets or a grenade to kill.
The player has two means of killing enemies. The first is to shoot the enemy, but this expends bullets, a scarce commodity, and risks raising the alarm if another guard is present. Alternatively, a grenade can be used, though this will also attract the attention of nearby guards. The guards die with a scream of "Aieegh!", which is in the form of a digital sample. Once an enemy soldier is dispatched, his body can be searched for bullets, keys, grenades and bullet-proof vests.
An alternative to the player shooting their way out of the castle is to find a uniform (either in a chest or from a dead guard), at which point the normal guards will think the player is one of them. However, the SS guards are smarter than that, and will usually expose the player as an impostor. This typically means that the best strategy is to quickly obtain a uniform, then attempt to sneak by any SS guards found along the way, since it can be very difficult (especially at higher levels) to win in a shootout.
Guards do not always have to be killed, however. Pulling a gun on a guard usually will cause them to put their hands up, allowing them to be frisked for ammo, bullet-proof vests, grenades, and keys. The player can still choose to kill the guard at this point, but it is not strictly necessary.
Some rooms contain locked chests that can be picked and searched. Some are empty, but others contain useful items such as bullets, grenades, uniforms, bullet-proof vests and the war plans. Chests can also contain Liebfraumilch, Schnapps, Eva Braun's Diaries, and other items, though they are worthless in terms of gameplay. Edible items, when ingested, result in comments on their taste.
After drinking an alcoholic beverage, a message of "Hic!" is displayed on screen and the player's aim is thrown off balance, resulting in bullets and grenades missing their target.
[edit] Analysis
One of the main drawing points for fans was its use of digitized voices—an unprecedented technical achievement. Though the Apple II's limited sound hardware made them hard to understand, the voices still added to the game's atmosphere and made Castle Wolfenstein stand out from other games released at the time.
With an emphasis on trying to avoid detection for as long as possible, Castle Wolfenstein and its sequel are considered by gamers to be prototypical stealth-based games—the first in a genre that wouldn't gain popularity until the late 1990s.
The disks save the player's progress as they enter each room; because they are continually being used, the disks cannot be write protected. This allows players to cheat by opening the drive door before the game can write the death status to disk; one can simply reload the game as if he or she had just entered the room.
[edit] Author
Castle Wolfenstein was written by Silas Warner (1949-2004). He was one of the original employees of Muse. In addition to developing Castle Wolfenstein, he wrote the sound engine (called "The Voice") and the game engine. He would typically program while wearing only his underwear, even in the office [1].
Original artwork for the box was created by John D. Benson.
[edit] Legacy
Muse followed Castle Wolfenstein with Beyond Castle Wolfenstein which is very similar in terms of game play and appearance. The objective of that game is to kill the Führer himself.
Around the same time, an unauthorized parody called Castle Smurfenstein began circulating in the computer underground. Castle Smurfenstein was a hacked version of the original Castle Wolfenstein; it used the same game engine, but replaced the graphics and sound assets with cartoon characters from The Smurfs TV series. In Castle Smurfenstein, the player's objective is to escape the castle (either through the evasion or killing of Smurfs) in order to "get home in time for dinner." Many interpreted the spoof as a sarcastic political commentary;[citation needed] with comparisons being made between fascist Germany and Smurf society, in which "Papa Smurf" exercised absolute power over the others. This made Papa Smurf the de facto dictator of the Smurfs.[citation needed]
Arguably, Castle Wolfenstein's greatest legacy is inspiring the game Wolfenstein 3D by id Software. Though id's game shares its name (and some of its plot) with Castle Wolfenstein, its game play, look and feel are vastly different. Wolfenstein 3D helped popularize the first-person shooter genre on the PC. Few fans of Wolfenstein 3D know of its digital pedigree (indeed, to keep confusion to a minimum, fans of the original game now call it "Wolfenstein 2D" to differentiate it from id's game).[2]
[edit] External links
- Castle Wolfenstein at MobyGames
- The Underdogs' entry on Castle Wolfenstein
- Lemon64: Commodore 64 version info and review
