It's only been a few short months, but Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War™ has already been living up to the high standards of this historic series. The single-player campaign is fun and addictive, but it's the multiplayer aspects that have really launched this title into the upper stratosphere of first-person shooters. Whether you square off with friends through System Link or take on gamers from around the country via XboxLive, you'll see just how intense squad-based combat can get.
Squad-based combat at its finest.
Heroes with Class The first thing multiplayer contestants must do is choose a class. Since there are no health or ammo power-ups on any of the multiplayer maps, you or your squad mates will have to take care of that yourselves. Make sure you have a lieutenant to generate ammo and a medic to heal the wounded before your team takes a single step. Many of the mission objectives require explosives, so your next choice is an engineer to lay down dynamite (or disarm enemy bombs). Finally, sign up a standard soldier, so your team has at least one person that can use the heavier weapons like the Panzerfaust rocket launcher.
If you don't have enough players to field all four classes, remember that you can switch your character's class (this is easiest to do after you've been killed and are waiting to re-spawn or be revived by a medic). You can also fine-tune your team, based on how the battle is going. If your boys are burning through the bullets too quickly, add another lieutenant to the mix. If you're getting clobbered by enemy guns, become a medic to ease the pain. And, if you're just plain being outfought, bring up a full squad of soldiers, and take the fight to your foes (this is an especially good strategy for games that have a Max Life limit, where you can win by wiping out the entire opposing team).
Ah, fire power…
Choose Your Weapons Each class of characters has different weapons restrictions to balance out their special abilities, so make sure you know what you can pick up and what you can do. The engineer, for example, can usually only equip a light machine gun or shotgun, but he can carry more grenades and unlimited dynamite. All extra ammo has to be generated by lieutenants, but many weapons share the same kind of bullet. If you have a Sten gun and you can take a Luger off a dead Axis soldier, you'll only need to collect 9mm rounds to keep your guns a-blazin'.
Some of the heavier weapons (like the flamethrower, rocket launcher, and Venom chain gun) will also cause your character to slow down, so if you need to move quickly, switch to your knife while running and switch back to the big guns when you reach the combat zone.
Let's take out this Nazi joint.
No News Is Bad News Each mission will inevitably separate you from your team, so communication between squad members at all times is essential. If someone calls for a health kit or more ammo, an icon will appear over that soldier's head, near the HUD compass, so that the medic/lieutenant will know where to go. The lieutenant is the key figure in terms of squad communication, as he is the only one that has binoculars to scout out the terrain and enemy positions. This does the team no good, however, unless the lieutenant shares the information with his squad via the Xbox Live Communicator headset. This puts the lieutenant in a natural leadership role, as he is the best one to decide when and where ambushes, assaults, and other squad actions should take place.
The lieutenant can also call in air strikes (by dropping a smoke canister) and artillery bombardment (by spotting targets with the binoculars) on any open, outdoor area. When he does this, it's vital that he make sure his team knows to get clear before the bombs start falling.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War squeezes every ounce of gameplay from its multiplayer options and makes the absolute most of Xbox Live. Even after you've beaten the single-player campaign on every difficulty level, there's still an unlimited amount of action waiting in multiplayer.
