I'm enjoying this a lot more than Return To Castle Wolfenstein in general. It doesn't look quite as nice, but the shooting is a lot more satisfying and there's a bit more variety to stuff. There have been stealth and escort missions but they haven't been too annoying. Also the objectives and compass markings are really helpful. Again, the story isn't up to much - it's a rather dry history lesson - but there are lots of nice moments in the game, like being told your mission is to follow a senior officer through a level giving him back-up, only to have him get shot two minutes in and telling you to go on without him.
The main problem is that there are regular sections where you're pinned down in a tight area and suddenly all the enemies are crack shots and near impossible to get a shot at, there's unavoidable explosions going on, and the game wants you to take a very exact route - it's really frustrating. The famous Omaha Beach section is one of these - it's very atmospheric and dramatic, but also quite unfair as a game level, and having to quicksave every three steps kind of deflates the drama.
I've got pretty far through, but I'm currently stuck on a bit where I have to progress up a road but there are invisible snipers ahead and what may be infini-spawning enemies behind. I think I'm supposed to clear out those in front so I can get to a sentry gun for those behind, but I'm finding it pretty much impossible. It's weird, the game occasionally seems to forget what the limit of your abilities are. I might have to watch a playthrough to see if there are any tactics I'm missing.
I'm playing on normal. It's been pretty easy so far except for those occasional spikes. I think my next tactic will be to comb back through the level for any lingering enemies and optional objectives, then head back to the bottleneck and try again. Then if no further luck, check a walkthrough, failing that I'll quit! It's a shame these games don't let you change difficulty setting midway through - I know Half Life 2 did, I'm not sure if it became an FPS standard at any point.
There are lots of little steps towards that directed campaign thing, where you're running about with a platoon and getting given orders by a captain, or running and gunning along with a spy by your side. It does give extra atmosphere, but those parts tend to be the ones where you get funnelled down a corridor of death - really the open sections should be harder as you can approach them in different ways, and the corridors/scripted bits should be easier.
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Turns out they are infini-spawning and the only way to get through this section is in fact to just leg it past everyone and get to the truck before they catch you.
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Aaaand I've just got to the sniper level, which takes the worst problem with the game - hidden enemies with magic aim - and fills an entire map with them. It's like the equivalent of pixel-hunting in an adventure game, except if you don't click the object within two seconds flat you have to start again. Knowing exactly where every enemy is doesn't even help, this is stupid. I may well have to give up on the game, unfortunately. I feel like it deserves it for all these incredibly frustrating sections in between the good stuff.
Rating: Orange.
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