History YMMV / ReturnToCastleWolfenstein

* CatharsisFactor: Elite Guards give you hell. Then you gat your hands on a [[KillItWithFire flamethrower]] and the tides turn. [[VideogameCrueltypotential Enjoy their screams]].

* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: The gib splat sounds incredibly satisfactory. Or the explosions. Or both the firing and reloading sound of [[GatlingGood Venom gun]]. Or the [[BlackComedy screams of enemies you set ablaze with the flamethrower]].

** [[DegradedBoss Uber Soldats]] with [[ShockAndAwe Tesla guns]] are even worse. The bolts practically home in on you at ludicrous range.

** The whole "sexy Nazi dominatrix" thing the Elite Guards have going may seem like the sort of silly, salacious fanservice dreamt up by the same sort of people that made games like ''VideoGame/{{SiN}}'', ''VideoGame/HeavyMetalFAKK2'', or ''Deathtrap Dungeon'', but is actually a classic trope that goes all the way back to the old pulpy World War II era men's adventure magazines that the ''Wolfenstein'' series draws a lot of inspiration from.

** Elite Guards can be incredibly frustrating to deal with. They're more competent than most guards, taking effective cover and dodge-rolling, and very accurate with their Sten. On top of that, each bullet hurts badly. Mercifully, they are only in a select few levels, their [[GlassCannon health is low]] and they often fire their Stens until they {{overheat|ing}}, [[ArtificialStupidity leaving them vulnerable.]]

** The Sten. It's silenced, fully automatic, quite accurate, does more damage per bullet (10) than the Thompson (8) and the MP-40 (6), which uses the ''same type of 9mm ammo'', said 9mm ammo is the most plentiful in the game, and some versions of the game give it a rate of fire faster than the [=MP40=]'s. As long as it's fired in short bursts to avoid the overheating drawback, it's one of the deadliest weapons against any kind of enemy save for the Lopers and the super soldiers and is your go-to stealth weapon along with the companion, extreme-range but heavily ammo-limited Snooper Rifle.

** The Venom [[GatlingGood Gatling Gun]] is a close-range devastator, able to mow down a group of Nazis in seconds, and is reasonably accurate when fired in controlled bursts. 12.7 mm ammo is moderately frequent after the Secret Weapon Facility mission, and the capacity is a very generous 1500 total rounds. It takes the edge off of encounters with prototype & uber cyborgs, and chews up the FinalBoss to boot.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Common in any game where the story is mostly told in the way of optional logs that you can pick up and read.
* PolishedPort: Both the [=PlayStation=] 2 and Xbox ports of RTCW contain a new prologue level set in Egypt that shows what B.J. and Agent One were doing before their arrival at Castle Wolfenstein, and includes a new shotgun weapon and Egyptian mercenary enemies, and B.J. is [[SuddenlyVoiced fully-voiced]] for the first time in the series, with remastered cutscenes to boot. The Xbox port, ''Tides of War'' also features online multiplayer, an exclusive co-op mode (with Agent One as the second player, [[SparedByTheAdaptation surviving his death]] in single-player mode), a few exclusive enemies (a lightning shooting priest and mecha dog) and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' as an [[EmbeddedPrecursor unlockable extra]] that you obtain after completing the main game.

** The game includes a toggle option to force manually picking up weapons, ammo and the like by pressing the Use key, emulating what would become standard in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder''. Most players - even those coming back to the game after ''TNO'' - leave it off because it's not fully-developed, in particular making it impossible to pick up some key items that are necessary to progress.

** The [[ShockAndAwe Tesla Cannon]] is a rather situational weapon. It may stun foes, but there's a chance they (especially elite mooks) can fire at you while the lightning is electrocuting them, and the Tesla's mechanics preclude scoring [[BoomHeadshot headshots]].

** If you already have trouble fighting the Proto-Soldier, than you'll be in hell once you fight the Ubersoldat. The Tesla Gun prevents you from ever moving away to safety, draining your health away unless you're lucky enough to find a barrier, forcing you to take potshots. Even worse is that a dozen of enemy scientists will arrive taking potshots at you with their Lugers, while you're desperate for armor and health. [[LampshadeHanging The mission's end cutscene even mentions that BJ is beaten pretty badly after the battle]].

* ScrappyMechanic: Weapon pickups provided ''random'' amount of ammunition in a certain extent. This is especially bad with the panzerfaust since it's quite rare and every shot matters. Due to this, many players resort to SaveScumming to get the maximum amount from every pickup.

The whole "sexy Nazi dominatrix" thing the Elite Guards have going may seem like the sort of silly, salacious fanservice dreamt up by the same sort of people that made games like ''VideoGame/SiN'', ''VideoGame/HeavyMetalFAKK2'', or ''Deathtrap Dungeon'', but is actually a classic trope that goes all the way back to the old pulpy World War II era men's adventure magazines that the ''Wolfenstein'' series draws a lot of inspiration from.

** Elite Guards can be incredibly frustrating to deal with. They're more competent than most guards, taking effective cover and dodge-rolling, and very accurate with their Sten. On top of that, each bullet hurts badly. Mercifully, they are only in a select few levels, their health is low and they often fire their Stens until they {{overheat|ing}}, leaving them vulnerable.

** The Sten. It's silenced, fully automatic, quite accurate, does more damage per bullet (10) than the Thompson (8) and the MP-40 (6), which uses the ''same type of 9mm ammo'', said 9mm ammo is literally the most plentiful in the game, and some versions of the game give it a rate of fire faster than the [=MP40=]'s. As long as it's fired in bursts to avoid the overheating drawback, it's one of the deadliest weapons against any kind of enemy save for the Lopers and the super soldiers and is your go-to stealth weapon along with the companion, extreme-range Snooper Rifle.

* PolishedPort: Both the [=PlayStation=] 2 and Xbox ports of RTCW contain a new prologue level set in Egypt that shows what B.J. and Agent One were doing before their arrival at Castle Wolfenstein, and includes a new shotgun weapon and Egyptian mercenary enemies, and B.J. is [[SuddenlyVoiced fully-voiced]] for the first time in the series, with remastered cutscenes to boot. The Xbox port, ''Tides of War'' also features online multiplayer, an exclusive co-op mode (with Agent One as the second player. [[SparedByTheAdaptation surviving his death]] in single-player mode), a few exclusive enemies (a lightning shooting priest and mecha dog) and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' as an [[EmbeddedPrecursor unlockable extra]] that you obtain after completing the main game.

* ScrappyMechanic: Weapon pickups provided ''random'' amount of ammunition in a certain extent. This was especially bad with the panzerfaust since it was quite rare and every shot mattered. Due to this many players resorted to SaveScumming to get the maximum amount from every pickup.

* JerkassWoobie: Zemph is a [[HerrDoctor Nazi Scientist]], but he has to put up with the abusive and reckless [[Badboss Helga von Bulow]]. He's constantly berated by her, despite being absolutely right to be cautious when dealing with the [[EvisIsNotAToy undead]]. He's ultimately killed by her when he threatens to report her to their superior.

** [[BossInMookClothing Uber Soldats]] with [[ShockAndAwe Tesla guns]] are even worse. The bolts practically home in on you at ludicrous range.

* PolishedPort: Both the [=PlayStation=] 2 and Xbox ports of RTCW contain a new prologue level set in Egypt that shows what B.J. and Agent One were doing before their arrival at Castle Wolfenstein, and includes a new shotgun weapon and Egyptian mercenary enemies, and B.J. is fully-voiced [[SuddenlyVoiced for the first time in the series]], with remastered cutscenes to boot. The Xbox port, ''Tides of War'' also feature online multiplayer, an exclusive co-op mode (with Agent One as the second player. [[SparedByTheAdaptation surviving his death]] in single-player mode), a few exclusive enemies (a lightning shooting priest and mecha dog) and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' as an [[EmbeddedPrecursor unlockable extra]] that you obtain after completing the main game.

* PolishedPort: The [=PlayStation=] 2 and Xbox ports of RTCW both add a new prologue level set in Egypt that shows what B.J. and Agent One were doing before their arrival at Castle Wolfenstein, and includes a new shotgun weapon and Egyptian mercenary enemies, and B.J. is fully-voiced [[SuddenlyVoiced for the first time in the series]], with remastered cutscenes to boot. The Xbox port also feature online multiplayer, an exclusive co-op mode (with Agent One as the second player. [[SparedByTheAdaptation surviving his death]] in single-player mode), a few exclusive enemies (a lightning shooting priest and mecha dog) and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' as an [[EmbeddedPrecursor unlockable extra]] that you obtain after completing the main game.

* PolishedPort: The [=PlayStation=] 2 and Xbox ports of RTCW add a new prologue level set in Egypt that shows what B.J. and Agent One were doing before their arrival at Castle Wolfenstein, includes a Xbox-exclusive Co-Op mode (with Agent One as the second player), the new shotgun weapon, and B.J. is fully-voiced [[SuddenlyVoiced for the first time in the series]]. The Xbox port also feature online multiplayer, a few exclusive enemies (a lightning shooting priest and mecha dog) and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' as an [[EmbeddedPrecursor unlockable extra]] that you obtain after completing the main game.

* PolishedPort: The [=PlayStation=] 2 and Xbox ports of RTCW add a new prologue level set in Egypt that shows what B.J. and Agent One were doing before their arrival at Castle Wolfenstein, introduce new enemies and weapons, includes a Co-Op mode (with Agent One as the second player), and B.J. is fully-voiced [[SuddenlyVoiced for the first time in the series]]. The Xbox port also features ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' as an [[EmbeddedPrecursor unlockable extra]] that you obtain after completing the main game.