Beyond Castle Wolfenstein

The Good
This game is an improvement over the original Castle Wolfenstein with, improved graphics and sound, and a greater emphasis on stealth and puzzle solving. You can run and gun your way through the game, but you won't get far. You can avoid detection by using you knife and moving bodies out of view. Much of the game involves collecting the correct floor passes and picking locks to open closets. While this may frustrate some, it's a vast improvement over the timer chest-opening mechanism of the original. The graphics are detailed and your final goal is the ultimate WWII game goal: kill Hitler! (Oh, and get out of the bunker alive!)

The Bad
The controls are a bit cryptic at first and take a little getting used to. It would have been nice if the designer opted for color, but I suppose he wanted to avoid the strange color shifts of the Apple ][. The door unlocking puzzles are an audio variation of the board game Mastermind, and this can be tedious--especially if all your work rewards you with something useless.

The Bottom Line
Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, like its precursor, is a nice reworking of the classic top-down maze shooter < moby game="Berzerk">Berzerk< /moby>. It gives the player a clear goal and throws in some tense puzzle solving to do while trying to allude enemies. It pays to be stealthy and smart to avoid confrontation. If you are detected the action cranks up while you try to pick off enemies with your limited supply of ammo. All-in-all, one of the best games ever released for the Apple ][.