Castle Wolfenstein

The Good
Castle Wolfenstein was the first action game on the Apple II that really immersed you in its world. With only a gun and ten bullets and your wits, you had to escape from your prison, Castle Wolfenstein. The real genius of the game was that you couldn't just mow everyone down in your path, because sooner or later, a guard would notice the dead bodies you left and the dreaded yell of "SS!" would alert you that you were about to get creamed unless you had grenades to spare. You could even hold up guards instead of killing them so you could steal their uniforms in order to get through heavily guarded rooms without a fight. The sound effects were great, especially the grainy digitized voices of the german guards and the SS.

The Bad
The only problem with the game was the controls. Even with a joystick it was easy to accidentally run into the walls, which caused the screen to fill with garbage (simulating you being injured I guess) obscuring your view of the enemies that you were running away from. It also could be difficult to aim your gun or grenades properly.

The Bottom Line
Castle Wolfenstein was one of the most innovative early games for the Apple II. You mission was to escape from the Castle where you were imprisoned by the Nazis. You start with only the gun and 10 bullets you stole from your captor, and the odds are not in your favor, even without the dreaded SS stormtroopers chasing you down. The game showed you the castle from a top-down perspective with well-drawn and animated characters.

It was the first game to feature speech sound effects and use them effectively. Once you've played the game, you'll never forget the blood-chilling cry of "SS! SS!" as the stormtroopers chased you.

It was also one of the first early games (along with Choplifter) to emphasize stealth and trickery over killing. This made the game much more involving and difficult than it would have been as a straight shooter.

Finally, the graphics were well-drawn and looked great, even though they were mostly black and white.