Stealth Games #1

Castle Wolfenstein (1981)
By: Silas S. Warner / Muse Software Genre: Stealth / Maze Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Apple II
Also Available For: PC, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64

Having quite recently experienced my first 'stealth' game in Splinter Cell, I figured it was a good time to look at what must be the first ever example of the genre, which also happens to be the beginning of a popular (and active) franchise. It was released all the way back in 1981 by Muse Software and its name is surely already known to gamers old and new alike, but I doubt too many know much about it. The setting is the titular castle during World War II and it's your job to infiltrate it, find the secret war plans within, and escape. Its flick-screen rooms are viewed from above and most of them contain Nazi guards of which there are two types, but unlike most games featuring such dangerous and malevolent enemies, it's not always necessary to kill them.

Currently Playing...

Splinter Cell (2002)
By: Ubisoft Genre: Stealth Adventure Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Microsoft Xbox
Also Available For: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, PC, Mac, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage

Well, I suppose it had to happen eventually didn't it? My experience of all post-Dreamcast consoles has been limited, and I've intentionally avoided several genres including all these pesky 'stealth' games but, after the acquisition of an Xbox and the subsequent purchase of games for it, I soon realised I should at least try one of them, for blog purposes if nothing else. This game, the first in the series of the same name, was the first one I found and was available for a wallet-busting 35p so I figured it was a good place to start.

As expected, it's one of those games that thinks it's a film, and accordingly I found myself cast in the role of Sam Fisher, a veteran covert field operative, who's been recruited by the NSA and sent into Georgia (the country, not the American state), initially to investigate the disappearance of two CIA officers, but of course that quickly snowballs into a convoluted plot involving presidential assassination, a subsequent coup, genicide, and a potential war amongst many other things, and it's up to Sam (and only Sam) to save the day. In most comparable games that I'm already familiar with, that would mean charging around shooting the crap out of everything with an extravagant array of weaponry, but things here are very different.