Return to Castle Wolfenstein
"Return to Castle Wolfenstein" received favorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, it scores 88/100 (based on 32 reviews), and on GameRankings it scores 86.75% (based on 50 reviews). "Eurogamer"'s Tom Bramwell called "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" "a worthy addition to the stable of id Software affiliated shoot 'em ups. The single player game is average to good and takes quite a while to finish, but the game really earns its salt by shipping with a first class multiplayer element."
Wolfenstein 3D
"Wolfenstein 3D" was the second major release by id Software, after the "Commander Keen" series of episodes. In mid-1991, programmer John Carmack experimented with making a fast 3D game engine by restricting the gameplay and viewpoint to a single plane, producing "Hovertank 3D" and "Catacomb 3-D" as prototypes. After a design session prompted the company to shift from the family-friendly "Keen" to a more violent theme, programmer John Romero suggested remaking the 1981 stealth shooter "Castle Wolfenstein" as a fast-paced action game. He and designer Tom Hall designed the game, built on Carmack's engine, to be fast and violent, unlike other computer games on the market at the time. "Wolfenstein 3D" features artwork by Adrian Carmack and sound effects and music by Bobby Prince. The game was released through Apogee in two sets of three episodes under the shareware model, in which the first episode is released for free to drive interest in paying for the rest. An additional episode, "Spear of Destiny", was released as a stand-alone retail title through FormGen.