Return of the Return To Castle Wolfenstein

The long awaited follow up to Gray Matter's Nazi bashing Return To Castle Wolfenstein, entitled 'Enemy Territory' is to be released on the PC in the 'first half' of next year, Activision assured us this afternoon.

This 'all new chapter' will be released as a standalone game, and is being developed by Splash Damage and Mad Doc Software. Apparently the game introduces "a totally new gameplay style and a distinctive arsenal of features".

The squad based single player campaign has you tactically commanding an "elite allied squad", through locales including Western Europe and Egypt, with an emphasis on ensuring the survival of key team members.

An RPG style element sees veteran squad leaders earning additional skills and equipment via a promotion system that remains persistent across several maps.

The all-important online multiplayer mode has support for up to 64 players, with an intriguing sounding two player co-op mode. The game also features five character classes including a sneaky stealth-based Covert Operative, and the weapon savvy/handyman Engineer.

Meanwhile, the "intense" Team Last-Man-Standing mode allows for co-operative online fraggery, with the option for bot inclusion both in co-op and versus mode that will, apparently, "keep gamers in the trenches for hours". Eeeep. id CEO Todd Hollenshead said in the obligatory statement: "With everything from covert reconnaissance and battlefield structure construction to bot support and co-op play, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory offers both single and Internet gamers an unparalleled team gaming experience."