It's been a hot minute since I wrote anything about video games. I've still been playing them – not much else to do this past year, right? – and I also finally got around to getting an 8th generation console, a PlayStation 4. Back in July 2018 I published a list of my favourite video games ever and you may remember that that list included Wolfenstein: The New Order. With my more advanced console I now had the opportunity to play through all the recent Wolfenstein titles developed by Machine Games and published by Bethesda. Now that I've experienced them all I've found that I have a lot to say about them. I'm going to sum up all four of these games and give you my impression of them. This is an article I've been looking forward to writing so let's get started, in release order. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014)
A reboot of this venerable first-person shooter series, The New Order (TNO) had me hooked from the start. The slick menus, rockin' theme song, and humourous difficulty selection made a good first impression before the story had even begun. The game starts in 1946 with US special forces operative B.J. Blazkowicz taking part in the Allies' desperate all-out assault on the fortress of General Wilhelm Strasse (AKA Deathshead) whose fantastic technological advancements have given the Axis powers the edge in the war in Europe. Despite your best efforts the Allies fail and B.J. manages a narrow escape but is left in a vegetative state due to a severe head wound. He wakes up 14 years later to a world that has mostly been taken over by the Third Reich and the rest of the game revolves around his joining the resistance and bringing down Deathshead once and for all. And that's just the surface of The New Order's story; there are plenty of letters, newspaper clippings, unlockables, and audio logs that further flesh out this frightening world. It's also a world populated with some neat characters. Each good guy has their own reasons for why they rebel against the Nazi regime and its agents. General Strasse is an excellent villain. His affinity for human experimentation and callous disregard for human life make him the embodiment of pure evil. This brings me to The New Order's tone which is surprisingly well-balanced. In spite of its over-the-top premise and its overall adventurous feeling the game still addresses the moral implications of what a world ruled by Nazis would look like. TNO doesn't shy away from depicting the brutality of national socialism and the tragedy the characters face while at the same time it contains a bit of tongue-in-cheek flavouring just to let you know that this is merely a video game. This results in a variety of levels that will take you from a concentration camp all the way to a research base on the moon in a manner that's believable enough.
If you find yourself hooked by the story and premise then you'll be pleased to know that there's actually two different timelines to The New Order that the player chooses early on: the Wyatt timeline and the Fergus timeline, named after the character you decide to save in the opening level. Not only does each timeline have its own set of cutscenes but it also has exclusive side characters as well as exploration abilities, thus ensuring that your second playthrough will be a different experience than the first. Completionists rejoice.
I think my favourite level in TNO is the one taking place inside the tight confines of a U-boat which really gives the shotgun a chance to shine (too bad it's such a short level!). The weapons are the type you'd expect in a first-person shooter – pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, grenades – but each of them has an alternate fire mode which adds variety. The most unique weapon is the laserkraftwerk which can either be fired as a laser gun or used as a torch to open up new areas for exploration.
TNO takes the form of an old-school shooter game: you can carry every weapon at once (using a selection wheel to switch) and there's a health and armour bar in place of regenerating health. The game uses a light cover system: to take cover simply stand in front of something and hold the aim button and BJ will peek out in the direction indicated by an arrow. Most of the time the cover system works fine but every so often it will force B.J.'s aim to snap to an empty spot straight ahead. The game makes use of a perk system which rewards players for performing actions such as a certain number of kills from cover or a certain number of grenade kills. These rewards take the form of passive stat boosters like higher damage, faster movement, and bigger magazines just to name a few. There are perks that support different playstyles. Charging in guns blazing is as valid an option as sneaking around and taking enemies out silently. Every so often you'll come across a section where there's an enemy commander who will call for reinforcements if he spots you, so you'll want to take him out as soon as possible. This forces the player to be more discreet, however the tools at your disposal – suppressed pistol, throwing knives, melee attacks – make the stealthy approach an inviting choice.
What isn't a choice is the game's clunky pickup system. In order to obtain ammo, health, armour, and collectibles you need to press the action button when prompted. The pickup prompts have a decent range – almost too decent in fact, as a prompt often pops up for something you can't even see. But picking up ammo from fallen enemies can be a bit of a hassle since they only drop minuscule amounts of bullets (often in the single digit range). I frequently found myself backtracking through a room I've just cleared while mashing the pickup button just to make restocking easier.
What's worse is the game's technical performance. The New Order runs on the id Tech 5 engine which was starting to show its age by 2014. Apart from the weapon models the graphics are lacklustre and objects that are on walls and tables are merely rendered as part of those surfaces in embarrassingly low resolution! There's also some bugs to be found. Some are harmless, others are not; I once had to restart a whole level due to a platform not raising which prevented me from opening a mission-critical gate. And this was just on Xbox 360 and PS4; I've heard that things were even worse on PC.
In spite of its flaws, Wolfenstein: The New Order is still an exquisite game that I'll play any day. I eagerly downloaded the next one to see what Machine Games next had in store.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (2015)
If you liked the opening level of The New Order then this game is for you. If you liked 2001's Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RTCW) then this game is for you too. I fit into both these categories so as you can imagine I was very pleased with The Old Blood (TOB). Set immediately prior to TNO, this game has B.J. Blazkowicz and Agent One infiltrating Castle Wolfenstein to learn the location of Deathshead's compound, the destruction of which might save the Allies from certain defeat. Unfortunately your cover is blown rather quickly and the two agents are taken prisoner so it's up to B.J. to break out, accomplish his mission, and escape in one piece.
I've always believed that Wolfenstein works best when it's rooted in the Second World War and The Old Blood succeeds in that task with flying colours, just like RTCW. The environments are recognizable for their period, with medieval villages and weapons of made of wood and steel. More than any other game in this franchise TOB makes you think about the people you're fighting thanks to their interesting banter and thought-provoking readables. (This is in sharp contrast to the rest of the games mentioned here in which the Germans are all one-track idiots who have nothing interesting to say.) The RTCW vibes are strengthened with the welcome inclusion of the occult elements encountered later in the game.
If you're planning on playing all Machine Games titles in this series I'd recommend starting with The Old Blood and not simply for chronological purposes. As it's a brief, stand-alone expansion to TNO it shares a lot of similarities with its predecessor including the same perk system, user interface, menu design, graphics, and manual pickup process (not to mention technical issues). However, TOB does away with cinematics, dual timelines, and globetrotting and instead presents a single unbroken perspective taking place in one geographic area over just a couple days with a more sombre tone and less over-the-top plot. Rather than “stripped-down” I think the game can be better described as a more intimate experience compared to the other games in this series. While it may be brief, The New Blood is an excellent addition to the series that I have no problem recommending to any fan of first-person shooter games.
Can't wait to see what comes next!
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