-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood |OT| Out With The New Order, In With The Old Blood
- Thread starter orthodoxy1095
- Start date
User 479360
Banned
It was more fun, because it felt more varied and less constrictive. I don't remember it having such an emphasis on chokepoints and cheap tactics either.
Not as polished, though.
I agree with him, I think 2009 is a much more fun game to actually play than TNO/Old Blood as well. Though I still like these games too.
For a start Wolf 2009s soundmix isnt fucked and I like its mix of weapons better too. Plus seeing how the sawn off in Old Blood is just another shite version of their terrible normal double barrel is nothing but a disappointment to me.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
After getting a few Ubergolds on the challenges and having some time away from the game, I guess I agree with the overriding critical consensus that its a fine enough expansion that gets by on the strength of its strong core shooter game design fundamentals(enemy AI that acts in interesting ways, carry lots of useful weapons, great animations, giving the option to stealth or go crazy or a mix of both, etc), but without nearly the heart, character, or driving motivation The New Order had, its a more exhausting, repetitive game at half the length. Which is a shame, cuz you can see some of MachineGames strength for characterization peak out every now and again, but they obviously just didn't have the time or money to do it properly. Like there's one unintentionally hilarious scene
Its kinda like when Edgar Wright and the Wachowskis forgot to explain the core concepts of their complicated sci-fi movies and had to put this big momentum sapping Exposition Man at the end to catch everybody up. Too late now, buck-o.
Good enough for $20 bucks, but it really just made me want to go play the New Order again instead
near the end of chapter 4 where they just throw all these letters and backstory and shit about that one girl kinda strew all over the place.
Good enough for $20 bucks, but it really just made me want to go play the New Order again instead
orthodoxy1095
Banned
I always thought the sound mix complaints were really overblown, but The Old Blood has really shown me how true they are. Holy COW, it's terrible.
Moff
Member
finished on uber and loved every second, I am so glad that one of my favorite franchises is in such capable hands.
except the guy who designed the nightmare levels, especially the one on the prologue, he is a sadist and not my friend
I mean TNO is one of the very few games I actually got all achievements, because I just loved that game, but no way I will do that in the old blood
except the guy who designed the nightmare levels, especially the one on the prologue, he is a sadist and not my friend
I mean TNO is one of the very few games I actually got all achievements, because I just loved that game, but no way I will do that in the old blood
Does the difficulty in the nightmare levels change as well?
Moff
Member
yes, but it's not the difficulty, its that you need so run at ALL the walls in the levels do discover secret areas and the levels are huge and your movement is slow, it's terrible
I'm with you two on that.
It sound like the Old Blood is a big step down from the New Order (a game I'm lukewarm on). The reviews are certainly considerably lower. Adrian Chmielarz, the creator of Bulletstorm and Painkiller, absolutely hated it.
https://twitter.com/adrianchm/status/596867662711496704
https://twitter.com/adrianchm/status/596867691362783232
To be honest I don't know how you can go from loving TNO to hating The Old Blood. I mean I can understand preferring TNO but Old Blood doesn't feel that different to me. Despite my complaints it still has fun combat but it just doesn't have the character development and slower pace of TNO. Not necessarily a terrible thing tbh, I like its brisker pace so far. I also like them going back to earlier themes from the Wolfenstein series.
Do you think maybe people aren't responding well to the setting change? The New Order took the series in a new direction while The Old Blood returns to RCTW/09's world and occult themes. It seems like bizarre thing to do after breaking with tradition for the last entry. One part definitely feels like a leftover piece of Halloween DLC.
Moff
Member
hating the game simply because of the setting? I don't get that either. the mechanics and gunplay are the same. the leveldesign is top notch. the pacing is a bit different, less cutscenes, but that's it. I don't really understand how you can think TNO is brilliant and call old blood "one of worst games I played in the last years" either. absolutely not.
the setting is great by the way, the latter half of the game is a blast.
the setting is great by the way, the latter half of the game is a blast.
NullPointer
Member
Same here. If you love the combat from The New Order then The Old Blood is far more bang for the buck, with more complicated spaces that lead to longer, more intense firefights, and its all more replayable ta boot.
But if you're in it for the quieter moments there is almost none of that here. Character moments sure, but they are very brief sinewy moments that tether the stealth and gunz blazing areas that make up the meat of the game.
BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!
Member
Chapters 1 and 6-8 are legitimately not good though. Completely boring.
I adored TNO, as such, I enjoyed chapters 2-5 quite a bit since they are very similar in style.
With that that said, the combat encounters in TOB felt really off to me for whatever reason. Can't quite put my finger it.
Overall it was an acceptable expansion, but it could've been a lot better.
I adored TNO, as such, I enjoyed chapters 2-5 quite a bit since they are very similar in style.
With that that said, the combat encounters in TOB felt really off to me for whatever reason. Can't quite put my finger it.
Overall it was an acceptable expansion, but it could've been a lot better.
Brerlappin
Member
I think people are being a bit too hard on an 8 hour expansion expecting it to have the character depth and progression of a game developed over several years and 20+ hours long, compared to a game developed in 1 year and only 8 hours long.
And honestly I think TOB has had some great characters in it so far, some great dialogue too. BJ has some great lines in this, its not like his character has been ruined or anything. As an old school fan of RTCW I really don't understand complaints about the setting either. TOB is a real treat for RTCW fans, as theres so many nods to that game.
Theres been a great variety of environments, really cool new weapons, the auto shotgun is amazing in this. Rudi was a great antagonist, hell im still only half way through and im impressed by everything ive seen so far. I think maybe TNO was so good people were expecting to get TNO 2.0 here and didn't bear in mind it had less than half TNO development and is just an expansion. And for a game that's "just an expansion", its amazing. Seriously, I want more of this. If every developer put this much effort into DLC, DLC wouldn't have the negative connotations it does today.
Better than Wolf 09? I dunno, I love both games. But TOB has better story ad character development in the opening 5 minutes than the entirety of Wolf 09, which has an utterly forgettable story/characters. The quote from the Painkiller/Bulletstorm guy is laughable. Worst game you played this year? Cop the fuck on. In no way shape or form could TOB be classed as a bad game. Maybe its not your taste fine, but the worst game you played this year? Sure maybe if all you played this year was HL2, Deus Ex, Stalker SoC and nothing else...
And honestly I think TOB has had some great characters in it so far, some great dialogue too. BJ has some great lines in this, its not like his character has been ruined or anything. As an old school fan of RTCW I really don't understand complaints about the setting either. TOB is a real treat for RTCW fans, as theres so many nods to that game.
Theres been a great variety of environments, really cool new weapons, the auto shotgun is amazing in this. Rudi was a great antagonist, hell im still only half way through and im impressed by everything ive seen so far. I think maybe TNO was so good people were expecting to get TNO 2.0 here and didn't bear in mind it had less than half TNO development and is just an expansion. And for a game that's "just an expansion", its amazing. Seriously, I want more of this. If every developer put this much effort into DLC, DLC wouldn't have the negative connotations it does today.
Better than Wolf 09? I dunno, I love both games. But TOB has better story ad character development in the opening 5 minutes than the entirety of Wolf 09, which has an utterly forgettable story/characters. The quote from the Painkiller/Bulletstorm guy is laughable. Worst game you played this year? Cop the fuck on. In no way shape or form could TOB be classed as a bad game. Maybe its not your taste fine, but the worst game you played this year? Sure maybe if all you played this year was HL2, Deus Ex, Stalker SoC and nothing else...
Jazzkokehead
Member
As someone who was a bit disappointed with the lack of Indiana Jones-style mystical settings/themes in The New Order, I love the locales in The Old Blood.
Are you also doing the secret level that you have to play through when you take the hidden exit at the end?
Crab Milk Mickey
Member
The Old Blood was competently made, but I wouldn't call it great. Prefer The New Order over it all-in-all, and I wasn't fond of the occult being thrown into the mix again regardless of the series' legacy and the storytelling surrounding it being handled fairly well. The zombies just weren't particularly fun to deal with: not exactly engaging enemy designs in here and they got in the way of stealth, since even with headshots or knives some enemies will still turn into 'em. Which immediately alerted the commanders of a given area more often than not. Sawn-off shotgun was also a huge disappointment: have to mash the reload button with that one perk to make it practical on the higher difficulties and if a silenced pistol sounds like it has more oomph than it, there's something wrong.
That said though, level design was usually still good (excluding low points like chapter 1) with a remarkable art style and the gunplay remained outstanding, so I'm glad this was made. Which is far more than what I can say about Wolfenstein 2009, which I found bland and dreadful across the board.
That said though, level design was usually still good (excluding low points like chapter 1) with a remarkable art style and the gunplay remained outstanding, so I'm glad this was made. Which is far more than what I can say about Wolfenstein 2009, which I found bland and dreadful across the board.
Jazzkokehead
Member
I almost never used the sawed-off shotgun. In a strange oversight, there's no hotkey for it, which means there's no effective way to quickly switch to it.
It's almost as if Machinegames forgot that there are more numbers on a keyboard beyond 7.
It's almost as if Machinegames forgot that there are more numbers on a keyboard beyond 7.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
Considerably? The average TNO order was around an 80. The average TOB score is around a 75-77 so far. "Considerably" is really pushing it.
I don't think I'd like these games nearly as much if I was forced to use a controller to play them. To me playing it with a M+KB makes a hell of a difference in terms of maneuverability, speed, and precision. I tried playing new order for a couple minutes on PS4 and got bored to death.
Just finished the game a few minutes ago. It didn't match the high quality of TNO, but I didn't expect it to since it was an expansion and not a full-on new game. That said, I had a great time with it overall. Really dug them bringing back some occult stuff into the story.
I wanted a lotta fun killin' some Nazis, and this game delivered.
I wanted a lotta fun killin' some Nazis, and this game delivered.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
Finished the game, weird ending but a great game nonetheless. I guess I will 100% it since I'm only missing 4 Achievments.
Also, it's pretty funny to play the german verison (which I have to) and hear the differences (especially at the beginning)
Of course the "Hot Dog" scene makes NO FREAKING sense in german but whatever. I got the joke. Although I do think he should have said "Hamburger" cause that would have made some more sense. (Hamburg is a big city in Germany in case you didn't know)
Also, it's pretty funny to play the german verison (which I have to) and hear the differences (especially at the beginning)
Of course the "Hot Dog" scene makes NO FREAKING sense in german but whatever. I got the joke. Although I do think he should have said "Hamburger" cause that would have made some more sense. (Hamburg is a big city in Germany in case you didn't know)
SolidSnakeUS
Member
Finally started playing it and honestly, I'm really enjoying the challenge of being as stealth as possible.
What?!? He's supposed to be from Frankfurt... Frankfurter sausages? Hot Dogs?
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
Oh....oooohhh...I get it now. I never made the connection, wow. Damn.
And we actually say "Frankfurter". As far as I know Frankfurter call them "Wiener"
I still think Hamburger would be a better joke
Frankfurter isn't really as synonymous for sausages in Germany as it is in other regions.
IGN dropped from a 79 to a 70, PC Gamer from a 84 to a 70, Polygon 90 to 70. Those seem noticeably lower to me. RPS was pretty lukewarm on it despite giving New Order shooter of the year in 2014. Video Gamer went up from a 6 to an 8, though.
SkinnerSw33t
Member
Blows my mind that TNO only rated 79-81 for XB1/PS4/PC and Old Blood only 76-77.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
straight up 6/10 video game. Unexceptional in each and every area a 2009-era shooter can be.
Oh....oooohhh...I get it now. I never made the connection, wow. Damn.
And we actually say "Frankfurter". As far as I know Frankfurter call them "Wiener"
I still think Hamburger would be a better joke
Considering German culture it would seem so. Still, I think they did a pretty good job with the German characters (not that they act inherently German or anything, but still!).
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
Yeah, I actually liked Wolf09 but it's nothing compared to TNO and TOB
Messofanego
Banned
Here's my review, I was impressed with better combat scenarios, retaining all the best aspects of TNO, great ending, and what they got in with 1 year of development: http://steamcommunity.com/id/messofanego/recommended/350080/
And an amazing end credits song, by Mick Gordon lawd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG_ZEovDDKk
And an amazing end credits song, by Mick Gordon lawd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG_ZEovDDKk
Jazzkokehead
Member
Challenged accepted. I replayed it maybe 4 months ago or so, and honestly, I think it's great. Raven Software knows how to craft some damn fine FPS combat. Better than The New Order? Maybe not. But "all-around mediocre?" Get outta here.