Messofanego
Banned
Buoy...Boo-ee...Silly word.
Here, give me your hand and let me sing to you the gospel for one of the best shooters ever made.
It's my current 2014 Game of the Year.
Three words to describe Wolfenstein The New Order: brutal and charming.
This game has consumed my mind ever since it came out. Ive completed it twice on both timeline playthroughs (you can switch between each for extra characters, upgrades, rooms, cutscenes) on the Uber difficulty, and am currently on a 3rd 999 mode run. That has never happened with me and any videogame. Probably an ode to how good the story is with both character lineups and how replayable the combat is. I need to get my full opinion down in writing as a reference point so I can finally give myself some peace of mind and move on to play other possibly worthy GOTY contenders.
This is a little preamble for a couple of paragraphs but I feel worth mentioning to understand how former Starbreeze people went on to make this game. Machinegames, as some of you might know, are former Starbreeze developers. I was expecting a good game from the start because of their pedigree on excellent narrative-driven first person action adventures (Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay + Assault on Dark Athena, The Darkness) but not necessarily on the gameplay front for a shooter. Starbreeze started some first-person shooting with Riddick and other than a cool laser dot system where the dot would become bigger when you got a headshot (back when CoD X hit markers werent the major trend) and enemies liking to move around with dive rolls, it was just serviceable. Riddick excelled when it was mainly a melee stealth game with the best cover/lean system ever (could even compare it to Thief). Then The Darkness came along and this was Starbreezes first FPS. While The Darkness was exemplary on the storytelling front, the awkward controls, inconsistent controllable ally AI, unwieldy powers, and forgettable encounter design made it one of those games that wasnt as enjoyable to play through. I would rather walk (no sprint in the game) straight up to enemies faces for rad-looking melee executions and be done with it. It had dual wielding, too, which made the trudge bearable. Shooting didnt seem like their forte. Darkness 2 (very underrated sequel) by Digital Extremes nailed the gameplay front down while also having an equally emotional narrative along with fantastic characters and some cool twists.
Then came Syndicate. Lo and behold, the shooting was truly excellent! The quality of the gun sounds, the feedback, encounter design, the hit reactions, the sliding, and slight dismemberment (w/ shotgun) came out of nowhere! I loved pretty much everything with the shooting mechanics in addition to the breach abilities. Very underrated shooter. However, it was purely corridors in the level design. The storytelling suffered with a rushed plot, undeveloped characters, and not being able to have character interactions, which reduced the adventure elements even if it had an appreciable nihilistic vibe to the world. When the lead developers left Starbreeze at the time of Syndicate and Machinegames was formed, people tried to reassure that we could still get a great game. I wasnt that dismissive of the work on Syndicate, and if you looked it up, quite a few of the developers on Syndicate transitioned over to Machinegames to work on Wolfenstein The New Order [Read this excellent Polygon piece - "Machinegames: a fight club on top of the world"]. You know what that meant, hopefully the best of both worlds! So what we have in Wolfenstein The New Order that has been building up ever since Riddick: the best cover system, sliding, excellent shooting feedback/gun sounds/dismemberment, fantastic characters, well-realised world, top-notch voice acting, and that specifically Starbreeze cutscene look. It doesnt have the laser dot reticule or hub levels but the lack of the latter is justified in that this is a globetrotting affair while The Darkness and Riddick were contained in single intimate locations.
Death at the gates again. Howling my name. Cant greet you today. Got a war to win.
I dont think Machinegames was content with just those returning elements. They wanted an old school feel to the overall gameplay package while still retaining those elements to give the game quite a novel feeling that you wont get elsewhere. You can watch Jens Matthies talk to Geoff Keighley about this combat design philosophy back at Quakecon 2013. The best of old school and modern is amalgamated here. Theres been a recent trend of old school revival in genres and specifically for FPSs like with Shadow Warrior, Painkiller, and Serious Sam. Bringing back wider levels and having to pick up health/armour packs to move away from the whack-a-mole, raspberry-tinted modern warffair doesnt seem as risky now, but keep in mind the previously mentioned games werent big budget, big publisher-backed projects.
The maps are complex, packed with meaningful collectibles and alternate routes that remind me of older stealth games such as Splinter Cell where you go oh I could have gone through there the whole time. Thankfully, the big touted location is open and a visual treat. Its a bit disappointing that there isnt some significant gameplay change here
and it left me wanting more but I think thats a good thing. Some levels arent as open which makes sense as the pace quickens in the story when you build up a reputation for the resistance from chapters 13 to the end.
It was out-of-the-blue when back at EGX London in September 2013, I realised I didnt have to play the game like CoD in the case of avoiding aim-down-sights and adopting a more run-and-gun playstyle. There are no Call of Duty style X hit confirmation markers, a restrictive 2-weapon system (which is understandable for a pseudo-realistic military game), respawning perfectly accurate enemies, scripted trigger fails, follow the leaders butt and wait for them to perform overdrawn animations, or overly tunnelling corridors (unless if it makes sense like in a submarine). There are no scripted weapon sections where an empowering weapon is given to you to take down a boss and is never used again.
Weapons GIF
Shotgun shrapnel GIF
All the weapons have alt-fire modes which makes for experimenting even if the game will explain the enemies weaknesses usually. There's a great kick to them helped by the boom and echo from the audio design that leaves an impact when it's all over. There arent really any bullet sponge enemies, even the heavies like the Shotgun Shrapnel, Heavy Robot, and Supersoldaten can be taken down by a few rockets, grenades, or charged LKW shots and are much weaker in the back (shrapnel dude can be taken down by two shotgun shots in the back!).
Why are the hit markers even worth bringing up?
Thats because the game already has top-notch hit feedback on the enemies when you shoot them and they display localised body reactions with dismemberment [GIF], decapitation [GIF], and sweet sweet gibs [GIF] glory. You dont need a letter popping up on someones body to tell you if theyve gone down, because they arent bullet sponges or indistinguishable against the environment.
Why bother with most of this stuff when you could just play it like CoD? That might be because the enemy AI is really good. They wont charge at you like mindless cronies. They like to hang back and call others to flank you (this is all in German, too). If youre hiding behind cover whack-a-moleing them one by one like a shooting gallery, theyll flush you out with grenades or surprise you from the sides. Aiming down sights will make you a stationary target which you dont really want with such aggressive Nazis. Even at the start of Chapter 14 in Return to London Nautica where you crash land via rope and Syndicate-style enemy takedown with not much of a weapon cache while being absolutely hammered via an ambush of a shotgun shrapnel dude and ten other enemies, its still advisable to move around. This thinking extends to the few boss fights that there are, too, where you're encouraged to use all your weapons.
On top of that, the stealth is fun to pull off thanks to the god-tier pistol (one of the best ever in a videogame and even gets a makeover in a certain location) and throwing knives.
In many sections, youll have a chance to go stealth with taking down any commanders in the area who are the only ones to set off the alarm for reinforcements. My way was to take out the commanders first, and then go dual-wielding on the town with the rest of them.
I nearly forgot to mention there is a destruction system! Yeah, most of the wood/concrete [GIF] and metal grates [GIF] can be shot off too with the Laserkraftwerk, which is great in rattling out the few stranglers of enemies but also nail-biting when youre on the receiving end of giant turret wielding Supersoldaten or heavy robots wrecking up all your cover giving even more impetus to not be pinned down in one spot.
The fact that they pulled all of this off with nary a hitch in a big-budget, massively marketed shooter amongst a sea of risk-averse design is commendable. Its the kind of risk taking that makes other developers not as wary in wanting to mix up the formula. Remarkable even, when all those disparate elements that other smaller games do only a few things of, are compiled here in not just the best-of-hits but also comes into a refreshing whole where even slideshooting dual auto shotguns hasnt been quite done before.
Legs are like jelly. Fingers feel numb. Mother of all headaches.
Im not a diehard elitist when it comes to a certain brand of storytelling, but I do prefer when you cant get everything from just a youtube playthrough. I like when not everything can be gleaned from just watching the cutscene library or listening to audio diaries or reading some supplemental materials. Remedys games (Max Payne 1 and 2, Alan Wake) are my absolute favourite mould where you still have dramatic cinematics but also theres enough detail in the environment or through character interactions and pulpy noir inner monologues while youre playing the game. Theres always something happening in your periphery. I feel this is how the influence of adventure games have carried on to qualify some games as truly action adventures. Which is all present in Wolfenstein: The New Order and what Machinegames set out to make.
NPCs talk to each other. About various things. This is no more evident than in a very Riddick-like level. They even talk about you if youre far away but will stop if you come near them. You can come up to a character multiple times and theyll acknowledge your annoying existence with varying lines of dialogue.
The environments are bolstered by stellar art direction as they are varied and a visual delight through varying mood colour palettes.
The best compliment I can give about the world building is that it feels like this actually happened. A world ruled by Nazis isnt just detailed in newspaper clippings that range from really interesting alternate history to straight up hilarity like the death of fish and chips in the UK or the existence of the crocoduck. They even go to the detail of how the technology on the dogs changes through the years. There are difficult, mature themes that are brought up too. An overarching theme is of old warriors being unfit for a new world of evil presented through the older characters of BJ Blazkowicz and Fergus Reid, much like No Country For Old Men. In the other timeline, there is racism (spoilers) brought up with the character of J (you can tell which real life person this is based off). Blazko has to deal with keeping up hope in such a bleak and unrelenting world as his allies die off over the decades.
Machinegames could have avoided the elephant in the room,
, but they dedicate a whole level to it with a very Riddick vibe. If you come up to the prisoners, there are dozens of conversations to hear upon that are quite heartbreaking especially one that explains you cant survive if you start thinking about food. None of this is in your face, its there as an exploration reward if you seek it out. Deviants like the disabled, homosexuals, minorities, or anyone not with Aryan features are hunted down, and even citizens are encouraged to report them to the authorities such as tattling on a kid who likes to wear makeup.
I love when enemies converse with each other. Its not a new thing at all, been in games since Thief and No One Lives Forever. Nevertheless, its an appreciable method that shows developers deeply care about how the world is relayed to the player. It characterises the cannon fodder with some humanity and hands you some regret when you have to murder them in the most brutal of ways. Previous Starbreeze games also had enemy conversations (ex: The Darkness enemy conversation, Riddick: Fucktoy conversation), and here my highlights were the heartfelt one about a commanders pregnant wife and the hilarious one about fighting a concrete-induced cough with lemon coffee. One of the best has to be when you can pick up a phone and hear someone shit all over this Muller dude.
Even with the more predictable ways of environmental storytelling, theres only one set of audio diaries and its absolutely crucial to figure something about one of the main characters. There are newspaper clippings that not only expand on how the whole world is affected by Nazi rule with some funny highlights like the death of fish and chips in the UK, but they also detail your exploits from previous missions just like Hitman Blood Money. Heck, I learned so much German just from the loading screens. The game even gets down to the meta detail of berating you for quitting the game.
Starbreeze was employing performance capture before Naughty Dog was being praised for it. Since Riddick, the performances and voice acting in their games have been top-notch and nothing is changed with Machinegames and this new Wolfenstein. You will believe heart, charm, and vulnerability can be given to BJ Blazkowicz, who was just a musclebound action hero face in the original game. He isnt infallible as other characters will berate him for his physique or intellect like Tekla and thats done in a poignant way with J to make a point.
Nearly every single character is interesting and memorable in their own way. The villains are chilling and charismatic. Ive mentioned it elsewhere, the four main female characters (Caroline, Anya, Tekla, Frau Engel) are pretty great too. Unlikely relationships are built between allies like between Max Hass and Klaus (father-son like), Wyatt and J (they both love music), Fergus (greatest Scottish character in a videogame) and Tekla, Anya and Blazko (most naturally presented romance in a game), or Set Roth and Caroline. Its all backed up by faultless voice acting from top to bottom (even the enemies shouting in German).
You call me Deathshead, I don't like it. I'm a happy man, you see?
Due to how rare it is to go for a multi-varied tone in videogames as opposed to films, I guess some critics find the game to be tonally inconsistent. Ive said my piece here where I vehemently disagree as its evident that the game is going for a blackly comic tone and was present in the (excellent) marketing too from the trailers. It was brought up in that interview with Jens Matthies and Patrick Klepek that people should check out. This whole Nazis ruling the world premise is a black comedy, it is surreal. You need to let the edge off or then youd fall into a pit of despair and confusion. Im glad the game isnt po-faced like other shooters or just a farce so you cant take it seriously.
My few criticisms would be that Anya
, the
location is not used for more interesting gameplay, the sewer section is the weakest point, the performance on AMD PCs is not great, and the cutscenes do that Max Payne 3 loading thing although here they're still pleasant to sit through. Also, the audio mix is not so good even though the audio design itself is sublime.
In conclusion, Wolfenstein: The New Order is a lovingly crafted game made with a ton of heart and charm that I feel will have legs as more and more people try it out. Its not radically innovative or revolutionary, but it does so many things to stand out in the current landscape that it doesnt have to be. A brutal and charming adventure that doesnt pull any punches but knows when to be light-hearted. The combat design and shooting mechanics are liberating while being supported by tough AI and fantastic weapons to shoot at them with, in more expansive levels that encourage exploration. Meanwhile, excellent storytelling through fantastic characters and the environment is happening all around you, rather than at you. Also, has one of the best soundtracks in a game with some of the most hard-hitting rock and metal with touches of industrial music that gets your blood pumping to fight for the resistance. It brings the best of the old and the new. Its exactly what people who complain about modern shooters should play, to see its not all doom-and-gloom. Personally, it has set a new standard in shooters. Its one of the best shooters Ive played. If you want a game in the vein of Half Life 2, FEAR, Metro Last Light, Remedy games, Bulletstorm/Painkiller/Shadow Warrior, check it out.
Read all that and havent picked up Wolfenstein The New Order yet?
Snap out of it, and get to shootin, stabbin, stranglin some Nazis!
Here, give me your hand and let me sing to you the gospel for one of the best shooters ever made.
It's my current 2014 Game of the Year.
Three words to describe Wolfenstein The New Order: brutal and charming.
This game has consumed my mind ever since it came out. Ive completed it twice on both timeline playthroughs (you can switch between each for extra characters, upgrades, rooms, cutscenes) on the Uber difficulty, and am currently on a 3rd 999 mode run. That has never happened with me and any videogame. Probably an ode to how good the story is with both character lineups and how replayable the combat is. I need to get my full opinion down in writing as a reference point so I can finally give myself some peace of mind and move on to play other possibly worthy GOTY contenders.
This is a little preamble for a couple of paragraphs but I feel worth mentioning to understand how former Starbreeze people went on to make this game. Machinegames, as some of you might know, are former Starbreeze developers. I was expecting a good game from the start because of their pedigree on excellent narrative-driven first person action adventures (Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay + Assault on Dark Athena, The Darkness) but not necessarily on the gameplay front for a shooter. Starbreeze started some first-person shooting with Riddick and other than a cool laser dot system where the dot would become bigger when you got a headshot (back when CoD X hit markers werent the major trend) and enemies liking to move around with dive rolls, it was just serviceable. Riddick excelled when it was mainly a melee stealth game with the best cover/lean system ever (could even compare it to Thief). Then The Darkness came along and this was Starbreezes first FPS. While The Darkness was exemplary on the storytelling front, the awkward controls, inconsistent controllable ally AI, unwieldy powers, and forgettable encounter design made it one of those games that wasnt as enjoyable to play through. I would rather walk (no sprint in the game) straight up to enemies faces for rad-looking melee executions and be done with it. It had dual wielding, too, which made the trudge bearable. Shooting didnt seem like their forte. Darkness 2 (very underrated sequel) by Digital Extremes nailed the gameplay front down while also having an equally emotional narrative along with fantastic characters and some cool twists.
Then came Syndicate. Lo and behold, the shooting was truly excellent! The quality of the gun sounds, the feedback, encounter design, the hit reactions, the sliding, and slight dismemberment (w/ shotgun) came out of nowhere! I loved pretty much everything with the shooting mechanics in addition to the breach abilities. Very underrated shooter. However, it was purely corridors in the level design. The storytelling suffered with a rushed plot, undeveloped characters, and not being able to have character interactions, which reduced the adventure elements even if it had an appreciable nihilistic vibe to the world. When the lead developers left Starbreeze at the time of Syndicate and Machinegames was formed, people tried to reassure that we could still get a great game. I wasnt that dismissive of the work on Syndicate, and if you looked it up, quite a few of the developers on Syndicate transitioned over to Machinegames to work on Wolfenstein The New Order [Read this excellent Polygon piece - "Machinegames: a fight club on top of the world"]. You know what that meant, hopefully the best of both worlds! So what we have in Wolfenstein The New Order that has been building up ever since Riddick: the best cover system, sliding, excellent shooting feedback/gun sounds/dismemberment, fantastic characters, well-realised world, top-notch voice acting, and that specifically Starbreeze cutscene look. It doesnt have the laser dot reticule or hub levels but the lack of the latter is justified in that this is a globetrotting affair while The Darkness and Riddick were contained in single intimate locations.
Death at the gates again. Howling my name. Cant greet you today. Got a war to win.
I dont think Machinegames was content with just those returning elements. They wanted an old school feel to the overall gameplay package while still retaining those elements to give the game quite a novel feeling that you wont get elsewhere. You can watch Jens Matthies talk to Geoff Keighley about this combat design philosophy back at Quakecon 2013. The best of old school and modern is amalgamated here. Theres been a recent trend of old school revival in genres and specifically for FPSs like with Shadow Warrior, Painkiller, and Serious Sam. Bringing back wider levels and having to pick up health/armour packs to move away from the whack-a-mole, raspberry-tinted modern warffair doesnt seem as risky now, but keep in mind the previously mentioned games werent big budget, big publisher-backed projects.
The maps are complex, packed with meaningful collectibles and alternate routes that remind me of older stealth games such as Splinter Cell where you go oh I could have gone through there the whole time. Thankfully, the big touted location is open and a visual treat. Its a bit disappointing that there isnt some significant gameplay change here
(how awesome would zero grav combat be?)
It was out-of-the-blue when back at EGX London in September 2013, I realised I didnt have to play the game like CoD in the case of avoiding aim-down-sights and adopting a more run-and-gun playstyle. There are no Call of Duty style X hit confirmation markers, a restrictive 2-weapon system (which is understandable for a pseudo-realistic military game), respawning perfectly accurate enemies, scripted trigger fails, follow the leaders butt and wait for them to perform overdrawn animations, or overly tunnelling corridors (unless if it makes sense like in a submarine). There are no scripted weapon sections where an empowering weapon is given to you to take down a boss and is never used again.
Weapons GIF
Shotgun shrapnel GIF
All the weapons have alt-fire modes which makes for experimenting even if the game will explain the enemies weaknesses usually. There's a great kick to them helped by the boom and echo from the audio design that leaves an impact when it's all over. There arent really any bullet sponge enemies, even the heavies like the Shotgun Shrapnel, Heavy Robot, and Supersoldaten can be taken down by a few rockets, grenades, or charged LKW shots and are much weaker in the back (shrapnel dude can be taken down by two shotgun shots in the back!).
Why are the hit markers even worth bringing up?
Thats because the game already has top-notch hit feedback on the enemies when you shoot them and they display localised body reactions with dismemberment [GIF], decapitation [GIF], and sweet sweet gibs [GIF] glory. You dont need a letter popping up on someones body to tell you if theyve gone down, because they arent bullet sponges or indistinguishable against the environment.
Why bother with most of this stuff when you could just play it like CoD? That might be because the enemy AI is really good. They wont charge at you like mindless cronies. They like to hang back and call others to flank you (this is all in German, too). If youre hiding behind cover whack-a-moleing them one by one like a shooting gallery, theyll flush you out with grenades or surprise you from the sides. Aiming down sights will make you a stationary target which you dont really want with such aggressive Nazis. Even at the start of Chapter 14 in Return to London Nautica where you crash land via rope and Syndicate-style enemy takedown with not much of a weapon cache while being absolutely hammered via an ambush of a shotgun shrapnel dude and ten other enemies, its still advisable to move around. This thinking extends to the few boss fights that there are, too, where you're encouraged to use all your weapons.
On top of that, the stealth is fun to pull off thanks to the god-tier pistol (one of the best ever in a videogame and even gets a makeover in a certain location) and throwing knives.
In many sections, youll have a chance to go stealth with taking down any commanders in the area who are the only ones to set off the alarm for reinforcements. My way was to take out the commanders first, and then go dual-wielding on the town with the rest of them.
I nearly forgot to mention there is a destruction system! Yeah, most of the wood/concrete [GIF] and metal grates [GIF] can be shot off too with the Laserkraftwerk, which is great in rattling out the few stranglers of enemies but also nail-biting when youre on the receiving end of giant turret wielding Supersoldaten or heavy robots wrecking up all your cover giving even more impetus to not be pinned down in one spot.
The fact that they pulled all of this off with nary a hitch in a big-budget, massively marketed shooter amongst a sea of risk-averse design is commendable. Its the kind of risk taking that makes other developers not as wary in wanting to mix up the formula. Remarkable even, when all those disparate elements that other smaller games do only a few things of, are compiled here in not just the best-of-hits but also comes into a refreshing whole where even slideshooting dual auto shotguns hasnt been quite done before.
Legs are like jelly. Fingers feel numb. Mother of all headaches.
Im not a diehard elitist when it comes to a certain brand of storytelling, but I do prefer when you cant get everything from just a youtube playthrough. I like when not everything can be gleaned from just watching the cutscene library or listening to audio diaries or reading some supplemental materials. Remedys games (Max Payne 1 and 2, Alan Wake) are my absolute favourite mould where you still have dramatic cinematics but also theres enough detail in the environment or through character interactions and pulpy noir inner monologues while youre playing the game. Theres always something happening in your periphery. I feel this is how the influence of adventure games have carried on to qualify some games as truly action adventures. Which is all present in Wolfenstein: The New Order and what Machinegames set out to make.
NPCs talk to each other. About various things. This is no more evident than in a very Riddick-like level. They even talk about you if youre far away but will stop if you come near them. You can come up to a character multiple times and theyll acknowledge your annoying existence with varying lines of dialogue.
The environments are bolstered by stellar art direction as they are varied and a visual delight through varying mood colour palettes.
The best compliment I can give about the world building is that it feels like this actually happened. A world ruled by Nazis isnt just detailed in newspaper clippings that range from really interesting alternate history to straight up hilarity like the death of fish and chips in the UK or the existence of the crocoduck. They even go to the detail of how the technology on the dogs changes through the years. There are difficult, mature themes that are brought up too. An overarching theme is of old warriors being unfit for a new world of evil presented through the older characters of BJ Blazkowicz and Fergus Reid, much like No Country For Old Men. In the other timeline, there is racism (spoilers) brought up with the character of J (you can tell which real life person this is based off). Blazko has to deal with keeping up hope in such a bleak and unrelenting world as his allies die off over the decades.
Machinegames could have avoided the elephant in the room,
which is depicting a concentration camp
I love when enemies converse with each other. Its not a new thing at all, been in games since Thief and No One Lives Forever. Nevertheless, its an appreciable method that shows developers deeply care about how the world is relayed to the player. It characterises the cannon fodder with some humanity and hands you some regret when you have to murder them in the most brutal of ways. Previous Starbreeze games also had enemy conversations (ex: The Darkness enemy conversation, Riddick: Fucktoy conversation), and here my highlights were the heartfelt one about a commanders pregnant wife and the hilarious one about fighting a concrete-induced cough with lemon coffee. One of the best has to be when you can pick up a phone and hear someone shit all over this Muller dude.
Even with the more predictable ways of environmental storytelling, theres only one set of audio diaries and its absolutely crucial to figure something about one of the main characters. There are newspaper clippings that not only expand on how the whole world is affected by Nazi rule with some funny highlights like the death of fish and chips in the UK, but they also detail your exploits from previous missions just like Hitman Blood Money. Heck, I learned so much German just from the loading screens. The game even gets down to the meta detail of berating you for quitting the game.
Starbreeze was employing performance capture before Naughty Dog was being praised for it. Since Riddick, the performances and voice acting in their games have been top-notch and nothing is changed with Machinegames and this new Wolfenstein. You will believe heart, charm, and vulnerability can be given to BJ Blazkowicz, who was just a musclebound action hero face in the original game. He isnt infallible as other characters will berate him for his physique or intellect like Tekla and thats done in a poignant way with J to make a point.
Nearly every single character is interesting and memorable in their own way. The villains are chilling and charismatic. Ive mentioned it elsewhere, the four main female characters (Caroline, Anya, Tekla, Frau Engel) are pretty great too. Unlikely relationships are built between allies like between Max Hass and Klaus (father-son like), Wyatt and J (they both love music), Fergus (greatest Scottish character in a videogame) and Tekla, Anya and Blazko (most naturally presented romance in a game), or Set Roth and Caroline. Its all backed up by faultless voice acting from top to bottom (even the enemies shouting in German).
You call me Deathshead, I don't like it. I'm a happy man, you see?
Due to how rare it is to go for a multi-varied tone in videogames as opposed to films, I guess some critics find the game to be tonally inconsistent. Ive said my piece here where I vehemently disagree as its evident that the game is going for a blackly comic tone and was present in the (excellent) marketing too from the trailers. It was brought up in that interview with Jens Matthies and Patrick Klepek that people should check out. This whole Nazis ruling the world premise is a black comedy, it is surreal. You need to let the edge off or then youd fall into a pit of despair and confusion. Im glad the game isnt po-faced like other shooters or just a farce so you cant take it seriously.
My few criticisms would be that Anya
doesn't show her true badass self that is described in the audio diaries
moon
In conclusion, Wolfenstein: The New Order is a lovingly crafted game made with a ton of heart and charm that I feel will have legs as more and more people try it out. Its not radically innovative or revolutionary, but it does so many things to stand out in the current landscape that it doesnt have to be. A brutal and charming adventure that doesnt pull any punches but knows when to be light-hearted. The combat design and shooting mechanics are liberating while being supported by tough AI and fantastic weapons to shoot at them with, in more expansive levels that encourage exploration. Meanwhile, excellent storytelling through fantastic characters and the environment is happening all around you, rather than at you. Also, has one of the best soundtracks in a game with some of the most hard-hitting rock and metal with touches of industrial music that gets your blood pumping to fight for the resistance. It brings the best of the old and the new. Its exactly what people who complain about modern shooters should play, to see its not all doom-and-gloom. Personally, it has set a new standard in shooters. Its one of the best shooters Ive played. If you want a game in the vein of Half Life 2, FEAR, Metro Last Light, Remedy games, Bulletstorm/Painkiller/Shadow Warrior, check it out.
Read all that and havent picked up Wolfenstein The New Order yet?
Snap out of it, and get to shootin, stabbin, stranglin some Nazis!
