Wolfenstein: The New Order

By: Robert Murphy

There is hardly anyone in the world of gaming that hasn’t at one time or another heard the name Wolfenstein and frankly that’s the way it should be for it’s an iconic part of gaming culture and guess what? There’s another one out and I got my hands on it. Imagine where the world would be without Nazis in video gaming culture, we owe them quite a lot and the question has been asked thousands of times by people and that question is, what would happen if the Nazis won World War 2? Well in Wolfenstein: The New Order we find out what would happen, if not in a somewhat ridiculously awesome way that it is well known for. This time around the Nazis completely took over the entire world as the Nazi war machine just kept going and going never stopping until it had complete domination of everything. The only hope of resistance comes from the franchises BJ Blazcowicz who loves to kill Nazis and does a good job doing it, which is good because the world is in dire need of saving and Nazi killing.

The first part of the game takes a flashback to an early attack on General Deathshead’s super villain style castle; this serves as an introduction to the game and sets the wheels in motion for the entire game. Once this is complete we fast-forward 14 years into the future, it’s 1960, the war is over and you have been in a vegetable like state the whole time and awaken to this hellish nightmare where Germans are absolutely everywhere and run everything. While this is a scary thing to imagine it is exceedingly interesting to look at, developers at Machinegames spare no expense at changing little things in the world in funny ways like making The Beetles into a German supporting alternate and so on. They also hit the major big ones such as the giant cities made by the Germans and the grotesque creation they made such as the Nazi Supersoliders or German Shepards with robotic exosuits attached to them. It’s ridiculous but so ridiculous that it works, the thought of giant building sized robots coming into battle or tiger like robots hunting you in suspenseful chase scenes, it’s all out there but I love it. The story itself is a very solid piece of work compared to previous games; the writing for instance is very compelling. Blazcowicz may have been known only for being a Nazi killing machine before but now he receives more depth as a character and becomes far more relatable especially with his relationships. He receives a very interesting love interest this time around along with some fellow rebels against the Reich who are just as appealing such as Caroline Becker, a former friend in the war before you disappeared and who unlike you hasn’t aged as well.

Wolfenstein: The New Order runs very smoothly as a first person shooter as well, it may not feature anything revolutionary when it comes to a FPS but it is very solid. You receive the standard weaponry in the game such as assault rifles, pistols and knives but you also get your hands on some of the crazy weaponry developed by the Nazis in the future. Automatic shotguns, tesla grenades and a lazer rifle are some of the things you’ll get your hands on and it’s really interesting to see the concepts behind future technology the Germans may have developed. From here we also see the addition of a dual wielding feature, while this is nice and fun at times, it can be a little impractical as it is hard to move with both weapons and in a high stress gun fight it causes more harm than good. A particularly enjoyable element to the game was the stealth, I could go around dual wielding knives and chucking them at my enemies and I felt like a ninja but it is where I noticed how dumb your AI enemies can be. One point in the game I was down a hallway and turned around to find a patrolling guard at the other end and even though a bat could have scene me, he for some reason continued on his merry way. The AI can be a bit dumb and this may have been because the game has never been one for stealth so they cut you a break here and there but if I were a Nazi I’d think I’d notice if I walked over one of my friends and he had a knife in his head, that’s just me.

What is an enjoyable change up for Wolfenstein: The New Order is the skill tree mechanics you will come across. Rather than you building up XP or earning skill points, you earn new skills buy doing various things in the game, many of which involve you killing Nazis in a variety of ways. You want more knives to throw at your enemies? Start sneaking around and assassinating people, want faster reloading whiles your dual wielding? Then start @#$%ing things up with two shotguns in your hands. It all boils down to you getting out into the game and doing these things and you know it felt like I was earning them rather than just buying them at the upgrade store which was really quite nice.

The Wolfenstein games have always made history with it’s take on World War 2 and the Nazi regime, it’s a cut above the rest when you think about other alternate universe type of games that have tried and failed. With Wolfenstein: The New Order though things get even better for the franchise in terms of it’s well crafted story and much more enjoyable and relatable characters. Blazcowicz isn’t just a mindless potato headed Nazi killing machine anymore; he receives real depth and becomes a much more appealing main character to play as. And while the world that comes out of the Nazi regime is completely ridiculous it somehow doesn’t feel so far fetched, we see many things that the Nazis did actually take part in such as human experimentation and the heinous camps where they rounded up the mentally challenged and more, it can be very gripping at times making for a Wolfenstein that is the best its ever been.  

Good:

- Blazcowicz and other characters are compelling and well done

- The story is stellar for a game that could simply be a mindless Nazi killer, it’s surprisingly good

- Another stellar Wolfenstein adaptation on what would of happened if the Nazis won the war

Bad:

- Dual wielding while interesting is pointless and impairing

- AI can be a bit dumbed down when it comes to not seeing you in plain sight

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10