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Nukid101's Wolfenstein: The New Order Review

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2014 has provided some nice surprises so far. A sequel to 300 didn’t suck, True Detectives managed to blow peoples’ minds with its first season already, and a film about LEGO somehow becoming one of the most engrossing and intelligent films in the past few years.

Today, I would like to talk about another nice surprise; Wolfenstein: The New Order.

Being a modern instalment of an old FPS franchise – and the collective ‘meh’ the 2009 Wolfenstein game received – I was not expecting much at all from this game, but boy was I wrong. The New Order is an absolute treat with both its narrative and its gameplay, and while by no means perfect, this little FPS shooter is one of the shiny examples of its genre amongst a pool of mediocrity.

Why is that exactly? Let’s find out in this review of Wolfenstein: The New Order!




Nukid101’s Wolfenstein: The New Order Review



There are certain types of enemies in video games which you can kill without fear of it feeling wrong or making the player feel uncomfortable. These are Zombies, invading Aliens, and of course the Nazis. With World War II being the – more or less – last true ‘good vs evil’ war our world has had and the biggest war in history, it’s no surprise that the fiction has constantly gone back to that period. It is really the only place that things like American bravado and its ultra patriotism won’t come off as jingoistic, corrupt and annoying.

Well....less annoying at least.

Conversely then, the Nazi’s are the very few human enemies who you can slaughter by the thousands and likely feel totally okay doing so. I’m sure we all know deep down that not all Nazi soldiers were bad people, but in video games that uniform and the gratuitously angry accent represent the last unambiguously evil force we had to deal with, so killing Nazi’s will never feel ‘wrong’ because of it. It’s also because of this that a lot of WWII games don’t go out of their way much to demonize the Nazi’s, because they simply don’t need to. All they need to do is show us the Nazis, and we know what needs to be done.

The New Order could’ve easily taken this shortcut, but to my immense pleasure – and sickening horror – the game does not.

The first half of this game...frankly, has some of the darkest stuff I’ve seen a video game in a long time. The New Order is unreserved in showing some of the acts of mass atrocities that occurred under the Nazi regime. Disabled patients in hospitals are either taken away from their beds for experimentation or shot where they lay as the staff can only watch helplessly. Incomprehensible tests are used to single out ‘inferior’ races, and we are forced to watch firsthand what is like to be in a Nazi death camp.

Oh, and during these moments? Control is taken almost completely away from you. You – the player – are forced to watch these acts of horror through B.J.’s eyes and feel his helplessness.

While the 1960s setting wasn’t quite as explored as I may’ve liked – a lot of it is relegated to news clippings – it does give a sense of dread when you think about this setting. The game does not shy away from showing that if the Nazi’s had won and taken over the world, it would’ve been horrific; truly hell on earth, and that is truly seen through the games protagonists. The resistance members are all worn out, clinging to what sanity and comfort they can find to survive in this maddening world. One dedicates himself to his music, another adopts a mentally disabled member and treats him like a son. B.J. himself is shown to be traumatised and exhausted, and the comfort he receives from his former nurse Anna makes for one of the more genuine romances I’ve seen a video game.

After a while the game admittedly settles into the more formulaic ‘Nazi Sci-Fi’ story we’ve all seen before, which is nothing new but fun in its own silly way. What I DO take issue with however is a certain plot point that I must reveal in order to explain. At one point it’s revealed that there is hidden technology left by a Jewish Illuminati-like group that supposedly once controlled the world.

That...has some very nasty implications. Not only is it also clichéd and offensive, but consider this; it was conspiracies like this that further encouraged the Nazi persecution of the Jewish. I’m NOT saying the game tries to justify what the Nazi’s did to the Jewish, I’m just pointing out a certain plot point that was obviously put there a bit carelessly by the developers.

As a game released on the current gen consoles, The New Order won’t stun people. There probably isn’t a lot of difference between the PS3 or the PS4 versions, but everything about the game is done impressively enough to get the games story and gameplay across. The design certainly helps set the mood damn well, and the music was rather low-key and subtle, which the game needed. The voice acting is also rather low-key, but with some damn fine performances. Brian Bloom’s performance as B.J. is the standout of the game; much of his dialogue is spoken as painful, sad whispers and he perfectly portrayed the characters exhaustion and sadness. In short, everything is done to an impressive degree, just don’t expect to be blown away.

Well now, I’ve rambled on about the narrative and design, what about the gameplay? Well, contrary to the grim story of this game, Wolfenstein: The New Order’s gameplay is balls to the wall fun.

Contrary to the futile attempts at ‘realism’ in much of the Modern Shooter FPS genre, Wolfenstein does not hesitate to deny plausibility and let you hold a Shotgun in each hand, rampaging through hordes of enemies without a single moment needed for cover. While the game admittedly does little new, it aims instead to be the most polished and fun as it can be. There is an undeniable pleasure in being able to dual wield two two-handed weapons and plough through enemies, with more than half a dozen alternate weapons in your disposal if you run out of ammo.

If storming through each area isn’t your style however, The New Order offers alternate possibilities. For example you can use either your knife or your silencer pistol to stealth kill your enemies one by one, all of which functions perfectly fine. Better yet, the game offers upgrades in the form of skill trees that are achieved by completing certain actions. For example, stealth killing a certain amount of Nazi’s will improve your Stealth skill tree, whilst killing dozens whilst dual wielding will increase its respective skill tree.

Regardless of your choice, the game encourages exploration with its decently meaty areas, along with several environmental puzzles that momentarily break up all of the action. If I do have a significant complaint, it’s that the enemy variation isn’t the best. Towards the end of the game you’ll have seen pretty much all of the enemy types – barring boss fights – and this does hinder how long the player may stay engrossed with the game. Like any shooter, eventually player engagement will slowly be lost, and while the game is fun to play for the majority of it, it will become rather samey towards the end.

Despite that though...everything about this game feels like a rebuttal to the stagnation the FPS genre has been in for a while. It has a story that forces you to re-examine the Nazi’s place in media, a game that offers choice and encourages exploration, and a complete disregard for realism or many of the conventions associated with the Modern Military shooter. While far from perfect, everything about this game feels like a wakeup call for the genre, something Bioshock Infinite did last year. Both games are reminders of just what a strong, engaging narrative, player choice in gameplay and a simple desire to let the player have fun can accomplish.

As it stands, this is my favourite shooter of 2014, and one of the best surprises of it too. I recommend this game, even if you’ve never played a previous Wolfenstein game before (like me). It’s one of those times where the words ‘fun’ and ‘thought-provoking’ can be both used to described something.
Enjoy!
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RickUniverse34's avatar
Glad there's someone out there who took time to make a fair review of this amazing game! Good job!