Wolfenstein The New Order Review

Developer Machine Games

Publisher Bethesda

Platform Gen 3, Gen 4 & PC

Release Date 20th May 2014.

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Yes we are a little late to the party, for some inexplicable reason and to my utter shame I have only gotten around to finishing Wolfenstein The New Order this week, I don’t know why it took so long as it is one of the finest shooters I’ve played in a decade. Machine Games have taken the essence of an old school 90’s shooter and modernized it without losing what made that genre great and without relying on nostalgia alone.

The game opens up in 1946 as William BJ Blazkowicz leads a team on an assault on his old nemesis Deathshead’s fortress. This section acts as a prelude to the main story, without spoiling anything major Blazkowicz is left in a coma after that raid and for the next fourteen years he remains in a vegetative state in a Polish hospital.

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As you go on to discover when he wakes up in 1960 the world is very different. The Nazi’s went on to win the war and have taken over. Cities like London are now unrecognizable as Nazi strongholds with massive concrete structures, Nazi flags, and booming propaganda from loudspeakers. Although the Nazi’s have made huge advances in technology this is still the 60’s so it hasn’t gotten too futuristic, and here is where Machine Games have done a great job. Everything despite being crazy is still kind of plausible, they have just gone big and heavy rather than silly which fits the time. Soldiers are now heavily armored with metal plates, and although robotic guards now patrol the streets they are still kind of believable as big clunky basic machines running on simple programs.

There is no occult nonsense, no teleporting or anything even close to that. The harder enemies are simply bigger and with more metal around them. This offers variety to the enemies, allows them to create incredibly crazy scenarios, and keep it all as close to the realms of reality as you can expect from an alternative history storyline.

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Gameplay is really solid, weapons feel heavy and you really feel like you are shooting a big gun. Of course they have kept to their traditional roots and kept things like dual wielding assault rifles, and the ability to carry all the guns and ammo you can pick up. Here is another throw back to the 90’s you need to physically pick up the ammo, health packs and weapons by pressing an actual button, you can’t just run over them. Health doesn’t regenerate fully so if you are hurt you need to go and find a health pack you can’t just hide or pull one from your inventory.

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They use a very good cover system, hiding behind structures and using the ALT key allows you to peak out and get off a few shots rather than just having a straight up fire fight. They have added some variety to the combat by allowing and encouraging some stealth. Creeping around unnoticed allows you to clear rooms without setting off alarms. When you enter an area you will see a distance to a “signal” appear. This shows you how far away a commander is, but without giving his location away. You need to hunt him down and dispatch him before he can call for reinforcements.

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The missions offer a lot of variety too, stealth missions, corridor missions, open spaces, under water, missions to the moon! It has it all. For a game that offers 20ish hours of gameplay it is refreshingly varied. I never felt like I was playing the same level with a new layout. Everything felt like it was new and that I was advancing through a story not just clocking up kills until the end.

The story and character development comes as the biggest surprise, it is really engaging and heartfelt while still being silly and over the top. It is incredible that they could get this balance so right. There are moments of genuine sorrow mixed with moments of hilarity and of course the silliness that comes from exploding Nazi’s into a pile of blood and guts with a rocket launcher. Blazkowicz’s inner monologue is hilarious, he is a man from a different era “built to kill Nazi’s and then kill some more”, but this wasn’t enough just to have a dumb killing machine. The studio wanted to develop his character and they do a great job of bringing out his humanity and making you really care about him.

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Overall: There is no multiplayer which might seem unusual in this day and age but the studio said they wanted to just make a really good single player shooter and they did just that. They have taken what was great about 90’s shooters and modernized it. It really feels like a brand new game and an old game at the same time, using the best of both worlds they have created something special. It is new but it knows where it came from, and isn’t ashamed of its history (I found the dream sequence particularly funny).

We can’t recommend this title enough. If you like good games, good old fashioned shooters, and shooting Nazi’s, then you need this game.

SCORE 5/5

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