Wolfenstein the New Order Review: Painting the Town Red
In movies there are classic
colossal action heroes such as Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis. In video
games we also have our fair share of testosterone built men of action including
Duke Nukem, Doom Guy and Bj Blazkowicz. Just like the revival of the original
action heroes seen in the Expendables it seems Bj Blazkowicz is back to show
the video game industry how to really clear a room out of enemies; only leaving
stains of blood where soldiers of hatred once stood.
The story is surprisingly
deep, taking place in a very interesting alternative time line where the Nazis
won the war and are now ruling the earth with an iron fist. After awaking up
from a 14 year coma this definitely doesn’t sit well with Blazkowicz and with
the resistance you strive to take down the Nazis, obliterating any enemy forces
that have the unfortunate luck of being in your sight.
And when I say obliterate, I
mean obliterate. This game definitely earns its 18 rating with gallons of blood
protruding from every hit you deal on your menacing and sometimes gigantic foes.
From intense gun battles to literally gut wrenching knife attacks; your impact
on the world around you is completely unfiltered and presented on screen.
However the gore is not only used for the players satisfaction when landing a
well placed head shot but is also used to the stories benefit; showing the
shocking horrors the enemy commits creating some really emotional scenes within
the campaign giving you a really strong motivation to progress through the
game.
Also helping make the games
story so intriguing are the notes that you can find and read throughout the
game that give a lot of back-story to the events happening around you, giving
the story a unique richness that many other story driven shooters lack.
But sadly some of the cut
scenes did not capitalise on the great story at hand as some had weirdly fast
and disjointed paces and also seemed to stop abruptly; cutting music off or
finishing just before the last syllable of the closing line of the scene. This
often took me out of the experience, reminding me that I was just playing a
game instead of the absorbed state I was in only moments ago.
Also what hindered the
development of the very interesting story on hand for me was the annoyingly
whispered inter-monologue that Blazkowicz has throughout the game; either mid
mission to tell the player Blazkowicz feelings on the present situation or to
give more depth to a montage in a cut scene. This ruined most character and
sometimes even story development for me because not only could I not fully hear
what was being said over the background music but also because of the constant,
unchanging tone of his voice in these sequences he always seemed emotionless,
simply citing the words instead of the usual great performance by the voice
actor that was on show throughout the rest of the cut scenes where he was
participating in actual dialogue.
What made this even more
frustrating was that the characters of the game were actually very interesting
too. From the Resistance members who had all hope ripped from them but are
still fighting the good fight for the future that should have been, to the
especially evil and poisonous enemies that you have to come face to face to, to
vanquish in the hopes of making the world a slightly better place. Thankfully
the game recognises the potential in the characters and when playing the
sections in the safe house you get the unique opportunity to interact and build
a deeper connection to the characters, helping to create a real emotional back
bone to the story that really helps to drive you through the game, especially
in the intense closing chapters of the game.
These sections of the game
allowed for a great pace in the campaign, giving you down time so the game
wasn’t just a constant stream of screaming gun fire and destruction which if
non stop could have become tiresome after the first few hours of gameplay. What
also helped this pace was the option for a stealth approach. While this technique
is not as fleshed out as the core gun play it gives a good amount of variety
and challenge to sequences in the game that could have just been a straight
forward gun fight. Also this play style when correctly executed brings a great
amount of pride to the player as you are able to take down a whole room of
Nazis without having to shoot a single bullet.
However when the bullets do
start to fire, ricocheting off the wall you are taking cover by, the game
really does shine and become an absolute blast. The core gameplay is not only
enjoyable to use but is fluent as well; allowing you to take full control of
the badass Blazkowicz as you peer around corners, slide into cover and even
dual wield massive weapons of destruction. All this makes you feel like a real
badass as you brutally cut down you enemies, a la the terminator.
What makes this combat even
more fun was the awesome assortment of weapons on offer. As Blazkowicz you can
carry many weapons including a rifle that doubles as a laser cannon, a grenade
launching assault rifle, and a futuristic laser gun, just to name a few. These
innovative weapons give you a wealth of ways to take down your enemies and make
you really feel like a badass as you wield these powerful and destructive
machines.
And they are definitely
needed as this game is one of the hardest games I have played in a while.
Unlike other shooters where you can blunder in and out of a room relatively
unscathed in Wolfenstein you need to be aware of every enemy in the room, where
their weak points are, and where a secondary point of cover is. This is
definitely a game where you can become very frustrated very quickly with almost
no regenerating health and enemy types that take a lot to take down but only
need one or two shots on you for the very frequently appearing game animation
and screen to activate; there is a lot to overcome to free the world from this
tyranny but I enjoyed and welcomed the challenge.
However through all the good
points of the gameplay being offered up in this game there are some cons to the
experience. Such as the system incorporated to picking up items and ammo. To do
this you need to press square when over the object. However in a heated battle,
with no time to stop and fastly diminishing supplies I would often miss where
the ammo was and have to go back. Then I would still miss the item and start
reloading as both functions are mapped to the same button; costing me precious
time on the battlefield and leaving me open to any grievous attack the enemy
forces want to lay on me. This irritating system that left me simply spamming
the square button and picking up anything I found even if irrelevant could have
easily been avoided by incorporating the common system in use now of automatic
pick-ups seen in many games such as the Call of Duty franchise.
On the other hand another
strength of this game is the great locals you get to shoot, explode, and
generally create havoc through. There is a tremendous variety to the places
your mission to take down the Nazi rule takes you, without spoiling any of the
various mission locations there are some really hard hitting locations but also
fantastical terrains that just shout out awesome. And all show heavy aspects of
a unique Nazi alternate history style that make them even more interesting.
However while on the majority the locals are a joy to tread through some can
become a bit samey with each corridor feeling like the last with the same dull
lighting, thankfully this is only on a few of the missions and especially isn’t
a problem in the final hours of the campaign.
Now while the design is sometimes
astonishing the graphics are never on a level to fully or impressively convey
this. While the aesthetics of the game are in no way bad, with character models
and animations being well devised and fluid, nothing really made my eyes pop or
invite me to stop and just simply gaze out at a visually spectacular world like
in past games such as Killzone Shadow Fall. Instead some of the sceneries
seemed flat and some textures seemed basic and not in-depth making the world
less immersive and encapsulating. This may be because this game both comes out
on the last generation and this one, meaning the developer may have had to
scale back for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions making this compromise completely understandable.
However it is definitely a more noticeable con on the newer systems when
stacked up against the other shooters available on the market.
Overall this is a very fun,
brutal, and interesting shooter with a lot more depth and challenge than I ever
expected but gladly welcomed with the exception of a few minor problems that
only slightly hinder the experience.
Wolfenstein the New Order =
7/10
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