olfenstein: The New Saga
Old Blood - Game 32
I've wanted to play the Wolfenstein series for a while now. But as I usually do, I decided to wait for a sequel to release and play them back to back. Starting chronologically Old Blood was first cab of the rank. I'll be honest I was a bit underwhelmed at first. I'd heard so much about the story of New Order, and that's entirely absent in Old Blood. The title was released as a gameplay focused homage to the original game (only game where you go back to Castle Wolfenstein) and nothing more.
The locale is very cool. Old towns straight out of a stereotypical Bavarian Disney European setting. Castle Wolfenstein is omnipresent and overshadowing, visible everywhere and reminding all of the all seeing all encompassing mega-power. As was the intent with Nazi architecture in real life.... Frankenstein monstrosities stalk the halls of the castles and their Nazi masters follow.
Lack of story withstanding, the gameplay quickly won my over. It is best described as Nazi killing bloody akimbo fun. From the bottomless pit with a weapon, to dual wielding assault rifles, to medkits and over health. The game feels like an old school romp. At the same time the option to use stealth added a modernized touch and the double barrel farmhouse shotgun was a nice return too.
The music is amazing. Mick Gordon at it's finest. And the sound effects are brutally satisfying. Every weapon feels unique and impactful. All together creating a symphony of destruction focused into a weapon of singular purpose: Putting bullets in Nazis. The gameplay and everything around it just feels good, it's brutal, impactful, and satisfying to see Nazi heads pop. I'm not sure what else you'd want in a Wolfenstein and at no point in this game or any of the sequels did it feel tired....
New Order - Game 33
...and as a result, I picked up the New Order instantly. Well, the gameplay hasn't really changed much here (Old Blood was an expansion to New Order). So what's different? Old Blood had minimal story, but the ending sets up the next game in the same way that Star Wars: Rogue One sets up A New Hope. After infiltrating Castle Wolfenstein, you have the plans to take down the Frankenstein craftsman. You B-line it to Deathshead complex, home to the greatest scientists and researchers, creators of the Nazi's most powerful weapons.
The New Order beings here. You assault the complex aboard a plane in a well crafted spectacle. The strength of the Nazi order is unquestionable. Only your wits, courage and luck give you a fighting chance against the mechanized maws of giant cyber hounds stalking beachhead. Not long after infiltration William J. Blazkowicz is trapped. Deathshead gives him a choice; he must choose between his two brothers in arms; fan favourite Scotsman Fergus or the rookie American soldier Wyatt. Though I liked Fergus more, I chose Wyatt because I felt like BJ would save the younger man, and Fergus would want him to do so. And I'm glad I did (as we'll discuss later). Deathshead extracts Fergus brain in a typical horrifying Nazi fashion and leaves you to die in a furnace.... Nazi's and their furnaces..... You manage to escape with Wyatt, but not before taking some shrapnel to the head and falling out of the fortress and into the ocean.
Time passes as you're recovered, brain damaged and nursed in an asylum. 14 years pass. This highlights just how damn good the cutscenes are. A scene that goes for more than 6 minutes and I enjoyed every second of it. It establishes just how evil the Nazi's of the New Order are, taking asylum patients as fodder for their terrible experiments. When they have no more use for farming their patients they kill the doctors and burn it all to the ground.
The characters are very well crafted: Like Anya, a nurse you save from Nazi's after they kill her parent. They do a great job of making you invested in their story, it gives you as BJ motivation. Anya helps smuggle you and break out your old buddy Wyatt from a prison and vive la révolution ensues. The cast generally speaking is interesting. From the Jimi Hendrix guitar playing artists who makes love, not war. To Max, the strong dimwit and his adoptive father Kraus. And Irene Engel, a sadistic and loyal leader of the Nazi regime. Deathshead is a fantastic antagonist to match BJ, outwitting the resistance at many turns and when finally backed into a corner uses technology to combat BJ's martial prowess in a fantastic boss fight. In a twist no one saw coming he takes Fergus brain and implant it in a mech. Clear homage to the mech fight with Hitler in the original. It fit the well crafted story and felt like a a good mix between acradey and modern boss fight, just like the rest of the game. The fact that I liked Fergus made that final fight so much more impactful. The final fight felt so.... guerilla. At first the mech overwhelms you. And you can't help but shy from cover as you attempt to crawl to two giant artillery cannons. After firing these at Deathshead personal mech... yup he had his own this entire time as you find out after killing Fergus... you summon lightning to weaken his defences. At this point you fall into an industrial arena of fiery death and fight him the old-school way. Bullet for bullet, blood for blood, dust to dust.
The setting is certainly a highlight. The New Order is felt everywhere in everyone, as it paves the way in an unfamiliar, alien and technologically advanced occupied America. This is at it's most prominent in the Lunar Base mission. After you infiltrate the Nazi base on the moon - it feels so much more advanced then what we know, while at the same time old. Nazi's wear old school astronaut space suits. This highlights the general concept of New Order. New but old. Laser weapons with charge packs are found here. And eventually you find yourself moon jumping on the surface as you shoot other Zero G assailants. After getting what you need this is culminates in hijacking a shuttle and rocketing back into a bridge on the surface. Emerging from the wreckage, shotgun in each hand, fighting your way through thick waves of Nazis. This is The New Order.
New Colossus - Game 34
So the gameplay is still great. Dual wielding any weapon is awesome. Upgrading those weapons with unique skill trees is so fun. The Da'at Yichud Power Suit (ancient armour from a secret Hebrew order, of course, the Nazi's eternal enemy) adds an interesting dynamic that was alien at first but I appreciated in how it mixed up a by now, very familiar formula. With 200 armour and 50 health not being able to rely on health regenerating to the nearest 25 was a welcome and challenging change that made me rethink how I approached combat. The world building is enjoyable and is a little more open. You can often walk around areas that are occupied with citizens, with no combat. These feel great for pacing and do a good job immersing you, by giving you a peak into the lives of the citizens living in this world. I loved reading pamphlets which I would otherwise ignore in most shooters.
Sadly this doesn't hold up as the story becomes overbearing. The overworld while interesting, in the form of a giant flying home base ship, becomes irrelevant as I begin to ignore most the side missions. A lot of which repeat story based missions anyway. There seems to be a push to make things more open in games, with more filler content to pump up that playtime number and the content suffers as a result. Young Blood the most recent release is the perfect example of that, all filler no substance. It's really saddening to see watered down versions of these games release and the more I see it the more I detest open-world checkbox games that don't respect your time. Ingel, replacing Deathshead as the new villain is threatening at first, but just becomes a generic psycho. A rabid dog for you to inevitably put down. The ending becomes resistance for the new world, a world of diversity and all things overtly socialist tying it back to a modern left wing and equal society. A proactive if not melodramatic message.
Don't get me wrong. There are certainly highlights. The characters performances are very good. The afro chick and her nerdy conspiracist husband leading the American resistance are cool. When this nerd puts a gun to BJs head you think he's nuts and he's about to die - but he breaks character, nah, he's just joking. The characters are real - they have unique personalities. Anya is still great. She has an amazing pregnant scene, akimbo gunning down Nazi's which is just... Wolfenstein. The conversations on the ship are great. And dim-witted Max somehow beating the Jewish expert researcher at chess was a charmingly enjoyable sight. Auditioning for Terror Billy in a movie directed by Hilter is up there for best moments in the game. Seeing Hitler up close in the game and optionally killing him, which results in an instant lose state, was a fantastic easter egg. Our titular protagonist is also fleshed out even more. His abusive father that he ran away from to join the army is introduced. After returning to his old home BJ finds his father waiting for him, he sold him and his Jewish mother out. In self-defence and years of contempt, he kills his father. But Ingrel isn't far behind, alerted by his father, and tears his house from the ground. An amazing scene as you float in the air amongst the wreckage of an old west house. This leads to BJ eventually being captured. He's put in a kangaroo court. And in his utter rage breaks the change, takes a Nazi gun and fights his way out. This was my favourite sequence in the entire game. Pure. Rage. The anger felt at both what you as the character is going through and the difficulty of it all was the best part of the game. You feel like a true ancestor of the Doom Slayer. You escape and find your captured mother and.... oh. It's all a dream sequence. Well that's cool.. oh BJ just had his head cut off. What now? Oh they captured his head and attached him to another body. He's no longer a cripple and has full health. Oh you can augment the body now. The story went a bit off the rails towards the end and this is highlighted by the final boss with Ingel. It's simply Tomahawak rushing her with an axe, followed by a HOO RAH GO AMERICA broadcast to cap it all off. I would have preferred the dream sequence to be real instead as BJ fights his way up the Nazi hierarchy, bullet for bullet, blood for blood, dust for dust. Just as Wolfenstein should be. Gameplay: Phenomenal. World: Phenomenal. Story: Dud.
