Game Review: Wolfenstein - The New Order
Preliminary development on Wolfenstein: The New Order began around 2010, with MachineGames taking around 3 years to develop the game. The studio was keen to revitalize the franchise in such a way that it would feel instantly recognizable for old-time fans but offer enough new and exciting ideas that would hopefully draw in potential newcomers as well. Utilizing the id Tech 5 engine, which was id Software’s proprietary game engine at the time, the developer was able to build and render the games visuals and environments to scale while also being able to deliver the fast-paced and challenging gameplay that was a key part of the franchises blueprint. Wolfenstein: The New Order was released on May 20th 2014 across PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC; serving as a cross-gen title. Upon release, the game aggregated a respectable 82 average on OpenCritic. On the sales end I couldn’t find anything too concrete in terms of sources, but the game was touted as one of the best-selling games in the UK soon after it released.
The story of Wolfenstein: The New Order takes place in an alternative history in which Nazi Germany won World War II and subsequently took over the world. The main character is William Joseph "B.J." Blazkowicz, a captain in the U.S army who in the final days of the war takes a daring mission to infiltrate the fortress of the Nazi’s infamous inventor General Deathshead and kill him. Despite their best efforts however, Blazkowicz and his squad end up failing in their mission and Blazkowicz ends up losing 14 years of his life in a psychiatric asylum after suffering brain damage in his failed mission. Awakening to find the world he knew long gone and the Nazi regime as a new supreme superpower, the captain makes it his sole mission to find whatever resistance is out there and rally them against the Nazi regime. This mission will take Blazkowicz across all of central Europe as he infiltrates and destabilizes a number of Nazi operations to help give his fellow allies a fighting chance to overthrow the regime once and for all.
The idea of a world in which Nazi Germany won World War II is a terrifying prospect to imagine and while it does tend to lean into an exaggerated interpretation at times, MachineGames really hone in on how bleak and depressing such a world might look like. Theres a ton of moments throughout the course of Wolfenstein: The New Order’s narrative that you get a clear showcase of the brutality and malice the Nazi regime unfolds on those who oppose it. This in turn gives you as a player a clear motivation to burn this fascist organization down in the most bloody and brutal fashion possible. While the wider-world and serious moments hit well, it’s hard not to feel these moments don’t really represent the core of the games story. I feel Wolfenstein has a definite identity problem with how it wants to portray Blazkowicz’s journey to take down the Nazi regime. It teeters constantly between seriousness and over-the-top humour and it ultimately makes for a jarring amount of tonal whiplash as a result. It’s hard to understand if the game wants you to take a lot of its story seriously or not because of its approach to tone. I also feel Blazkowicz is a very underutilized character despite being the protagonist. You never get an impression of how he feels besides his quick mumblings during certain sequences, his main purpose is to simply move the plot along as a conduit rather than actually feeling like an integral part of it.
While I find the narrative core of the game inconsistent, the gameplay portion more than stands its ground with everything considered. The approach to gunplay in this game really hones in on that fast-paced and frenetic gameplay that defined the original blueprint of the series back in its early days. The way weapons feel to use in this game is really responsive and incredibly satisfying even by today’s standards. There’s a decent variety behind the arsenal you can acquire as you progress through games levels as well. Combine all of this with the added ability to duel wield nearly all of the weapons available to you in the game, it really highlights the key strengths the games combat offers. To make the gunplay so engaging, it helps that the game’s enemy variety gradually progresses alongside you to offer a consistent level of challenge as you work through the missions. You’ll start out killing standard soldiers and infantryman but as you step into the dystopian future the game holds, you’ll be forced to face off against more adept soldiers with scarier equipment and capabilities. The gunplay and enemy variety really mesh together to keep this games core experience feeling fresh and memorable from start to finish.
While the game does take a similar mission-based approach to it’s structure like Call of Duty or Battlefield, it does try to offer more depth within its level design in comparison. Consisting of 16 chapters, the game presents its levels with a clear devotion to scale and detail that will encourage you to take your time exploring its environments rather than just rushing through them. There’s a ton of collectables littered throughout the environment that you will only be able to find through exploration. Some weapons or collectables can only be found through secret sections that you’ll have to pay attention to details throughout the level to find. There’s a lot of effort on display here to give the player as much depth as possible to appreciate in a level. While I do love the general approach to the level design, I do feel the game bogs itself down slightly by pivoting a good chunk of its levels within the same HUB area. I get the point that it is meant to allow you to bond with and understand the central cast further, but it presents its structure in a tedious format because of it.
On the presentation side, the game hones in on this high-detail and exaggerated style that helps give the game a unique identity that keeps it more timeless than most games of its era. The game’s willingness to go bloody and brutal with its heavier moments helps give its imagery a lot more of a firm impression too. The environmental design also stands out as a worthy praise point for the game as well. The scale of the environment isn’t lacking in substance either, as its clear MachineGames really wanted to give the level design a serious sense of immersion with how much detail they were able to incorporate into it. On the audio end, the gun audio is stellar and helps make combat feel even more immersive with how bullets sound within the small and large environments respectfully. Mick Gordon’s score for the game also really helps to reinforce the unique impression of the game. The use of analogue and distortion tools within its tracks is a notable aspect of the game’s unique identity.
Despite my noted issues on the game’s inconstant narrative, I can still confidently say my time with Wolfenstein: The New Order was genuinely fun and memorable all things considered. There’s enough substance to be found in the game’s overall structure and gameplay that you really feel the effort MachineGames put into realizing their own interpretation of this historic franchise. It accomplishes exactly what it envisioned to be, it works both as a proud recognition of the legacy this franchise held but in equal measure it delivers a fresh and new interpretation that formed its own series of sequels and spin-offs. I look forward to playing those titles and seeing how this series shifts, for good or worse.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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