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Wolfenstein: The New Order
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Graphics & Sound:
Well, it's been some 5 years since we've seen a new Wolfenstein game and I must say, it's been worth the wait. Wolfenstein: The New Order looks absolutely spectacular on the PS4, whether you are swimming in the underwater sewers of Germany, making your way through a Nazi-infested bullet hell compound, tinkering in the Resistance headquarters, or slinking around in occupied Poland. There are little details everywhere, making you want to stop and explore every nook and cranny, and doing so will earn you goodies, so it's a wise thing to do - more on that in Gameplay.
Not only does Wolfenstein: The New Order look fantastic, but it sounds great as well. Weapon reports have punch and differ for each weapon, the soundtrack is at times pounding and rousing and others, haunting and beautiful, and the voiceovers are great. Brian Bloom is terrific as Blazko, and my favorite saying of his has got to be, "Stupid way to die," if you happen to fall to your death. It's a good way to bring a smile to your face when you screw up. Remember General Diane Beckman (Bonita Friedericy) in Chuck? She voices the head of the Resistance, Caroline Becker and is terrific. Everyone is great though, really. From teammates Fergus and Wyatt to Anya, your love interest, to even General Deathshead, the voice acting is spot-on. |
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Gameplay:
All hail the Single Player Campaign! Thank you Bethesda, thank you MachineGames, and thank you B.J. Blazco. Wolfenstein: The New Order is a single player experience and I am so pleased to see such a fun game come out that focuses on the single player experience alone. Sure, I love my Call of Duty Single Player Campaigns, but they don't get as much love or attention as the multiplayer aspect, so Wolfenstein: The New Order is a game for me and others like me.
You begin the game already in the fray of WWII at an assault on General Deathshead's compound, charging in with a group of soldiers including Fergus and Wyatt, but you and the team are captured. You awaken some 14 years later in a Polish asylum with a head injury and a fierce desire to live, as Deathshead's men come to shut down the asylum and kill everyone within. You manage to escape, leaving a trail of blood in your wake, and you begin your journey to defeat Deathshead with the new knowledge that during your deep sleep, Nazi Germany has won the war and now rules the Earth. Your task won't be an easy one.
After connecting with some friendly faces from the asylum and eventually, the Resistance, you will have to work your way around Berlin to break Resistance members out of a prison, steal advanced technology from the London Nautica, spend some time in a German prison camp, steal a German U-boat, cause general mayhem and destruction and go to the Moon. Yeah, Moon Nazis! The storyline is an insane alternate reality that, thank God, never actually happened, but is terribly interesting to play through.
Naturally, your main goal is to kill Nazis and get to Deathshead, but along the way, you can pick up a multitude of different weapons at your disposal, and use those weapons to destroy Nazis in glorious and gory fashion. This game is rated Mature for a reason. Exploding heads and bodies are a common sight and Wolfenstein: The New Order absolutely revels in it. If you like that kind of thing, you will revel in it too. That being said, there's a certain satisfaction that comes when you blow a Nazi's leg off and he bleeds out. Just sayin'.
The action is fast and furious, for the most part, but you do have the option to go things a more quiet route, should you desire. You'll have to make a choice early on in the game and that choice will determine whether you have the ability to pick locks or hotwire mechanical things. It will also alter the story somewhat, but only as it pertains to certain characters. That being said, I opted for the hotwiring option (although I didn't know it at the time of my choice). Although I tried to be sleuthy and sneak up on as many guards and dogs as possible, inevitably, the bullets always started flying. That's ok, I'm not the subtle type anyway. That being said, it pays to go the silent route when there are Commanders in the area. They'll be indicated by signal on the screen and if they are alerted to your presence, they will relentlessly call for backup. So if you can take them out first, so much the better.
In your journeys, be on the lookout for ammo, health and armor, but also gold treasure items, important documents, records and Enigma codes. These are codes that will open special modes when you have collected all of the pieces of them within a level. You can also obtain letters to read that give a bit of backstory, and a series of diary recordings made by a cousin of Anya, a nurse from the asylum - disturbing stuff. You'll also unlock concept art along the way as well. |
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Difficulty:
There are five levels of difficulty and when you go to select your level, you will be treated to a corresponding version of B.J. Blazko. It's funny stuff. The include: Can I Play, Daddy?, Don't Hurt Me, Bring 'Em On, I Am Death Incarnate and Uber. I played the game through on Bring 'Em On, which is the "Normal" setting and I found it to be a perfect difficulty level if you just wanted to enjoy the game. Sure, I died in it, but health packs and ammo were plentiful and the Nazi forces weren't terribly relentless. Can I Play, Daddy may as well be an adventure game as easy as it is. Nazis seem to die from a couple of shots and offer little resistance. However, switch it to Uber and you'll get more of a fight. The Nazis seem to require more hits to fell and they are more of a challenge. However, health and ammo still seems to be fairly plentiful. I can definitely see myself playing through the game again on Uber for more challenge. I enjoyed it that much. However, if you find yourself having a tough time during one of the missions, you can always back the difficulty down at any point from the Options Menu.
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Game Mechanics:
Game controls in Wolfenstein: The New Order are pretty basic aside from the weapons selection, which I will discuss below. With the standard controller layout, you will use (O) to crouch, (Square) to activate things, (X) to jump and (Triangle) to swap between your main two weapons. (R1) accesses your weapons selection screen and will also be used to throw grenades or knives if they are selected, while (L1) is your Cover/Lean function. (L2) aims and (R2) shoots. Pretty typical for a shooter.
Ok, so here's the part where I talk about what I didn't like about Wolfenstein: The New Order and why it didn't get a higher score. It has to do with weapons selection. You can pick up lots of guns in Wolfenstein: The New Order, from handguns to assault rifles, to shotguns, to laser cutting tools that also function as pulse guns that explode enemies. The Laserkraftwerk, mentioned above, is an awesome weapon that just keeps getting upgraded as you go, but has to be recharged often. Still, a great weapon. Also, your assault rifle can also have a rocket attachment later in the game, which can come in very handy. You can even grab turret guns off their stands and carry them around or you can pick up extra handguns, shotguns or assault rifles and dual-wield them, but I didn't find the dual-wield to be super effective and ended up wasting more of my ammo. You can also pick up throwing knives and grenades.
You can keep two weapons handy at all times and they can be any of these. To access your weapons, you select (R1) which brings up a radial dial and then you use the Right Analog Stick to select the weapon you want. I found this to be a terribly unwieldy way to do things. Especially in the heat of battle, if I need a grenade, I need it right then. I don't need to find a hole to hide into so I can access my weapons collection and select grenades as my backup weapon. This was really stupid and frustrating to me. Worse yet, sometimes I'd set myself up with the two weapons I wanted to have handy, only to have some devastating injury occur to me and then lo and behold, all of a sudden, a different weapon was somehow selected, like the AR Marksman for instance, which is great for sniper work, but not so much in a firefight. There were times I died simply because I couldn't get the dial to select the weapon I wanted before I was gunned down, say if for instance, I ran out of bullets in the gun I was using and needed to quickly swap it for something else. Or say I needed my shotgun to quickly dispense some justice in CQC, but I only had 10 bullets, so I needed to switch it out for another gun. In a firefight, you do not have time to leisurely move the Thumb Stick to try to pick the right gun. Also, keep in mind that when you are selecting a new gun, you aren't replacing the one currently selected, but the alternate instead. There are several controller layouts to choose from, but they all seem to require going into the weapons selection screen for grenades, instead of simply having a button to throw them, which would have been infinitely more pleasant. It just needs some tweaking is all I am saying.
Now for more of the good stuff. The Perks system in Wolfenstein: The New Order is pretty awesome. Personally, I am not the type of gamer who enjoys customizing my loadout and allotting points to increase my abilities in this or that fashion. I prefer things to be more simplistic. I find a cool gun, I like it, I stick with it. I say this to emphasize that I enjoyed the simplicity of the Perks system in Wolfenstein: The New Order. By accomplishing certain goals or tasks, you would get a certain perk and then by continuing to do similar things, you'd open more levels of this perk. It was effortless and just unlocked things as you made certain kills, etc. The four types of Perks are Stealth, Tactical, Assault and Demolition. For instance, a Stealth Perk can be obtained by performing a certain number of stealth kills on Commanders, wherein you can unlock the ability to see goodies and Commanders on the map. A Tactical Perk could be performing a certain number of headshots to increase headshot damage or getting extra slots in your gun's magazine. Assault Perks have to do with dual-wielding guns and turret guns, while Demolition Perks have to do with grenade or rocket kills, such as killing a certain number of people with grenades, unlocking the ability to throw them back.
Ok, so it's not perfect, but I did love Wolfenstein: The New Order. It's got a great story, visceral action and it's just plain fun. It's not perfect, but that's what sequels are for, right? If you love a good Single Player Campaign and you are a shooter fan, do yourself a favor and pick up Wolfenstein: The New Order today. There's even little goodies thrown in for fans of Wolfenstein 3D, if you can find them. Overall, well done Bethesda and MachineGames and thanks for looking out for the lovers of the Single Player Campaign. |
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-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins |
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