So I was at my parents home again a few days ago, and got the chance to play a new game that my dad purchased for his Playstation 4, that which I cannot afford due to being a full time college student who can barely afford groceries let alone $60 games. That game was Wolfenstein: The New Order, as you may have noticed from the title. I decided to pick it up because I’ve been playing very little of anything recently, except for Animal Crossing: New Leaf which I just recently celebrated my first year of. That’s right everyone, I’ve been shaking fruit off of trees, catching bugs and fish, and obsessively trying to upgrade things in my virtual animal inhabited town for one whole year. Am I proud of my accomplishments? Absolutely. Am I ashamed that I’ve gotten more accomplished the last year in this game then I have in my real life? You betcha! But that is beside the point now. Back to Wolfenstein!
WARNING: AS ALWAYS, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. THANK YOU. THIS GAME IS PRETTY OLD THOUGH SOOOOO…
Upon loading up the game, I realized that I knew absolutely nothing (and by that I mean literally nothing) about this action-adventure FPS that my dad had failed to mention he’d started playing. I just got home, saw him shooting at virtual Nazi’s, and begged him to let my try.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is based right towards the end of World War 2 where you play as American character B.J Blazkowicz, a ripped and very attractively quiet type character whose goal is to stop the Nazi’s from taking over the world. The Wolfenstein writers did a great job quickly introducing the characters and the conflict through dialogue and articles that players can find throughout this first chapter. The side characters do most of the talking during the beginning portion of the game that features a firefight on a war planes, and some very graphic language (or I imagine. I don’t speak German). In the world that was created for this game The Nazi’s have advanced technology that allows them to construct the nuclear bomb before anyone else, allowing them to win the war. When the prologue is finished, and B.J is forced into a coma like state due to an explosion, it allows the rest of the story to be set up in a very smooth manner.
Without going into too much detail as to avoid TONS of spoilers, the beginning of the first chapter is, in my opinion, a brilliantly constructed cutscene that allows players to see 14 Years pass over Blazkowicz’s eyes inside of a german asylum. There he watches, unable to move, as a woman named Anya (daughter of the owner of the asylum) takes care of him, and he slowly falls in love with her. When the Nazi’s attempt to force the asylum to be shut down, killing many of the patients, Blazkowicz is forced to reawaken anew to save his beloved. (She’s wiped his ass for 14 years, the least he can do is save her from Nazi’s). And thus starts the main storyline to an otherwise very enjoyable beginning.
I have little things to note about some of the other parts of the game that I find enjoyable other than the beginning. Just to note: I think I’ve played about 5 hours of the game as of when I’m writing this, so it’s a little more than I would usually do for a first impression, but what can I say? I enjoyed playing it!
These characters are kind of brilliant. Let’s start with our protagonist. Good old silent but deadly Blazkowicz. I say silent, but what I mean is very very quiet. I mean, seriously. I have nothing mean to say, really, just goddamn could you speak up a bit every once in a while? The whole time I’m playing and I’m trying to stealth around he’s just like, “grumble grumble grumble damn nazis grumble grumble.” I was going crazy. “WHAT DID HE SAY. SHOULD I BE WORRIED?” It shouldn’t surprise you that I turned on the subtitles so that I might have some ink link into the mind of Mr. Blazkowicz’s grumbles.
Fergus. Now this is a side character that I can get behind. He’s got a sick accent, he’s got a fun sense of humor, and he’s a big loveable guy aint he? And at least he AGED during the 14 years he was fighting the Nazis. Can’t say that about ole B.J. who still looks as gorgeous as ever after his looooooong vacation in crazy land. I hope I look like him 15 years from now when I’m 36 and glued to my hoverchair playing video games in my brain. And you really love Fergus from the first moment in the game when he slaps you awake after getting knocked out, and catches you as you jump from one plane to the next. He’s got your back, and there’s no way good old B.J Blazkowicz is gonna let some weird grinning psychopath kill him! Is he?
Other than those two main characters there’s a wide variety of great characters in this game to enjoy from Anya, Blazkowicz’s very beautiful love interest, broken leg; that guy who breaks his leg, the woman in the wheelchair with the really cool accent, even Anya’s grandparents are fun characters encouraging B.J. to kill all the nazi’s and take back their country!
One of my ABSOLUTE favorite things about this game, oh hell, i’ll say it, my FAVORITE thing about this game are the nightmare sequences. There’s a few spots in the game where you come across a bed that gives you the option to go into a nightmare sequence. Blazkowicz falls asleep, and wakes up in 2-bit Castle Wolfenstein. Your goal? To escape! You make you way through this 2-bit world shooting 2-bit Nazi’s and walking over their mushed up, weirdly designed corpses, going from room to room trying to avoid getting shot in your face, as with most FPS’s. There’s something just absolutely brilliant about the way that your hands and gun look 3D and the same as in the main game, but the music and everything around you just reads, classic old timey game. It’s brilliant!
I’d love to talk forever about this very surprisingly great game, but I think I’ll wrap it up with a few final thoughts.
Wolfenstein: The New Order was definitely a diamond in the rough for me. Not that this isn’t a main stream game, it totally is, but i’ve just never really been into these kinds of First Person Shooters. The ones where you pick up pretty much unlimited ammo, and tons of different weapons where there’s no realistic way to be able to carry all of them. But Wolfenstein does all this very gracefully. In fact, I think the way that they allowed players to have all of the weapons they could ever want, while also adding a reward kind of system for stealthing through a level because if you stay silent there’s less people to deal with was a very brilliant idea.
I also love the Nazi technology like the big robots and the robot dogs. I tell you, my dad loves watching me play this and get scared every time one of those stupid dogs jumps up in your face. It’s a great way to tell a futuristic story, but about events that have happened in the past.
ANYWAY, overall I’ve really enjoyed playing through the first few chapters of Wolfenstein: The New Order and can’t wait to pick it up again the next time that I’m home so that I can hopefully complete it. It’s a very creative spin on what could have very possibly been a very boring First Person Shooter. It has a wonderful sense of humor, relateable and enjoyable characters, and easy to pick up gameplay. Hopefully I can give the full review on it later, if there’s anything more to add.
See you next time
-Bec
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