Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

So I jumped out of my comfort zone a little and decided to try this game out since the reviews have been pretty hot for it as of late. I did miss out on New Order back in 2014 but I remember hearing a lot about that game’s emotional and well-acted story so that’s what I was looking forward to the most here. Thankfully this game delivers on that front with flying colours, I just… Wasn’t too impressed with what the rest of the game had to offer if I’m being brutally honest here. Despite having an awesome game world and characters I felt that the design here was just a tad bit too linear, short, and basic for my tastes.

Wolfenstein II takes place in an alternate history where the Nazi’s ended up winning WWII against the Americans via the use of atomic bombs. And now with the U.S. firmly under Nazi (and KKK) leadership it’s up to BJ Blazkowicz - you – and your rag tag team of rebel fighters to infiltrate the Nazi ranks and spark a revolution to free the Americans from tyranny. The game legit starts off right after New Order ends and they even try and give you some recap as well as a chance to choose between saving Fergus or Wyatt which is an interesting way to approach continuity. BJ’s compassionate and strong headed Texan personality is brilliantly portrayed by Brain Bloom, and many other character performances were surprisingly swell like with Gideon Emery’s fiery Scottish portrayal of Fergus Reid, Debra Wilson - former MadTV actress – kills it as the no bullshit rebel leader Grace Walker; but hands down the f***ing Oscar goes to Nina Franoszek for her psychotic portrayal of the sadistic Nazi leader Irene Engel. Engel easily goes down as one of the most interesting villains I’ve faced in a game in many years.

The story also takes a very bold look into BJ’s childhood as a victim of domestic abuse from his racist father. They actually have you living out some horrible childhood experiences in first person which was uncomfortable as shit. The game has obvious themes of anti-nazi, anti-racism, anti-fascism, and pro tolerance sentiments which I think is definitely refreshing to see since so many game devs and writers now’a’days are far too spineless to make political statements in games. There’s an element of humour within game’s story too that is appreciated if not a bit out of place here and there, like making toilet jokes during a really emotional scene is a bit much guys… That being said; there’s one scene involving Hitler himself later in the game – which I won’t spoil too much – that is easily one of the most ridiculous and funny scenes in a game I’ve seen in quite some time.

Gameplay wise this game is like a nice mix of old school shooter mechanics that make the game feel very fast paced and action oriented, but also a mixture of more traditional cover based shooting since you will absolutely die if you just stay out in the open for too long. You have a weapon wheel here not unlike Doom 2016 but the variety and creativity in the gun selection was lacking I thought. You pretty much just have stuff like your generic pistol, a generic machine gun that kills people, a generic machine gun that sucks and doesn’t kill people, a powerful shotgun, and a laser gun. You can duel wield your weapons though which made me really happy since doubling down on shotguns was some of the most fun I had playing this game! You can also find weapon upgrade kits within the various levels that allow you to enhance and customise your guns at least a little bit, and lastly you receive some perks for performing special actions like successful axe kills and headshots. One disappointment I had is that at one point the game hints at alien technology and anti-gravity weapons but sadly never actually explores any of that.

The enemy variety here is adequate; you’ve got everything from armoured Nazi soldiers to militarised androids that are quick and nimble, giant power suit baddies to these absurdly annoying flying drones, and you’ve got some hounds and robo-canine enemies thrown in here too. It’s a solid variety and all but I was legit surprised at how stupid the enemy AI is in this game. They constantly stumble aimlessly into my line of fire and funnel themselves into doorways and hallways as though they’re actually trying to get mowed down. They sucked at taking cover and using grenades plus they had absolutely no strategy for taking me out so it was always super easy to retreat from danger. There are some cool levels thrown into the game but most are fairly linear and very strait forward in design. They give you the choice between 3 key suit upgrades about halfway through the game that allow you to traverse the environment in different ways (like a powerful ram or extending legs); but not only does this design choice come far too late in the game; but they really don’t do much with it for the remainder of the levels outside of just unlocking little short cuts.

I mean this is a pretty basic shooter when you really dissect things, there really aren’t many things that were particularly handled poorly here but there’s not much that sticks out about this game either, other than it’s excellent story elements of course. The main game clocks in at about 10 hours depending on what difficulty you choose, which is less than I was hoping. There’s quite a bit of post-game content sure but most of it is cycling you through areas you’ve already visited to assassinate generic targets. Only reason you’d wanna start up a new file is to see how the Fergus and Wyatt’s storylines differ but that’s about it. The overall writing and acting in this game is just on another level as far as first person shooters go and it’s really the only reason I’d recommend this game to anyone unless you’re a diehard shooter fan and you desperately want something to play.