Wolfenstein: The New Order

The boss fights in this game are so terrible.
playing on death incarnate is such a whiplash of the most easy firefights imaginable, cut together with nearly impossible hallways of ten million enemies
and I fucking hate the shotgun troopers that do infinity damage and can only be killed with explosives
there's some cool stuff here, but its overshadowed by how much downright comic trash and weird hyper-masculinity there is between the gameplay, writing, characters.
Overall there's a cool cathartic sense of schadenfreude you get from killing hundreds of nazis, and I like that there was a diverse cast of characters in the resistance, but 90% of the game is so incredibly generic, boring, and unoriginal that I'm left empty and frustrated at every corner. Feels lazy, as if they thought the entire game could be carried by the fact that people want to kill nazis, without any actual substance to carry you through the 10 hours of gameplay after that gets old

Edit: I wrote this review right before the deathshead fight, I originally gave it a 5/10.
but for how goddamn awful that fight is, and how much of an insult to good game design it is, I'm lowering my rating to a 3/10

In this review, I won't be talking much, if at all, about the quality of the shooter game design, or about the game's success as a reboot of the Wolfenstein franchise. On the former front, suffice to say, it's very satisfying and well designed for what it is. On the latter front, I can't comment, as I've never played any of the older Wolfenstein titles. Instead, I'll just give my view on how well I think the game functions as a work of fiction, which is mainly how I tend to view the games that I play when I review them anyway.

When viewed from the above perspective, Wolfenstein: The New Order comes off far more positively that it has any right to, gleefully embracing the creative potential inherent to its hyper-saturated, tongue-in-cheek 'futuristic Nazis' lineage, whilst simultaneously fleshing out its pulpy style with an unusual (given the kind of game it is) amount of substance in the form of intelligent and thoughtful writing, uniformly excellent characters and performances, and an unexpectedly serious overall emphasis on narrative and historically-informed world-building. The closest analogue would probably be a Tarantino film; in fact, I was frequently reminded of Inglorious Bastards, given the similar way that the two works satirically subvert history in order to tell an empowering tale of people oppressed by the Nazi regime banding together to exact justice on their oppressors, and deftly blend tongue-in-cheek fantasy with the brutal reality of Nazi ideology and its human consequences. Despite the similarities, though, W:TNO has its own feel, particularly in the level of vision on display in its production design and art direction, which evokes the simultaneous horror and foreboding awe of the empire Hitler and his contemporaries dreamt of building with uncommon intensity.

Overall, this game feels like a sincere labour of love, with Machine Games having taken an ostensibly pretty safe commercial venture for the time - that is to say, a straightforward FPS relaunching a cheap, easily accessible established IP - and made it their own with a degree of creativity and thoughtfulness that probably wasn't required, but which is all the more admirable as a result. When viewed as a work of fiction, it's unquestionably massively hamstrung by the requirement that it be narrative shooter, as opposed to, say, a narrative RPG. In my view, the narrative shooter is a somewhat outmoded genre, being effectively a product of an era when games just wouldn't get made at all unless they were in some sense a 'true game', ideally an action game with casual appeal and lots of gratuitous gamified violence, which developers then awkwardly tried to square with their growing desire to tell complex stories and create interesting works of fiction. It's from this tension that the term 'ludo-narrative dissonance' originates, which is effectively just a fancy way of saying that developers were being forced to create violent arcade games that prioritise cheap gratification, and to then stretch their narrative visions over the top in a way that failed to take full advantage of the medium as a vehicle for immersive fiction. That problem is as present in Wolfenstein: The New Order as it in every narrative FPS, perhaps even more so, given the strength of the game's characterisation, which makes the violence feel particularly vulgar and dissonant as a result (a problem which probably reached its apex with The Last of Us: Part II). There's also definitely a whiff here and there of the frattish sensibility that mainstream games are infamous for - take the sex scenes between Anya and Blazkowicz, for example. This isn't as much of an issue as it became (for me) in the second game, though, and the fact that the story's tone and style is firmly tongue-in-cheek means that, overall, this is probably one of the more successful narrative FPSs out there.

Remakes are, at face value, pretty conceptually uninspiring, however, Machine Games' 'Wolfenstein: The New Order' is rather exemplary in the art of creating one with purpose. id Software's 1992 classic was essentially absent in the ability to create compelling context for its own inventive gameplay, even in spite of the boundless potential of the setting, and so it is in narrative with which 'The New Order' justifies it's existence.

It has been said dozens of times at this point but, its true, a good phrase to describe Machine Games' work here is "surprisingly thoughtful." There is a concerted effort in world building in this project, most of which can be found in the environments. The architecture was what struck me first, an augury with towering signature Nazi minimalism realistically coating the large scale buildings of which encapsulate their vacuous obsessions of perceived 'grandeur' in empire-age-like constructs in shape of an ill-glorified past, a strikingly well thought out illustration of what a fascist future would be. It is small qualities—such as the differences in artwork found in the resistance base to the ones hung in the walls of Nazi establishments, the sharp attention to detail in the fascist aesthetic preferences now placed in paintings—that are the most interesting to talk about in how 'The New Order' tells its story.

I highlight tells with urgency because, I must stress, this game has a great story, in fact, a potentially outstanding one, but, it is told in a decidedly outdated fashion. The jarring jump from gameplay to black-boxed cutscenes is sadly just salt in the wound that is the fact that Machine Game's storytelling method here simply feels oh so 'seventh console generation.' This isn't to suggest that the cutscenes are bad, they're actually quite good—punched up with solid writing, camera and animation work, as well as having the luxury of getting to to be the primary vehicle for the game's aforementioned great narrative—but it saddened me that the main way that the game connected the players to these beautiful characters and harrowing world was simply not using the medium in a naturalistic way and opting for something more palatable to those who lack game literacy or engagement. In brief, this story, world and characters deserved better than the chunk of bog standard fps cutscenes they got, and juxtaposed to the subtleties I mentioned in the first paragraph, I couldn't help but wish for more by the time that the credits rolled, even if the existence of those subtleties to begin with elevate 'The New Order' above most of it's shooter contemporaries.

However, in what it achieves with this method, there's undeniable emotional investment to have here. The cast of marginalized peoples here are powerful, not just in their prerequisite antithetical nature to the Nazis, but also in what they are able achieve before the harsh conclusion of the game. The pacing is also excellent which goes well with the feeling of necessity given to each mission allowing the experience to flow together well. Speaking of good flow, uhhh, now seems like a nice time to transition into talking about the levels themselves! They're the best part of the game's design by far, there's good levels of distinction between them and there are enough standout missions to keep the whole runtime feeling worthwhile. The second half of the game is assuredly better at this than the first, mostly coming to the way certain levels carve a more perspicuous identity through a change in both vistas and how they are played through. The ones that stick out to me the most are the U-Boat takeover, Gibraltar Bridge, the Lunar Base and of course the return to both London Nautica and Deathshead's Compound. The latter two are obviously memorable for their boss-fight encounters, and deserve special mention for being both spectacles and mechanically satisfying. Both are simple, but sweet. The London Monitor fight having the player scurry under tunnels like a rat and peak out to stare down the dread inducing robotic titan created not only a nice change of pace, but a well used opportunity for mechanics to force a different style of combat that is well telegraphed. Deathshead himself is more so a theatrical endurance test conversely, but it's still engaging and satisfactory. Lunar Base and the U-Boat have the most straightforward combat setups but are elevated greatly by their settings, with the former being so ridiculously funny that I'm just going to assume anyone who didn't like it has a big stick up their behind. Finally, Gibraltar Bridge is my favourite level in the game, because, other than the boss-fights, it's sadly the only place I can point to that has a really meaningful alteration in how players can think about the core gameplay loop. Uh oh.

I've got to come clean, I'm not crazy about 'The New Order''s pop-and-stop shooting. It is by no means awful, but just painfully flat and only elevated by the context of which it occurs—both in narrative and level design. The generic fusion of stealth gameplay and standard cover based shooting just wasn't engaging for me outside of the levels I mentioned earlier, where Machine Games' found ways to either spruce it up or just execute it with admirable specificity. Gibraltar Bridge has players forced into taking a ranged approach to each encounter with an extra layer of verticality, which was a breath of fresh air to the constant pseudo-dynamic 'play it your way-isms' that permeated all other combat encounters to the point where no matter how I chose to approach a level, I always felt like I was doing it the boring way. There's a designed way to play Gibraltar Bridge, and it's more fun as a result. Oh, and it's very pretty, who knew a train accident could be so nice? Must have been the time of day.

Being good looking is an achievement for the studio given the clear limitations of the id Tech 5 engine, as looking too closely at some things will cause a player to observe some old generation oddities. Some things, namely paper objects such as letters or notes, are rendered into other objects which makes them look flat and pixelated up close but if I'm to make an actual worthwhile technical complaint the mixing of this game truly upsets me. Perhaps it was just my TV but the SFX are simply far too loud and the music is barely audible most of the time. Going back and listening to the OST outside of the game I'm really disappointed by this as the production on these tracks is solid and they really could have brought a lot to certain levels where my ears couldn't even detect them. Outside of that the game works well, however, and the detail is admirable given the technology.

I hope I've made clear that there's nothing critically wrong with 'Wolfenstein: The New Order', at worst its just uninspired, but the levels have a great deal of creativity to them, just such a story deserved better proceedings. Regardless, if you are like me, and what draws you to Machine Games' remakes are the world and it's potential for powerful ideas and characters, then there's no doubt that 'The New Order' is worth your time. The grip of the story is strong enough to push you through even it's most boring gameplay sections, and I look forward to the potential of 'The New Colossus', but ultimately, this first game had enough going for it, even if there was more it could have achieved.

Well done, Machine Games, lets see where this goes!

Wolfenstein The New Order was the first ID Software adjacent title I have played. Back in 2014, I was interested in FPS games after playing Bioshock Infinite and Half Life 2, and I wanted to get into playing the classics, or new titles related to those classic franchises. With Wolfenstein coming out really soon, I chose that woul dbe my introduction into this series, and to ID Software. Wolfenstein The New Order, Developed by Swedish studio Machine Games, former members of Starbreeze Studios, and ID Software, was a game changer, an outlier from the then stale regenerating health, modern military, two weapon limit, Simon says simulator FPS that was common place back in the end of the 7th generation of consoles. Instead New Order decided to meld the early 2000s style of cinematic FPS games like Half Life 2, with a more modern style of shooting and production values. After this game, a renewed interest in old school style FPS games was created, and then we got games like Doom 2016, Dusk, Prodeus, Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus, and many many more. Despite an odd design decision, and a crap level here and there, Wolfenstein the New Order was the triumphant return of the old school run and gun shooter, and for ID Software for that matter, and a nice plus, is that it is one of the best FPS games of the modern era.

The story is something a lot of players of Wolfenstein don't pay much attention to, and rightfully so. Wolfenstein's alt history WWII madness is something we all love, and The New Order takes the series in a darker, more serious, yet more pulpy and bombastic direction. BJ Blazkowicz is a hulking US Soldier who after a failed storming of the evil Nazi General Deathshead's compound, remains in a coma for around 14 years. He then awakens in 1960s Poland and the Nazis now rule the world with an iron fist, using diesel-punk technology. BJ then proceeds to find the resistance, the Kreisau Circle, works with them to take own Deathshead once and for all. The brilliant thing about Wolfenstein's story is that it is thoroughly an ID Software shooter if it was directed by Mathew Vaughn, or Guy Ritchie or even Quentin Tarantino. The blend of wacky Nazi technology, and serious characters and story should not work in theory. Who would take Nazi Robots seriously at all? Machine Games did it though, and you feel for BJ's monologues, his growing love for Anya, the nurse who saved him, Max Haas, Wyatt, Fergus, and reformed Nazi Klaus. The fact that this is a Wolfenstein game, allows you to suspend your disbelief more, and if you are a fan of pulpy, over the top action films like Kingsman, Inglorious Basterds and Overlord, you will feel right at home in Wolfenstein's world. The New Order also dares to explore evil Nazi horrors like the Holocaust, homophobia, and sadistic torture, unlike other WWII games at the time, and the game represents these things in a very euro-eccentric perspective that is fairly unique for the mostly American developed genre of WWII games. The game also has beautifully rendered cutscenes, with gorgeous cinematography, lighting, animation, and editing. You will not want to skip these cutscenes because of how well they are done, and how they tell the game's story. I especially love the Tarantino style edits in some of the cut-scenes showing two perspectives of one event.

As far as gameplay goes, The New Order is a mixture of modern 7th generation shooters, and 2000s PC shooters. Let's talk about the old school mechanics of The New Order. You have a massive arsenal of weapons, most of which can be dual wielded. You can aim down the iron sights, but your hip fire is so accurate, that you don't even have to use them. Most weapons of alternate fires or alternate ammo including shotgun shells that richorche off of walls, much like the flak cannon in Unreal Tournament, or the Assault Rifle mounted Rocket Launcher. You even have the wacky weapon, being the Lazerkraftwerk, a lazer gun that can deal massive damage with the right upgrade. Your movement speed is faster than most FPS protagonists at the time, and you will zip around from cover to cover chipping away at the Nazi threat, and grinding them into bratwurst. You also have a health and armor system, where eating food, and grabbing helmets and shards of metal allow you to survive. The shooting is also really great. The weapons all have fantastic sound effects and animations, enemies fall apart easily and satisfyingly and that dopamine rush of shooting Nazis in the face is something only the Wolfenstein series can deliver. The modern elements of the game though are melded tastefully. Your health regenerates by increments of 20, so you when you are in a bind, you can salvage the last medkit in the area to finish the fight. The opening sections of the game are more linear and more following directions style more emblematic of modern shooters, but in the game's defense it allows you to grow with the characters more. There is also a stealth system in the game, where remaining undetected is key to survival. The stealth mechanics would improve in later games, but it is serviceable and fun. These mechanics combined together create a game that is the best of old and new, and a fitting game to carry Wolfenstein forward into the modern age.

As far as presentation goes, this is the area that is the most flawed. I played the PC version, and there is some strange technical hicups throughout this game. Running on the controversial ID Tech 5 engine, Wolfenstein when standing still looks really nice, but whenever you are up against a wall, the textures are prone to popping in really slowly or have laughably low resolution to them. Wolfenstein is not an ugly looking game, but it is very much using tech that was average for 2014. Given how low quality the texture work is on the environments, it is odd that when you are in an area with tons of enemies or particles or debris, the game will slow down to a crawl. This game is nearly 7 years old now, I have no clue why my GTX 1080 equipped PC, and Ryzen 9 CPU could not run this game as well as my old PC with a 4790k quad core. Supposedly Wolfenstein doesn't play nice with AMD CPUS, so if you intended to pick this game up today, where AMD hardware is the new hotness, I would suggest getting a fan patch. Though I cant say much praise for the graphical fidelity, I will sing the praises of everything else. Even with the muddy texture work, Wolfenstein has awesome art direction. Enemies all look so intricate and beautiful, the levels all have wonderful architecture and all the little details scattered through the levels, with the propaganda on the walls, the writing on your weapons and the even the skin on your character all look so great. I have already praised the cutscenes, and part of their greatness is the voice acting. Wolfenstein has an incredible voice cast, and when watching the cutscenes you will be impressed by everyone's performances, especially Brian Bloom, as BJ, Mark Ivanir as Set Roth, Ken Lally as Klaus and Mung Dahl himself, Dwight Schultz as General Deathshead. The music is also really good, composed by the then new face in town, Mick Gordon. This is a very eclectic soundtrack from him, with his now famous industrial metal tracks, dark ambience, and industrial noise pieces that sound brutal and heavy. He even pays tribute to Pink Floyd on one track with a fiery guitar solo. Overall, despite my issues with the engine, the presentation of Wolfenstein is a massive step up from previous entries in the series, and made ID Software brands have a more premium coat of paint to them.

In conclusion, Wolfenstein the New Order was the triumphant return of the old school run and gun shooter, and for ID Software for that matter, and a nice plus, is that it is one of the best FPS games of the modern era. Nothing beats a polished, quality, story driven single player FPS campaign and Wolfenstein delivers that wonderfully. Now that we are in an age of boomer shooters, I think Wolfenstein the New Order is not counted in the movement, but I think that this game was the catalyst for this wonderful trend of FPS games, and is a must play for any shooter fan. It is one of my favorite games of all time because of how the game balances over the top, bombastic fps gameplay that feels great, with one of the best written AAA stories of the modern age, presented with AAA production values.

I really enjoyed this Wolfenstein game, the story was cool, great characters and the enemies were fun and challenging at times. Also some pretty nice weapons to choose from.

Basically a well done action movie: big, enjoyable. a bit dumb, but put together in a very good manner. Only thing I thought was a bit too much where the last couple of chapters. Jumping from a submarine, to the moon, ancient artifacts, etc. It just was going a bit too extreme (and fast) maybe for my taste. But that did not undo the great first part of the game. So I would highly recommend it if you are looking for some brainless fun.

boss fights suck
i beat it on hurt me plenty
didnt unlock achivement for it

6.5/10