It’s decent graphically, but doesn’t really have that ground-breaking, next-gen feel that we’re still waiting for. Indeed, the generous length of the story makes a mockery of modern shooters like CoD. The moral dilemma in the prologue level at least gives you two alternative time-lines, so there is a decent amount of replay value. The lack of multiplayer makes it look decidedly old-fashioned – but, if you're feeling charitable, you could argue that the OTT weaponry could be incompatible with online modes. Wolfenstein: The New Order Photograph: PRīut whereas this could all have degenerated into Michael Bay-style hyper-action at the expense of all else, Wolfenstein: The New Order somehow manages to retain a narrative flow with peaks and troughs, which keeps you involved and interested until the end, despite the manifest preposterousness. It's more sophisticated than you might imagine, thanks to a dubious plot device, so you get genetically enhanced, massively armoured super-soldiers, giant dog-like robots and huge multistorey mechs (a Wolfenstein game needs boss-battles). The legendary long-range shotguns are present and correct, but an extremely handy laser, which doubles as a puzzle-solving tool, takes over from the Railgun.ĭeveloper MachineGames has all sorts of fun with the imagined general depravity of triumphant Nazis as well as the technology they would have had at their command by the 1960s. A Perks system rewards you for playing in certain ways (it’s well worth investigating what you need to do to earn them), and exploration is rewarded with weapons upgrades. It's possible, for example, to take a strategic approach by eliminating commanders first so that nobody will call for reinforcements – a familiar, but still compelling AI convention. Surprisingly, you soon discover a decent stealth engine hidden amid the blood-splattered chaos. Gameplay-wise, there are countless references to the original Wolfenstein 3D: difficulty levels (there are five) are cranked up, and you need to collect every unfired bullet and scrap of armour from dead enemies in order to survive. He sets about redressing the balance through the only means he knows – mass slaughter via heavy weaponry. Fast-forward to 1960, when Blaskowicz regains consciousness in a Polish insane asylum, to find a world thoroughly cowed by the Nazis.
It all goes horribly awry, leaving Blaskowicz with a terrible moral dilemma and a head full of shrapnel. The action starts in 1946, with the Allies on the brink of defeat, with Blaskowicz and various American and British colleagues launching a last-gasp raid on the stronghold of General Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse.
Now Wolfenstein: The New Order imagines what would have happened if the Nazis had won World War II.Īs ever in a Wolfenstein game, you play BJ Blaskowicz, a rather meat-headed, gung-ho US Marine type.
Famously, the game's developer id Software decided to populate it with Nazis, because it didn’t want you identifying with your adversaries. Gamers of a certain age will be well aware of the mythology surrounding the Wolfenstein brand: 1992’s Wolfenstein 3D was the original first-person shooter, so the genealogy of all your CoDs and Titanfalls can be traced straight back to it. You can dual-wield any weapons you find apart from turret-guns Photograph: PR