Game EXP: Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC)

So, I finished Wolfenstein: The New Order quite a while ago, and kind of like I said in my First Impressions article, I enjoyed this a lot more than I had anticipated for reasons that I was not expecting.  Having played the reboot of DOOM (developed by id Software), I think I was expecting another intense run-and-gun shooter taking out Nazis left-and-right, but what I got with these games (developed by MachineGames) with Bethesda Softworks and id Software being the common links between the two of them, were character-driven stealth shooters that carefully walked the line between campiness and seriousness.  These were also games wherein TNO you could dual-wield sniper rifles, so there was that too.

And since this is a few days after election day here in the United States (how is it still not a national holiday!?) talking about killing Nazis seemed about right, especially in this political climate; this article was written before the election on November 3rd.

I might have missed how to aim while dual-wielding since the regular button to aim became the firing button for the second sniper rifle.

As is my routine with a lot of video games, especially first-person-shooters, I inverted the Y-Axis, and then I tinkered around with the graphical settings because I knew this five-year-old laptop was not going to run on anything more than medium settings if that.  I settled on low settings in both games, and as I mentioned in my first article, there was near-constant tearing in the upper third of the screen any time I moved, which was all the time.  For me, the game was still playable since the fps counter in the upper left of the screen would range anywhere between 30 and 60 fps so I believe it had to do with the refresh rate of my screen which I discovered I could not alter beyond what it was already set to; I even turned off Windows Game Mode which I read over on PC Gamer could help with freezing and stuttering games, granted not my same situation, but I figured I would give it a try.  And hey, at least the screenshots look nice and pretty.  Right?

And you know what, according to Metacritic, TNO was the 14th most discussed game in 2014, so there would be very little reason to go into a long-winded thesis about the game so I will probably end up keeping this one kind of short as I already covered a lot in what I wanted to say in my First Impressions article even if it was only for the first 1/3rd - 1/2 of the game.

Something about using the map to explore as much as possible, uncovering as many hidden areas and having issues with being able to access them, especially access points visible on the map and pretty sure I could tell where they were in-game, but never often explaining how to get to them.

One thing that surprised me by the time I finished TNO was that there was no Castle Wolfenstein, with the closest location being Deahshead island fortress at the very beginning and then at the end.  But oh boy do you travel around in this game, almost to the detriment of keeping the story tight and concise.  You start the game on an airplane flying towards Deathshead island, then you wake up in Poland, travel to Germany, London, then up to the sodding Moon, and down to the bottom of the ocean, then you are back up in the air plummeting towards a building fighting your way either back down or up I do not recall, then you are back underwater and finally finishing again at Deathshead compound (a la not Castle Wolfenstein but it might as well be).  Do not get me wrong though, it was a kick running on the Moon shooting Nazis with specially modified weapons but especially looking back, it did feel a bit Forest Gump-like with all of the locations BJ ended up visiting so that he could help stop the Nazis from their continued take over of the world.

The other aspect of the game that I was not prepared for, was the emotional toll that the game would take.  I never broke down into tears, but I really enjoyed seeing B.J. Blazkowiz fleshed out as a character, as well as the host of NPCs of the Resistance, especially the characters of Max Haas, and Tekla.  Also seeing the relationship between B.J. and Anya develop over the course of the game seemed sweet and genuine without feeling forced.  For context, earlier in the game, I decided to save Fergus as I felt that based on the opening of the game during the assault on Deathshead's Island, it felt like B.J. and Fergus had a history and he would have saved someone he was more familiar with over Private Wyatt, which may or may not impact the story that I experienced and the characters I interacted with; beyond the obvious of interacting with Fergus instead of Wyatt.  I am pretty intrigued to play the Wyatt timeline, but I have a feeling that it will only alter interactions with BJ and other characters, as well as the final act of the game, but it will not have any significant change on the overall story or game; but I realize I could be wrong.

Something that I loved about the game was the inclusion of the LaserKraftWerk, which you find during your first mission in London after your 14-year siesta in a mental institution.  When you first find it, it replaces your Laser Cutter, which is more like a utility tool used to cut holes in chainlink fences and cut locks from gates, whereas now you can cut through specific sheets of metal, often allowing you access to items stored in boxes and to create entrances to hidden areas.  In order to limit the use of these tools, they run off of a battery that you can charge at stations throughout each level, but it will also auto-charge to a certain point allowing you to not become stuck if you need to use it to continue through the stage and are not near a charging station.  A very cool aspect of the KWL is that there are upgrades you find, like the Targeting Scope that lets you use the tool like a sniper rifle.  Once I later found the Generator which charges the LKW at a faster rate and up to full, I found myself using this a lot more, and with the Targeting Scope and by the end of the game, it became my go-to weapon for taking out troublesome Nazis who kept taking pop-shots at me from behind cover (since you could eek out and when the targeting scope highlights them, the near-instantaneous firing would typically kill them).  It felt a little cheap, but they are Nazis so they deserve it.

The primary takeaway from all of this, if you have not already gathered, was that I really enjoyed Wolfenstein: The New Order in ways that I was not expecting.  The gun-play was a lot of fun, the story played out in a way I was not expecting both in terms of locations, characters, and when in time the game took place.  I was a little disappointed that you do not go up against Hitler or Mecha-Hitler, but Deathshead was an acceptable opponent and especially his presentation felt fitting as well.  Spoiler?  I wish though, from what I recall, that there had been a little bit more Deathshead in the game as his presence is more omnipresent, like Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, that you hear a lot about him throughout the game and see a lot of what he has been doing for the Nazis.

The game ended well too, in that I was happy with how the story ended but it was spoiled a little bit because I was playing this six years after the game was first released and three years after Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus came out, so I know that Blazkowicz has a healthy dose of plot armor equipped.  The final scene though with its slow-mo cut scene was still moving none-the-less, which tells you something about the quality of the storytelling here, that MachineGames did not just create a run-and-gun first-person shooter banking on the Wolfenstein name; or at least it does in my opinion.  So upon coming to the end of the game (in the Fergus timeline), I was still entertained and engaged enough with the characters and the world that I quickly jumped into the prequel, somewhat based off of the now nearly impossible to find Wolfenstein (2009), Wolfenstein: The Old Blood.  Kind of, but that will be in an upcoming article.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Whatever Words I Say