Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC)

A whole generation of gamers remembers what it was like – trying to get ahold those games we weren’t allowed to play. Most of them were first-person shooters – games with very little depth, tons of action, and excessive amounts of violence. Titles that had hordes of mothers up in arms against the evils of video games, yet aroused the curiosity and fascination of countless others.

Wolfenstein: The New Order wants to take you back to those days; a time when self-regenerating health was still a long way off, and any respectable action hero could carry at least six weapons, from pistols to rocket launchers. Back then, taking on your enemies armed with nothing but two guns and knife was just boring. Has this savage shooter managed to walk the fine line between up-to-date technology and classic gameplay? Read the test review to find out.

Once upon a time

On May 8, 1945, World War II ended in Europe. Like the novel Fatherland, Wolfenstein asks the question, what would have happened if history had taken a different turn at this critical moment?

Wolfenstein: The New Order takes place in an alternate universe where the Nazis from previous Wolfenstein games have used secret ancient technologies to assume almost total world domination. Under the leadership of General Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse, the Nazis have been locking up (or worse) their political and ideological enemies, along with all the other undesirables. In 1960, in an asylum somewhere in Poland, mankind’s last hope awakens from a coma – B.J. Blaskowicz is back!

But first things first. Wolfenstein: The New Order begins shortly after the events of 2009’s Wolfenstein. The prologue has B.J. and his comrades in the middle of a massive, desperate attack on Deathshead’s fortress in the final years of the war. One of B.J.’s brothers in arms bears a striking resemblance to House from the TV series of the same name, but that’s a different issue. At the very beginning of the game, the player is faced with a tough moral decision that’s supposed to increase the game’s replay value. But simply put, the only thing it really affects is whether you’ll be picking locks or shorting out electronic devices. While the result of your decision will have different effects on the storyline (recounted in some nice-looking cut scenes), it’s not exactly the thing that’s going to have you blasting your way through the levels again. And it’s not really necessary, either. The gripping storyline really does a great job of drawing the player in, and it’s good enough that not a few gamers will find themselves starting a new game after a while. After all, who doesn’t re-read a good book every now and then?

I should also mention here that there are different ways to play most situations in the game. Whether you’re sneaking around and using your knife to kill in the shadows, or going at your enemies with two assault rifles blazing, Wolfenstein: The New Order offers a tremendous amount of variety for a simple shooter. It stays true to its roots at all times, though, and at no point does it become a pure stealth title.

The story revolves around the Resistance, new love, and the ever-present Nazi regime. It’s suspenseful, it’s exciting, and only rarely does it show any weaknesses, and they’re not really all that significant anyway. But if you’re the kind of person who balks at over-the-top heroics or classic ‘80s one-man army action movies, then this Wolfenstein game isn’t going to be your thing. At times, Wolfenstein: The New Order is good enough to win over even its critics, and certain scenes are impressive portrayals of all the madness of the Nazi regime and the ideology that drove it. When Captain Blaskowicz sneaks into a prison camp, the atmosphere of the place has chilling parallels to the real history of Nazi Germany. Of course, this game resolves the situation in the most heavy-handed way possible – with hot lead and lots of explosions. But images of tiled hallways where people are divided into those fit for slave labor and those sent to their deaths really leave a mark on the viewer.

At this time I’d like to say something about laws regarding the portrayal of Nazi imagery and the rewriting of games and other media that often comes with it, particularly in Germany. I think that in games like this, all the madness and the profound disregard for human life shown by the Nazi regime should be portrayed clearly. Not that this would make Wolfenstein an educational platform or anything. At no point does the violent gameplay and alternate history plot cross into any sort of pedagogical territory, but it is amazing how even a medium such as this has moments that can make you stop and think about serious issues.

Decent graphics

The graphics in Wolfenstein: The New Order aren’t anything new. Don’t get me wrong – the visuals are really well done, but sometimes you can really see the weaknesses of the id Tech 5 engine, weaknesses which have been apparent since 2011’s Rage. Cut scenes, on the other hand, are extraordinary, and manage to breathe virtual life into all of the game’s characters. Sometimes the graphics are great – the depiction of coffee sloshing around in a cup, for example, is just about brilliant. But this only makes those weak spots all the more jarring, like when a wall is covered with ambiguous bland textures. When you visit the surface of the moon later in the game, the background almost looks like it did in a certain controversial game from the 90s with a blond hero famous for his macho one-liners.

“There is a house in New Berlin…”

The music and voice synchronization in Wolfenstein: The New Order are well done all-around. Perhaps one of the only real problems is that during heated battles, voiceovers tend to get lost amid all the explosions and the like. But there’s a subtitle option, so that helps.

One thing that deserves special mention here are the wide variety of details found in game that really put the finishing touches on this fictional world. Newspaper clippings and notes strewn all over the game really bring this world and its history to life, providing it with a tremendous amount of depth. The soundtrack in Wolfenstein: The New Order is amazing, and you can collect records featuring classic 1960s pop music reimagined to fit an alternate history where the Nazis won World War II. Classics like “House of the Rising Sun” are recast as German-language pop songs (“Es steht ein Haus in Neu-Berlin…”), and other songs are clear parodies of acts like the Monkees and the Beach Boys. The creepy absurdity of it all is bound to make you smile, even if a bit uneasily, and the excellent selection of pieces is a lot of fun all across the board. It’s almost frightening just how much depth and atmosphere this brilliant feature manages to add to Wolfenstein: The New Order, and it does so in a discreet manner that really draws you into the game’s dystopian alternate reality.

Out of ammo?

One of the few real criticisms I have of Wolfenstein: The New Order is the way you have to manually pick up every weapon and item. Old school gameplay is great and all, but back in those days all you had to do was walk over items to pick them up. It might seem like I’m nit-picking here, but it gets frustrating really quick when you’re low on health and ammo after gunning down a room full of bad guys and then have to select and confirm each and every weapon, every helmet, and every medipack.

Hold on, medipack? Yes! Wolfenstein: The New Order is out of pace with most modern games on this, and that’s a good thing. Blaskowicz’s health only regenerates a little bit, so if you’ve got a mind to survive, then you’d better find medipacks, food, and pieces of body armor to fill up your health and armor. Like in the original, B.J.’s not exactly picky about his food, and will even eat out of a dog bowl on the ground as long as it gives him the health he badly needs.

Another complaint I have is the laser cutter Blaskowicz finds in the course of the game. While it does develop later into the “LaserKraftwerk”, which can become a useful tool and powerful weapon, the laser cutter is basically a poor man’s blowtorch with a fancy name. Just cutting through a simple chain link fence can degenerate into several minutes of messing around that unnecessarily keeps you from enjoying the game. I get what they’re trying to do here, but the tool’s just a pain in the neck to use. Like I said, once you’ve gone all Tim Taylor on it and have what’s like the Binford 3000 version in your hands, things change quickly, but at first you’re just going to have to remember that patience is a virtue.