Reviews// Wolfenstein: The New Order

The game plays much like an early MoH game, and that’s to it credit. I always liked those games, which let you creep and snipe, or go in with both barrels blazing.

From a technical perspective, Wolfenstein: The New Order is far from revolutionary. It doesn’t look like a PS4/XBone game from a graphical perspective. In fact it barely looks better than the very best of last generation’s games. But what it does deliver is solid, enjoyable gameplay... and for my money, that’s what videogames should be about, rather than technical showboating and lush graphics applied over dull levels.

The level design are what makes or breaks this kind of action shooter, and they are Wolfenstein: The New Order’s greatest strength.

The levels are linear enough to guide you to your objective without you having to refer to the map too frequently; but they are also free-roaming enough to make them interesting.

They also provide you with various options for outflanking Nazis who are giving you trouble from one particular line of approach. The levels are well supplied with a selection of deformable crates, which often contain goodies like health and ammunition.

Sometimes level traversal requires you to explore and find a switch to open or a key to unlock a door. So it’s wise to keep an eye open while exploring for other goodies that are lying around.

The levels themselves are wonderful, and Neo-Berlin is an amazing, if somewhat strangely empty, place to see, borrowing aspects of Albert Speer’s Welthauptstadt Germania. 

There is a large array of weapons to be found, either lying around levels or by looted from the corpses of those you have slain. Collecting these pick-ups requires a key press for each item. You can't collect ammo and health merely by walking over, and this becomes a little tiresome at times.

When I put it like that, it sounds quite seedy. But let's remember that these are Nazis we’re slaying, and not just the “I was only doing following orders” type of Nazis. It's the willing, jackboot-in-the-face-of-civil-society-style Nazis: the kind who would not just kill your cat, but would have sex with its corpse too.

The great thing about having Nazis as the enemy in any game is that, unlike the Soviets or non-specific brownish coloured terrorists, there are no shades of grey here. No nuances.

The Nazis are the 20th century's great baddies, with hearts as black as their Hugo Boss designed uniforms. Stylish they may be, but sympathetic they are not. So it’s OK to slaughter them with impunity.

Ammunition is occasionally scarce, and you may sometimes have to resort to hand to hand melee combat while you find a new supply.

These sections increase the dramatic tension of the game. Until, that is, you’ve played through them so many times that you begin to get frustrated. If you do, you can always dial back the difficulty level until you’ve had a few practice run-throughs, and then dial it back up for your victory lap.

Unlike, for example, Medal of Honor of old, you’re not just fighting good old-time Nazis, with their Lugers, MP38s and grenades that look like lollipops. No, you’re fighting Nazis with a space program and laser rifles.

In this alternate universe, robotised dogs, flying gun turrets and hyper-modern armoured vehicles are the least of your worries. As you battle through a seemingly endless onslaught of Nazis, you’ll end up fighting giant robots controlled by disembodied human brains, and then fighting in control of the same robots.

All in all Wolfenstein: The New Order, has a wonderful B-movie feel about it. It is also reminiscent of Resistance: Fall of Man, in that you are fighting an oppressing force that has advanced technology.

Pros
+ Great level design
+ Well designed and interesting environments
+ Good characterisation and story

Cons
- Not innovative
- Annoying key-press to collect pick-ups.
- Solid but unimpressive graphics

SPOnG Score: 4/5