I have bought a lot of video games; what I haven’t done is beat a lot of video games. For whatever reason, I’ve decided to go back and give some of these games another shot: this is the Backlog.

This Week’s Game: Wolfenstein: The New Order

Oh good lord, really? Am I really going to do one of these on a game that came out last year? No. NO. We’re done. I’m not going do this anymore. New plan: write about whatever game interested me in a given week, regardless of age.

This week’s game is still Wolfenstein: The New Order. I’m just dispensing with that Backlog nonsense.

So, Wolfenstein. I have a fondness for Wolfenstein as a franchise, with Wolfenstein 3D being my first introduction to the wild world of First Person Shooters. Kind of apropos, given that it was also pretty much one of the first FPS games made. It was also my introduction to Shareware, because I never actually obtained the full Wolfenstein 3D license, so all I had was that glorious Shareware game to keep me company (see also: Doom, Quake). Return to Castle Wolfenstein was a great game that I could only play at a friend’s house because I didn’t have a computer capable of running it, and the 2009 Wolfenstein I missed out on, which I regret. It seemed cool. I totally read the plot summary on Wikipedia, though, so I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what’s been done with the series to this point and I also know who that wheelchair lady and Death’s Head are, and what they mean to newly made-into-a-real-boy B.J. Blaskowitz.

Can we talk for a moment about how amazing it is that the guy who was once basically an animated .gif at the bottom of the screen now suddenly has character motivations and inner monologue and observations on man’s inhumanity to man and, of course, a ladyfriend with whom he has what is definitely the most tastefully done sex scene ever put into a game. In a word, he has depth, which is generally not something that one finds in FPS protagonists. Really, from what I’ve played so far the story itself is a bit more than one finds in the average FPS, and certainly vastly more intricate than I expected a Wolfenstein game to have.

But it’s not all about the story. It’s about ethics in games journalism gameplay as well. The New Order touts a mixture of action and stealth gameplay that, quite frankly, I didn’t at all believe would work. Imagine my surprise when the promised stealth gameplay not only existed, but was surprisingly well-done and satisfying to play. Add it to the pile of “I wasn’t expecting to find that in a Wolfenstein game” features that The New Order has. The gunplay is predictably satisfying, which I mean, if you’re going to make a Wolfenstein game, please make sure the guns feel good. The auto shotgun, in particular, is the most fun I’ve had with a shotgun since Halo. Enemies are tough (but not too tough), and encounters know juuuust when they’re about to overstay their welcome (I also wasn’t expecting a Wolfenstein game with quiet moments).

This is a game that shouldn’t be good. The fact that it shipped without multiplayer means it shouldn’t be successful. I think that the ability of the developer to focus on just the campaign is what gave it the ability to be so great. I hope that the success of The New Order (It was successful, right? Of course it was) means that the single-player FPS will be a more viable option for developers in the future. I think I could get used to more games like The New Order in my life. I’m gonna go play it some more right now!

Stay tuned, because next on my list of things to talk about is Puyo Puyo Tetris. Not here, though. Somewhere else. Next week? Let’s say next week.

Hey, did you miss me while I was gone? I missed me while I was gone. I also recorded a few more podcasts. If you ever wanted to know what it sounds like when you are shouting into the void and nobody gives a fuck, give it a listen! It’ll make you never want to try podcasting yourself, and that is a service I am happy to keep providing.