Bombin' the A.M. With Scoops and the Wolf: 05/23/2014

Please do not kill off the Giant Bomb east podcast! I know you guys will be making changes, but something like this has to stay - it's been the highlight of the last year.

Alex's smiling face is proof that Vinny warms even the coldest of hearts.

I have not seen Alex smile like that in a long time. Positive Vinnyvibes are already in effect!

Got three hours into Wolfenstein today, and boy is it good. The gunplay feels great, the design is open enough to reward tactical play, the pacing made it very hard to put down, and the narrative has kept me quite interested so far.

I don't care if it's nothing new. It's refined and extremely well put-together, and that counts for a lot in my book.

Yep, I agree as well. It's like saying: 'Why is Enemy Unknown titled XCOM? It's almost depressing that it's good'.

The New Order is a Wolfenstein game. If it wasn't called Wolfenstein, then I would've told you it was a Wolfenstein game. All the key elements are there right down to eating the dog food for +4 overcharged health. Not just that, it manages to take all the old-school elements and make them work very well in a manner you would expect today.

I also agree with @csl316 in that the pacing of the narrative and game in general is really well done. I would have never expected this game to be as good as it is. They are putting everything they possibly could into it. I don't think they could ever create a sequel to this that is as good as this game is, but if they manage to do it, I would love to play it.

Aw... Alex is so excited to be getting a buddy! It's adorable!

@soapy86: that statement blew me away. So obnoxious and pretentious. Yeah, I totally hate when fantastic first person shooters with some depth (gameplay and story wise) come around.

That statement is an clear example of why I rarely listen to Bombing the A.M. any more.

I also don't understand how one can give their opinion on a game after only playing the first 30 minutes. I've only read the first 10 pages of Harry Potter and you won't hear me giving my opinion on the entire series.

I disagree with Alex in believing the other characters in Wolfenstein aren't fleshed out. There are loads of great character moments and interactions that happen on missions or in the hideout that can be missed. Klaus and Max Hass' father-son relationship because his own family was killed when he was a Nazi. BJ monologuing to himself as he's swimming in the sewers about his childhood for partaking in silly dares. All the NPC conversations in the concentration camp that reminded me of a lot of Riddick where everyone has an interesting story to tell, you even find out Frau Engel's origins through one of those. J bringing up race relations that even when there aren't Nazis, people like BJ are still the Nazis. J and Wyatt bonding over their love of playing music.

Tekla and BJ over determinism in a pretty fantastic scene of Chapter 9 if you go to sleep. Tekla and Fergus on prediction equations vs real work, which leads to this amazing line:

Caroline being a straight up badass.

That tweet Patrick Klepek mentions was pretty stupid because that person was positing that Wolfenstein TNO gameplay hasn't changed since 1992 compared to graphics, which is a pretty ridiculous claim and he then showed ignorance that he hadn't even played the game so he had no idea how refreshing the gameplay is from current shooters (dual wielding, no need to aim down sights, maze-like maps rather than corridor linear levels, stealth vs guns blazing options), how it added mechanics and how the game isn't just about shooting everyone but has has great storytelling, some choices, and more.

Also, Machinegames kindly asked if anyone else was working on the Wolfenstein IP because the designers had a love for that game and Quake demo scene, rather than Bethesda forcing it on them. The Polygon article is a worthy read.

@patrickklepek@alex there's a typo in the video description. The verb "is" is missing after "Wolfenstein".

I could swear I wrote this here before.

When Alex talked about how he thought he missed part of Transistor's opening, I had to laugh because I had the exact same thought when I played it. I actually ended up restarting after about ten minutes because I was so sure I missed something.