Wolfenstein: Alt History is the Best History
The game opens in an alternate 1946 where the Nazi army has pushed the Allied forces to the brink of destruction with a series of highly advanced armaments, including robots, genetically altered super-soldiers, and nuclear weapons. B.J. Blazkowicz, traditional hero of the Wolfenstein series and Nazi-killing machine is tasked with assassinating General Wilhelm ‘Deathshead’ Strasse, the Nazi scientist responsible for the Nazi’s shiny new tech. He fails.
It’s now 1960 and the Third Reich has conquered the entire world, erecting concrete monuments to their tyranny and crushing the world under their iron thumb; Blazkowicz, who has been out of commission since the disastrous ‘46 raid, is thrust into this nightmare world and forced to make a stand against overwhelming odds.
The setting of Wolfenstein is solid pulp sci-fi fare replete with laser guns and swastika-toting mechs. The cast of characters is excellent, but frustratingly under-explored; shooting gasmask-clad SS always takes precedence over exploring the motivations of your fellow resistance members, it feels as though they are teasing a larger fiction without ever delving into it. The story also feels somewhat tonally inconsistent; it leans hard into the cheesy sci-fi elements of the story while also trying to delve into philosophical ramblings on war and the nature of evil, and the mixture of the two makes the story feel somewhat unsettling.
The enemy design is interesting it that they do an excellent job of making it feel consistent; the foes you encounter in ‘60 look like the natural evolution of the nascent technology shown in ‘46 and they feel cohesive as a whole, the uniforms of the infantry mesh well with the designs of the mechs, vehicles, and robots.
Mechanically the gunplay shines, every weapon can be dual-wielded and all are satisfyingly loud and proficient at turning your foes into a fine red mist. My only complaint with the weapons is that they are standard and boring; I guess with all of the robots and cyborgs running around I expected something more outlandish than assault rifles and shotguns.
The game takes cues from earlier Wolfenstein games by forgoing regenerating health in favor of health and armor pickups; this creates a pleasant tension in the firefights as the player is is forced to move about, hiding behind cover and waiting for the red to recede from the corners of the screen is impossible. The game smartly offers optional stealth sections where a little bit of caution, and an insanely powerful silenced pistol, allow you to pick off some(or all) of your enemies before the ‘real’ shooting starts; you are never penalized for ignoring the stealth sections, but they offer a nice change of pace from the bombastic run-and-gun sections of the game.
The levels are linear but leave just enough room for cleverly hidden secrets and side passages which, along the dearth of collectables and constant need for health, armor, and ammo make exploration not only a necessity, but genuinely enjoyable. Early in the game the player is forced to make a choice which splits the ‘timeline’ of the game, essentially creating two distinct playthroughs, with different characters and skills, and while the story doesn’t change too terribly much it is a small addition which makes multiple playthroughs more desirable.
All in all Wolfenstein: The New Order is an entertaining and explosive shooter; and though it stumbles when presenting the story the solid gameplay and excellent enemy and level design make it a worthy addition to the Wolfenstein series and a worthwhile experience for any player.
