Wolfenstein: The New Order

I was about 3 hours into Wolfenstein: The New Order when I realized something.I cared about the characters I had met in the game. Which isn’t something I find happening all that often in games in general. And I didn’t expect it from a new entry in a 20 year old series about shooting Nazis. But Wolfenstein: The New Order isn’t just another shooter.Yet oddly it's also one of the best shooters I've played in a long time.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is the latest game in the long running “Wolfenstein” series. But it’s not being developed by series creators id Software. Instead The New Order is being developed by a new studio, MachineGames. Made up of developers who all worked on The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and The Darkness, its group of game makers who have a knack for creating interesting and different feeling shooters.

Early on The New Order feels different from many popular shooters of today. There is a dedicated lean button, L1 on PS4, as well as a weapon wheel. Players’ health only partially regenerates and only a small amount, meaning you will have to be looking for health packs and food items. You also can find pieces of armor to grab, just like Doom. When you reach the end of a level you usually see some sort of “Exit Level” prompt. The whole game feels like a love letter to older shooters. But MachineGames doesn’t only rely on nostalgia or ideas from shooters of old.

Unlike many shooters from the past, and to some extent today, Wolfenstein: The New Order actually tells a story that I enjoyed. I found myself invested in and actually caring about what happens next.

You start the game during a aerial and naval assault on Deathshead, the man who is now in charge the of powerful and technologically advanced Nazi army. Things go south and you get blown out a window and knocked into a semi-coma. Over the next 16 years you wait and get taken care of in a Polish Asylum for injured and mentally disturbed. But the Nazis attack and you snap out of it in time to fight them off and escape with your caregiver, Anya. You then join the small and barely existent resistance and from there help them to try and beat the Nazis and Deathshead.

On paper the story isn’t the most original idea. One man helps a small but dedicated ragtag group of people to overthrow a large and evil army/empire. Its not a new idea. But the way MachineGames tells the story is what elevates it to something more than just a reason to shoot stuff.

A lot of this has to do with the characters who feel real. The way they speak and act, the writing and facial work all combine to create some amazing characters. Some are here to help BJ, the long running protagonist of the Wolfenstein games, others are here to do great harm to BJ and the people he cares about. I had genuine disgust and hatred for some characters and genuinely liked and cared about others. Not many shooters evoke that feeling, hell not many games evoke that feeling.

Towards the end the story does start to lose some steam, which isn’t a big surprise considering the game took me about 13-14 hours to complete. And a few sections of the game in the middle felt a bit too “Go here and get me this then come back.”But even if the game’s narrative had fallen flat, I think I would of still enjoyed this game because it has some of the best and most satisfying shooting and combat controls I’ve experienced in a while.

The game’s guns have real weight to them.From a standard assault rifle or pistol to more exotic weapons like a laser rifle. They all feel like large and loud weapons. Firing a machine gun down a tight concrete corridor is a loud and violent feeling. And when you shoot enemies, like Nazi soldiers, they react accordingly. Arms and legs fly off, heads explode, blood splatters across walls and you even blow bits of them onto the ceiling where it slowly peels and falls off. Its grotesque. But it needs to be. It makes the guns and explosives feel more dangerous and therefore more fun to use when your enemies are exploding and flying apart.

The shooting has a real visceral feel to it. At anytime you can lean up, down, left or right. Just by using the L1 button and an analog stick you can lean in and out of cover, under doors or over small walls. It feels great to stretch your assault rifle over a small wall and almost blind fire at a group of enemies. You can also dual wield every weapon in the game including shotguns and knives. Even the little detail of BJ checking the weapon’s clip or messing with the receiver when you are walking around helped make me feel more connected to the weapon.

Moving in Wolfenstein: The New Order is smooth and feels nice. But there is a sense that you, BJ, are heavy and not just a floating camera with a gun in front of you. You can slide, and while you slide you can even shoot and quickly pop up or into cover. It all feels easy and fun to do. Sometimes I had an issue with trying to climb over small railing or ledges. Bj would sometimes vault over these, other times he would just jump into them and not clear them. It felt inconsistent and at times cost me some health from enemies firing at me.

Outside of the occasional issue of jumping railings, I enjoyed the way the combat felt and the way you moved around the levels fighting enemies. These enemies felt smart, at times even catching me off guard and killing me. Sometimes they would flank me if I didnt keep my on them. Though I did run into some enemies who would get stuck on a wall or just stand still as I ran at them firing my shotgun. Still the general feeling I got was that these enemies could kill me and I was always a bit careful, because if you get to “Rambo” you will quickly be reminded of what shooters were like before regen health. But I actually enjoyed those moments.

Low on health and ammo I had to improvise, using grenades, melee or even some basic but fun stealth. Barely making it through an encounter and then finding a large health pack and some ammo was such a rewarding feeling and The New Order gave me that feeling throughout the campaign.

MachineGames adds a few wrinkles to the shooting with mixed results. Throwing knives and a laser cutting weapon are used here and there. I found the knives to be nearly worthless, as you can usually get up behind someone faster and easier. The laser cutting weapon allows you to well...cut stuff. This is used to get into some metal crates or to create openings in vents or fences. Its a nice idea but it felt a bit weird and awkward to use. And switching between it and the other weapons, weapons I enjoyed using much more, was a bit annoying. There is also a perk system, which give you small upgrades like faster reloading but its so basic and honestly I forgot it was even in the game.

Visually the game looks pretty damn good. Playing on the PS4 I found the framerate to be a solid 60 throughout and visually the world has a neat look to it.The art design is wonderful. Things feel industrial and lacking emotion. Guns feel like tools not sexy instruments. Signs and buildings feel very utilitarian and oppressing. The idea of a 1960’s world controlled by Nazis is fascinating and the game includes some nice and weird elements of the 60’s corrupted and changed by the Nazi regime. Though I did have some issues with the animations and some texture pop in as well. But overall I was pleased with the game and some of the lighting is amazing, especially in darker areas of the game.

There is no multiplayer or co-op elements in Wolfenstein: The New Order. No “Tablet/second screen experience” . No mode where you fight off zombies or some social elements like sharing stuff to Facebook. This is a hardcore and well made single player shooter. The developers focused on making a single player game and didn't worry about fluff or adding extra modes. And the results are that The New Order feels focused and highly polished, more so than most games I've played this year.

Thinking about my experience with Wolfenstein: The New Order I realized there wasn’t anything I hated in the game. Just a few issues here and there. But none of these issues are major or ever really caused me to feel like I was having less fun with the game. Good job MachineGames. You guy and gals made one hell of game.