"Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus" Review

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is the sequel to a game that I didn't play: Wolfenstein: The New Order, and it's a great example of why you shouldn't give up on a game too quickly. I legitimately hated every second of my first night playing this game, and I found myself dreading having to start it up again the next day. The problem was that it looked and felt like Doom (and soundtrack composer Mick Gordon returning to metal didn't help that feeling), but it's not supposed to be played like Doom. I ended up getting my behind handed to me over and over and over again, even after I'd adjusted to the more stealth-oriented gameplay style I was expected to use. I ended up turning the difficulty down to wimpy baby mode just to make progress because I felt the stealth was a tad unmanageable in the first few hours. Even on wimpy baby mode, however, it took me so many tries to make progress. I ended up thinking the words "f*** this game" several times, and I ended up actually saying it out loud at around my tenth death. Maybe I was just bad at it, who knows? In any case, it felt like death was unavoidable in the beginning, and I was inclined to stop playing and just put out an article saying that I hated this game too much to do an objective review. But I cracked my knuckles and decided to give Wolfenstein another chance. Much to my surprise, after getting through the initial few hours, The New Colossus ended up being quite good. So, children, don't give up on things too quickly. You might miss out on a truly high quality first person shooter.

The year is 1961. The allied forces lost WWII, and as a result, the whole world is controlled by the Nazis. You play as iconic Wolfenstein protagonist BJ Blaskowicz, a soldier fighting to liberate America from the Nazis. In the wake of the events of the previous game, general Irene Engel controls the Nazi forces, and she'll stop at nothing to kill you. From there, we have our basic plot. This is an example of a game with plenty of story, but not a lot of plot. Despite how it might seem, those are two completely different things. I was never on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next, but I legitimately enjoyed the little tidbits of the game's story that came through. As you trudge through the fairly lackluster plot, you'll get to learn about BJ's childhood, the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, and his love for his mother. On that note, it's important that you know that this game has a very distressing few opening cutscenes. Players who are especially sensitive to the subject of child or domestic abuse had better steer clear, because Wolfenstein doesn't shy away from the realities of the subject. The positives and the negatives of our protagonist's childhood play into certain events of the plot, and there was one moment in particular that actually had me tearing up. When the game gives out story moments, the effect is tangible. It's just such a shame that there wasn't more of a focus on these little subplots like BJ and his love interest, Anya, being on the verge of parenthood. It isn't a game breaker, but I really wish the game would've leaned on its character subplots more than its overarching one.
Part of the reason for this is that the characters are one of the game's biggest strengths. The fact that I was able to get attached to these people despite not having spent the previous game with them is a testament to this game's writing and development. Even Blaskowicz himself was endearing to me. The one character for whom my opinion goes back and forth on is our villain, General Engel. She is perhaps the most over-the-top villain in recent memory. I get the sense that she's meant to be completely overdramatic, but in most cases I just kind of found her annoying. Maybe once I've had a little more time to let the game settle in my mind, I'll be able to appreciate her as a villain, but she just gave me a headache. Other than her, though, the characters were great, if a little under-utilized.

Now, before I move on to gameplay, I'd like to address some of the reactions I've seen to this game. People seem to be offended that this game encourages murdering Nazis. Let me be absolutely clear. Unlike what your average Tumblr sociologist might say, in the case of Wolfenstein, the word "Nazi" does not mean "someone who isn't 100% liberal." It means literal, holocaust-causing, anti-American Nazis. If you're a patriot like I am, you ought to be overjoyed at the prospect of murdering every single Nazi you come across. Look, if you're a longtime reader, you know that I only ever bring up political aspects of a game to inform readers, but in this case I feel the need to take a firmer stance. I am the furthest thing from what you might call a SJW. My politics are decidedly Libertarian. SJWs (and I mean actual ones, not "any liberal who voices concerns about my opinion") tend to get under my skin. Now that you know that about me, let me be clear: Killing Nazis isn't an SJW concept. It's an American concept. Right wing, left wing, centrist, libertarian, apathetic, it's a part of American history that people of all creeds went overseas to kill Nazis. Why am I bringing all this up? Because now that I'm publishing this review, there may be some who want to criticize my praise for this game and write it off as SJW propaganda. So, I'm here to tell you that if you are a Nazi (and I mean an actual Hitler-saluting, "blood and soil", holocaust-supporting Nazi), get off of my blog. I don't need your readership, and America doesn't need you. I support uninhibited freedom of speech, but with that being the case, I have the right to point out that every last one of you are traitors, and the last thing this country needs is a bunch of inbreds like you hogging up the oxygen. Right wingers, left wingers, even people on the complete far sides of the spectrum like Nationalists and Socialists, all are welcome at the Right Trigger. However, traitors to my country are not. Now, assuming you haven't left, let's talk about how exactly this game made the act of gunning down Nazis fun.

Gameplay is made up of stealth and gunplay, with definite emphasis on stealth. It's possible to go through this game guns blazing, but it'll be much more difficult if you do that. Now, stealth is actually pretty difficult in this game, so unless you're freakishly good, chances are you won't be able to make it through every section unnoticed. Thing is, though, I get the sense it's meant to be that way. The only real reason to use stealth is to take out the commanders, who will call for reinforcements if you're spotted. There will be one or two of these commanders scattered throughout an area, and you'll want to sneak to them and take them out quietly. Once all commanders have been dealt with, you can go in guns blazing if you like, but it's a good idea to utilize stealth anyway just to thin out the number of Nazis that'll be shooting at you. Once it all hits the fan, though, it's a pretty good time. The Nazis didn't win WWII in this universe due to sheer luck. Pretty much every enemy has pinpoint accuracy, so this is decidedly not a Doom kind of shooter. Surviving gunplay in Wolfenstein means keeping your wits about you, utilizing the environment to your advantage, and keeping an eye on how much ammo you have left. Even on wimpy baby difficulty, if you aren't doing these things, you're not going to last long. This is an old school shooter, meaning that there's no regenerating health. You have your health bar and your armor bar, and you can only replenish these things with medical items and pieces of armor. So, if you do something stupid and you finish a fight with only 20 health and no armor, it's going to hurt in the next encounter. That's another good reason to utilize stealth as much as you can. The less Nazis shooting at you, the better off you're going to end up being the next time you enter combat. It's all about the big picture, not just shootout to shootout, in other words. Guns feel powerful, and there's plenty of enemy feedback to make you feel like you've actually shot someone, not just a character model. Also, despite this not being a Doom kind of shooter, the gameplay is fast-paced all the same. You'll find yourself ducking behind cover, sprinting to another spot (shooting at an enemy while doing so), lobbing a grenade then taking off in the opposite direction, all in the course of a few seconds. It's a smarter kind of fast-paced, but it's fast-paced nonetheless.

Now we've arrived at the technical side of things and...well...this is where things kind of start to fall apart. Granted, Bethesda has its hands in this, so it's hardly surprising, but still. Firstly, the level design is pretty uninspired. It's all tight industrial corridors and ruined buildings. There are only two levels that I thought were well-done, and the rest were "meh" enough that I did find myself getting a little bored, even with the great gameplay. Secondly, non-combat movement is incredibly rigid and clunky. For instance, at one point I was on sort of a catwalk on top of a pool of water. I fell off of this catwalk and couldn't get back on. So, I had to swim over to a piece of the surrounding area and jump over the railing (because for some reason, you can't climb over railing normally like in just about every other Bethesda nostalgia game) in order to keep going. Likewise, whenever I had to drop down a hole, I'd have to try it a couple of times before I'd actually fall. Later in the game, you get to choose from one of three upgrades, and I couldn't get the one I wanted because I experienced a glitch where I couldn't progress. I tried to choose this upgrade three times, and every time, some event in the code of this game wouldn't fire, and I wouldn't be able to progress. Thirdly, the HUD in this game is a disaster. Subtitles for the german would often clash with colors in the background, preventing me from being able to read them. The "hint" feature that shows you where to go is practically invisible, meaning that I had to constantly mash the button and turn around slowly in order to find the minuscule icon. Seriously, did nobody play test this game? If they did, did they never use the hint feature? So, yeah, Wolfenstein is a technical mess. On the upside, the game looks gorgeous and it maintains a pretty consistent 60 fps throughout, even with tons of Nazis on screen. In addition, Mick Gordon is on a freakin' roll. Following his excellent Doom and Prey soundtracks, Gordon adds yet another fantastic metal soundtrack to his repertoire. It isn't as good as Doom's, but it still had me nodding my head as I played.

Folks, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a great game, but it has problems. A terrible first few hours coupled with a whole host of technical problems ensures that this game is not the masterpiece that it could have been. However, if you're brave enough to face these issues, what you'll find is a quality fps, and one of this year's best (and messiest) releases.

Let us review:

Terrible opening few hours - 1.0
Many technical issues - 1.0

The final score for Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is...

8.0/10 - Good
Excellent work, MachineGames, excellent work.