Working Through Ye Olde Backlog--Wolfenstein: The New Order

I have a habit of occasionally grabbing the Epic Games giveaway games--the titles up on offer are surprisingly good around the major sale dates.  Unfortunately this also means that I wind up with a decently sized backlog of games that wind up gathering dust.  Over the holiday break I finished playing the fantastic Pentiment and was looking for something new to play.  During one of the past sales I had grabbed Wolfenstein: The New Order on a whim and decided that indulging in some light Nazi slaying sounded pretty fun.  I'm not big into shooters, but I actually found myself having a dandy time with The New Order.

The faceless Nazi foot soldier of the New Order.

What is it?

A first-person shooter set in an alternate history timeline where the Nazis actually win World War II and have taken over the entire world.  You play as William "B.J." Blazkowicz, the square jawed, muscle bound, born Nazi killing machine.  There's actually a decent storyline and more than just slaying a bunch of Nazis.

How long does a playthrough take?

I was pleasantly surprised at the length of the game--I believe it clocked in around 14-18 hours.  I would try to find what collectibles I could, but I didn't spend a ton of time searching.  I expected it to be much shorter.

Pros:

+ The shooting and action in the game is a lot of fun.  The New Order was released in 2014, so it's not a shiny, new title, but it still looks good and plays well.  It's pretty standard FPS fare--it's not cover-based, you have health and armor and your goal is to mow down any Nazis that get in your way.

+ The environments offer up a view of the alternate Nazi-ruled world and the story plays out in a wide-variety of locations--huge castles/complexes, the cramped headquarters of the Kreisau resistance, a gigantic Nazi submarine...it's definitely fun to see where B.J. ends up.

+ Figuring out the best way to take out a commander--and even failing--was a lot of fun.  Commanders are unique NPC's who have the ability to trigger an alarm and call in backup squads if they are alerted.  Basically, if you don't want to fight a gaggle of Nazis you need to take them out quickly.  It's very satisfying to sneak around and kill them before they can trigger an alarm...but the chaos when they do trigger an alarm is almost more fun.

+ The cast of characters is surprisingly interesting.  There's Fergus, the bulletproof Scotsman; Caroline, the feisty leader of the resistance; Max Hass, a mentally disabled German giant who was rescued from the murder squads by a former Nazi (and fellow resistance member)...and many more.  I was surprised--most shooters offer up very little in terms of the story and characters.

+ Replayability.  There are numerous types of collectibles and gathering them all definitely requires multiple playthroughs (you know, unless you use guides).  It's very easy to go back and replay an area because the game does offer chapter selection.

+ There are a variety of Nazi baddies to fight and several challenging boss fights.  From the average foot soldier all the way up to the dreaded Super soldier.

Cons:

- Yes, there's a story and it's actually better than what I expected for a shooter, but there are some absolutely ridiculous aspects of that story.  I don't want to spoil anything (even though it is an almost 9 year old game), but you just sort of have tell yourself that it's a bit like watching an action movie--not everything is going to be realistic.  The Nazi leaders are comically evil.

- I disliked the weapon selection wheel and found it to be difficult to use.  It slows down gameplay and I would much rather mash the number keys to swap out guns.  There's also an option to dual-wield weapons--you have to sacrifice your mobility--that I did not enjoy.

Recommendation:

While it's no DOOM, The New Order does offer up a satisfying singleplayer-shooter experience.  The amount of gameplay was surprising and mostly enjoyable.  You just have to sort of scoff at the more ridiculous parts of the story and remember that in the end Wolfenstein is a game about shooting an almost endless number of Nazi baddies--and it does Nazi killing really well.  For a game that I received for free--but, also one that can be found on the very cheap during sales, it's a fun singleplayer shooter that will scratch that shooter itch that pops up from time to time.