Game Review: Wolfenstein The New Order

This game has no right being as good as it is.

There. I’ve said it.

Wolfenstein: the New Order from Machine Games is an action adventure first person shooter (FPS) set in an alternate version of 1960’s Europe where the Nazis won the war. You play as special forces operative Captain William “B.J” Blazkowicz, who is on a self appointed mission to rid the world of the new Nazi rule.

In this alternate timeline, the Nazi’s have stolen technology from an advanced secret society and used it to give themselves an advantage against the allies. The game starts you off in 1946, the point where the Nazis start to turn the tide of the war. You, accompanied by pilot Fergus Reid and Private Probst Wyatt III, start the game off storming a Nazi fortress and weapon’s laboratory run by you’re arch nemesis General Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse (from the 2009 Wolfenstein predecessor). Through bad luck and a penchant for suicide missions, the three of you are captured by the Nazis and you are forced to make an uncomfortable choice as the game controller which of your companions- Fergus or Wyatt- you will continue the game with.

Where as the choice you make here does not alter the main plot, it does impact the rest of your game play as far as dialogue and subplots. For those RPG/videogame voice actor buffs, the big difference is if you spare Fergus you get to play the rest of the game with Gideon Emery (Fenris from Dragon Age 2 & Balthier from Final Fantasy XII) as your buddy. For those of you not up on your video game voice actors, go with your guts- the game plays out just fine either way.

You do not have the option to pick neither. I know. I tried. In that instance everyone dies and you have to restart, so no high road for you to take here folks. A last minute, last-ditch escape effort by you and your remaining/non sacrificed buddy to escape an incinerator results in freedom accompanied by head trauma. As you can see your character starts off with some seriously bum deals in the trade-offs department.

Fast-forward 14 years later you are a patient in a Polish psychiatric ward in a semi-vegetative state. The game and story kicks back in full throttle when the Nazis rear their heads once again to shut down the hospital- meaning put down the patients and shoot the Polish family running the place…

And that’s where the spoilers would begin and I’ll stop.

The visual design of the game has a serious Steampunk element, and yes, I’m using the term Steampunk even though this is WW2. Many of the gadgets and pieces of technology that appear throughout the game borrow heavily from the Steampunk genre, so let’s just all call it what it is. Of course this is a game, so medpacs (healing potions) and Chargers are readily available. There’s a fun observation about every time you pick up a helmet or spare piece metal it ups your armor, hinting that you’re a walking pile of scrap metal as illustrated spectacularly by Penny Arcade.

As far as FPSs go, saying Wolfenstein exceeds expectations doesn’t quite do it justice. Rarely does a first person shooter put this much time and effort into developing characters, story lines, and plots, and Wolfenstein succeeds with flying colors. As dark and menacing as the game designers built this world I found myself drawn in and riveted by the story and the characters B.J. interacts with. There are some great emotional arcs through the main plot and sub plot that make the game worth while on it’s own as a work of fiction.

In the game play department, this feels like a typical FPS reminiscent of Call of Duty, though I hesitate to make that comparison as the plot in Wolfenstein is substantial enough to put it in a class with Fall Out and/or Bioshock- in both game play and quality.

Do you need to play this game? Compared to some of the other big studio blockbuster selections out there (Infamous and Watch Dogs) this is the one I’d take. Hands down it beats the others out in story alone, bringing both originality and some great supporting characters. Even if FPS is not your thing, this is one you probably won’t mind watching someone else play for the cut scenes.

In short, highly recommended as one to play this year.

Time: 14 hours

Non Player Entertainment Quotient: High. The shooting levels aren’t too long and it’ll keep roommates/friends/sig others entertained until the end.

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Kristi Charish – AISFP Contributor

Kristi is a scientist and science fiction/urban fantasy author who resides in Vancouver, Canada. The first installment in her debut urban fantasy series, OWL AND THE JAPANESE CIRCUS, is scheduled for release Jan 2015 through Simon & Schuster Canada/Pocket Books.

She received her BSc and MSc from Simon Fraser University in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and her PhD in Zoology from the University of British Columbia. She is represented by Carolyn Forde at Westwood Creative Artists.

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