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DOOMED Half-Life

As is so often the case, I'm a little late to the party. Wolfenstein: The New Order was released back in 2014 and was hailed by many as a surprise hit at the time. So why did I miss the game? Well, this time I even have a convincing reason for my tardiness. Wolfenstein: The New Order was released in a cut version in Germany at the time. Not only because of the level of violence, but also because of its content. Due to § 86a StGb, which prohibits the depiction of anti-constitutional symbols and organizations, a version was released in these countries from which all references to the Nazis had been removed. Instead they became the so-called Regime, and the symbols were replaced. That's not a problem in itself, I have enough imagination to picture the 3rd Reich. Nevertheless, these cuts in a game about killing Nazis touched the core of the game a little too much for me.

Fortunately, the ban was overturned in 2019 and since then video games, which are now considered art, have been allowed to depict symbols such as the Nazi swastika. That's why I can now talk about Nazis instead of the 'Regime'. Nazi Nazi Nazi, Hitler, Hitler Hitler ... sorry, had to get it out of my system. After a good 18 hours and an attempt at a 100% run, I can now finally talk about MachineGames' Wolfenstein-reboot in a qualified manner. And like gamers and the gaming press back then, I was very enthusiastic about this title, because it's very good. Not just by 2014 standards, but overall. I'll explain why now.

Alternate history

Even though the story of Wolfenstein: The New Order is above average for a shooter, the basic premise remains quite simple: kill Nazis. The game throws us into a beautifully staged attack against the headquarters of the German General Deathshead, or “Totenkopf” as he calls himself (strange man). The year is 1945, the Americans are in resistance against the technologically advanced Nazis. We embody B.J. Blazkowicz, protagonist of the Wolfenstein-series and Hitler's wet blond boy dream. It is the last great attempt to confront the seemingly overpowering enemy, as the Germans have giant robots, stealth planes, mech dogs and energy weapons at their disposal. How this came about is briefly touched on later. The game makes a real effort to give newcomers like me a proper introduction.

Because unlike DOOM, a game that can only appeal to Bible fans addicted to sin with its convoluted apocalypse story, Wolfenstein attempts to tell a logically comprehensible story. After all, it is about a historical conflict, just with more sci-fi gimmicks. Of course everything is over the top, of course we kill hundreds of enemies single-handedly and of course we end up on the moon at some point in the story because space Nazis. But since it's made clear to us right at the beginning that this is an alternative timeline, it's somehow understandable.

Back to our attack on the German headquarters. After a number of cool script sequences and tutorials, we find ourselves captured by Deathheads henchmen on the floor of a crematorium and have to make a choice: We are to decide which of our fellow brothers-in-arms will be dissected by Deathhead before our very eyes. The New Order is not squeamish when it comes to violence and vividly shows us the cruelty of some Nazis - which seems justified in view of the actual historical events.

Live and let live

From our seemingly fateful decision onwards, the game splits into two separate storylines. What initially sounds like a replay value à la The Witcher 2 where completely different storylines open up as a result of our decision, turns out to be a simple character swap on the second playthrough. Even the usual “You should have chosen him” speech is identical - which is a shame. Because each of the storylines also introduces another character, who doesn't contribute anything to the actual story, but shows that the extra work can be worthwhile. What initially seems like a waste of playing time at least has a certain added value.

But well, I digress. Where was I? Oh yeah, we decide who's going to die, escape from the Nazi stronghold, but get hit in the head during our escape and end up in a coma. Cut. We are in Poland in a care facility and in a vegetative state. We watch the years go by, age. It's 1960 and the Nazis have taken over the world. With that, the game releases us and I release you into an interesting story that perfectly complements the gameplay. I don't want to give too much away, which is why I'll go into the various aspects now.

But one more thing about the story: you have to be able to endure gaps in logic, as we have just seen from this example. After all, we were just near an island in the middle of a siege? Why are we suddenly in Poland? Never mind. While the story shines in many places and presents the characters beautifully, it occasionally fails to provide explanations in order to place us in certain setpieces. This can be annoying, but as it fits in with the action thriller narrative, some questions should simply not be asked, but instead be subjected to the suspense of disbelief, nod and shred.

Skillfully staged

The fact that the story is entertaining despite its over-the-top attitude and gaping holes in logic is mainly due to the cinematic staging. In hardly any other shooter have I seen such beautiful transitions between the individual sequences, such clever ways of storytelling. For example, where in other games communication within the mission simply takes place via radio message, Wolfenstein takes its time at one point and switches to a split screen where we can see what the other party on the receiver is doing. This not only creates a sense of credibility, but also skillfully conceals some time jumps. For example, we see the passing of time during our stay in the home as a time lapse: people come and go, walls are painted, furniture is moved, the seasons fly by.

Every now and then our orderlies talk to us ... in Polish. Unlike in other 'historical' games, the characters in The New Order usually speak to each other in their native language. For me as a German-speaking player, it was therefore a real experience to hear the scenes with German voice actors - good voice actors who don't drift off into theatricality, but deliver their lines authentically when they talk to their comrades. CUT. We're still in the nursing home. Suddenly we are back in the present, time is running normally. We see a commander giving the order to close the facility. As he leaves the room and one of the soldiers is attacked, he kills the family who took care of us. Other Nazis run into the room and ask what happened. “The man tried to stop me from carrying out my orders!” “We had orders not to kill the nurses ... what do we do now?” “I don't know.” Panicked, the soldier begins to shoot the remaining inmates while the others pull an unconscious woman out of the room.

This feels wonderfully authentic and, unlike in other shooters, makes the experience of the story more tangible. Only when B.J. suddenly jumps out of his wheelchair after 15 years and starts shooting away Nazis to save his nurse, it can take you out of the immersion. But The New Order isn't a role-playing game, it's a shooter - and a good one at that. A good shooter without loot. A bloody, lootless good shooter.

Authentic over-the-top action

In contrast to DOOM for example, the arsenal of weapons in Wolfenstein: The New Order is manageable. Knife, pistol, SMG, rifle, shotgun, precision rifle, laser gun. In addition, each weapon has a weapon modification, some of which we unlock through perks. For example, we can eventually throw knives for a silent kill, the pistol has a silencer and the precision rifle can shoot lasers.

That doesn't seem like much at first glance, but I personally prefer to have a few varied weapons rather than an overflowing selection of guns, of which I only really use two when in doubt anyway. Another cool thing is that if we find a second weapon of the same type, we can use both guns at the same time. Although we are no longer able to aim over the sights, wielding two assault rifles like Rambo allows us to blast hordes of enemies out of the levels much more quickly and stylishly. The occasional boss fights are limited to run and gun. Nevertheless, the enemies are formidable.

If that's too crude for you, you can also take the stealth route, sneak up on enemies and kill them silently. Some of the levels are peppered with alternative routes so that we can get to the commanders unnoticed - because only they trigger the alarm and call for reinforcements. However, this does not turn The New Order into a real stealth shooter à la Dishonored, as we have no indicator of how visible we are or the option to pick up and hide corpses, for example.

A pleasant feature is that the game does not force us to play in one way. Regardless of whether we sneak or shoot our way through the levels, we unlock points for our preferred playing style. For example, if we have stabbed enough Nazis silently, we can sprint more quietly at some point. If, on the other hand, we prefer to use explosives, our grenades will stick directly to enemies after enough kills. As is usual for shooters, players with a nervous index finger will get through the levels much faster, but may miss one or two collectables that are hidden all over the maps. These include concept art, gold items, letters and enigma codes. While the former only provide a little more background information and trivia, the enigma codes unlock special game modes. If you want, you can even unlock playing Wolfenstein on the highest difficulty level with permadeath.

Talking about the difficulty level: It can be adjusted flexibly and offers an appropriate experience for all levels of skill. I myself played on the medium difficulty level and never found the game too difficult or unfair, but rather too easy in places. This is because headshots are often fatal and health kits and armor can always be found. Since you can even overheal yourself, you rarely get into trouble with a reasonably good aim. However, this is also partly due to the AI, which makes little effort to be smarter than necessary and sometimes waits stoically behind its cover before sticking its head out for a well-aimed head-rearrangement. However, there were also moments when it flanked me ... which may be due to its spawn behavior. Because when the alarm goes off, reinforcements appear somewhere to make life difficult for us.

Also hardly worth mentioning are the fortunately manageable boss fights, which require no strategic approach but can be solved by mindlessly emptying your arsenal. Wolfenstein wastes a lot of potential here, even if I welcome the basic premise that enemies don't mutate into bullet-eaters where you have to pay more attention to any life bars than actually playing the game. Be that as it may, there's room for improvement here.

Reboot successful

This judgment could certainly be applied to certain aspects of the rest of the game. The story is still tolerably confusing in places, but is somewhat disjointed by the jumps from set piece to set piece, especially towards the end, which makes it seem as if they really wanted to add a moon level or cause a bridge to collapse. The stealth is fun, but could have been better. The laser cutting of fences and metal plates thrilled me the first time, but felt overused after the twentieth crate and then underused when applied in the level. The characters, especially the Nazis, sometimes seem a little pale and could have been better developed.

However, all of these points of criticism would in all likelihood have made Wolfenstein: The New Order a different game - and probably not a better one. Thanks to the condensed story, which is wonderfully brought to the screen by the cutscenes, the game is quick to play without any passages dragging on. In addition, the attention to detail can be appreciated much better, as the game can actually be played through quite quickly by reaching the end of the level. Wolfenstein is simply fun, doesn't take itself too seriously and treats the subject of a fascist, inhuman regime with the necessary respect without drifting into patheticness. Shooting Nazis has never been more satisfying.