Wolfenstein: The New Order Trailer Shows off Narrative

[Andy Chalk]

Wolfenstein: The New Order Trailer Shows off Narrative

​

B.J. Blazkowicz takes the midnight train to Berlin and gets his face stepped on by a giant robot.

I'm still not sure what to make of Wolfenstein: The New Order. On one hand, I like shooting guys; on the other, I am so tired of shooting Nazis. Nazis from an alternate dimension who bring a vaguely BioShock ambiance to the table? Definitely maybe. Maybe.

Alternate history notwithstanding, these Nazis are at least as crazy as the ones who've gone before them, which I suppose is a desirable quality in an unrelentingly villainous team of bad guys. But the implication that, after all the dramatic build-up, Mr. Blazkowicz is going to blast his way past the 12-foot-tall battlemech (and all the Nazi goons who will presumably poke their heads through the door to see what the commotion is about) with a luger he grabbed off the table makes me think that maybe all this cinematic chit-chat is just camouflage for the fact that this is just another by-the-numbers shooter.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope there's actual depth to Wolfenstein: The New Order, and not just thin window dressing. It's too early to tell at this point - although the clock is ticking - so instead I'll content myself with wondering what exactly B.J. was thinking when he nipped out for a coffee in a train packed with Nazi goons. Seriously, man. Bad idea.

Wolfeinstein: The New Order comes out on May 20 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC.


Permalink

 

[Lemonpie39]

Edit: Fixed already. Anyway, I'm very glad to see we won't have to put up with any 'Allo 'Allo accents in the game. This looks very promising, even though I was wondering just the other day how little the game seems to be advertised up until the release. Hoping for the best.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Little typo in the OP I believe. It's 20 May instead of March. I was shocked to think it might actually be released today. Talk about a buzz kill. D:

Sorry about that. Thanks for the heads-up. I saw May in the announcement, I knew it was May, I told my fingers it was May, and my fingers were like WOO YEAH WE ARE DRUNK AT NOOOOOOOOOON

Anyway, fixed.

As for the point of the post, I've been hoping (with no real hope) that WTNO would be more akin to BioShock - story-driven, meaningful narrative elements, interesting characters, etc. And at first I thought that's what this trailer was teasing. But by the end... feh. Sponge up the bullets, shoot the caricatures, wash, rinse and repeat.

Sometimes I think I'm getting too old for this shit.

 

[josemlopes]

Looking good, lets just see if it has lenght and gameplay variety. The story part for now seems interesting but there are already plenty of heavy story focused games that end up not doing much with gameplay, lets hope this isnt another one of those.

 

[Jadwick]

What happened to Blazkowic's hair?

Is this some soured attempt at making him look uber-stone-faced-cold-blooded-killer?
I mean, this video leapt to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzYEGHX9A1U

Also, can we get a real health bar in this one instead of magically healing bullet wounds?
Actually can we go back to health bars in all shooters? Please?

 

[fozzy360]

As for the point of the post, I've been hoping (with no real hope) that WTNO would be more akin to BioShock - story-driven, meaningful narrative elements, interesting characters, etc.

It's Wolfenstein. If it comes with that great, but as long as the mechanics work well, it really doesn't matter if it has "interesting characters" or not. Not every shooter has to be a Bioshcok.

 

[Dragonlayer]

Yeah Blaskowitz? I'm pretty sure they had coffee machines in the 1940s, so stop punching things before the Nazi robo-janitor shows up.

Ok, that was pretty damn cool and tense; seriously looking forward to this.

 

[Andy Chalk]

It's Wolfenstein. If it comes with that great, but as long as the mechanics work well, it really doesn't matter if it has "interesting characters" or not. Not every shooter has to be a Bioshcok.

No, but wouldn't it be nice if more of them were - or at least aspired to do something with the genre besides MURDERMURDERMURDERMURDERcutsceneMURDERMURDERMURDERMURDER? Not that I don't dig a straight-up shooter - I'm a fan of the genre - but if they're going to keep riding the Wolfenstein pony, why not take it someplace a little different?

 

[josemlopes]

It's Wolfenstein. If it comes with that great, but as long as the mechanics work well, it really doesn't matter if it has "interesting characters" or not. Not every shooter has to be a Bioshcok.

No, but wouldn't it be nice if more of them were - or at least aspired to do something with the genre besides MURDERMURDERMURDERMURDERcutsceneMURDERMURDERMURDERMURDER? Not that I don't dig a straight-up shooter - I'm a fan of the genre - but if they're going to keep riding the Wolfenstein pony, why not take it someplace a little different?

I dont really agree with that, I think the best of games can be achieved when the project has focus and knows what it wants to be and can be. Being this a Wolfenstein game it could be a very good shooter and the story (while its looking cool) can be bad for the overall pacing of the game (take Quake 4 and Doom 3 for example, in so many times the game comes to full stop because of some exposition that makes it loose what he was good at).

You can have a game be good at all of those things but I dont think that it is by making a sequel to a game that focused so much on something else.

And another thing, to make a very good shooter it isnt easier then making a game with a very good story, it takes just as much skill (in a different area), what is even harder to do is make a very good shooter with a very good story, and that is usually GOTY material. Obviously we would like to see every game be GOTY material, it would be some glorious days but sadly it doesnt work like that and some games are better to at least be good at something instead of fumbling the entire thing.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

To be honest, everything I have seen on this game just keeps making me want it even more. I will be getting it.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I dont really agree with that, I think the best of games can be achieved when the project has focus and knows what it wants to be and can be. Being this a Wolfenstein game it could be a very good shooter and the story (while its looking cool) can be bad for the overall pacing of the game (take Quake 4 and Doom 3 for example, in so many times the game comes to full stop because of some exposition that makes it loose what he was good at).

That's a fair point, but isn't the whole thing getting a little tired? Look at it this way: To keep the train rolling they had to go with Nazis from another dimension and make them (at least compared to the last Wolfenstein game I played, which was... RTCW, I think) even more ridiculously over-the-top. Isn't that a sign that maybe it's time to move on to something different?

 

[fozzy360]

I dont really agree with that, I think the best of games can be achieved when the project has focus and knows what it wants to be and can be. Being this a Wolfenstein game it could be a very good shooter and the story (while its looking cool) can be bad for the overall pacing of the game (take Quake 4 and Doom 3 for example, in so many times the game comes to full stop because of some exposition that makes it loose what he was good at).

That's a fair point, but isn't the whole thing getting a little tired? Look at it this way: To keep the train rolling they had to go with Nazis from another dimension and make them (at least compared to the last Wolfenstein game I played, which was... RTCW, I think) even more ridiculously over-the-top. Isn't that a sign that maybe it's time to move on to something different?

As long as the context works. That's really what matters. The story could be anything it wants, but if the game at least provides a proper context for the actions it asks you to take, then that's all it needs. Besides, the last thing I'm going to do is demand that the game be something it doesn't want to be. If Wolfenstein wants to be a Nazi-shoot-em-up, then let it be so long as they provide a context that works and mechanics that make the game fun to play. I don't care how over-the-top they get, this is a video game after all.