Wolfenstein is Better Than it Needs to Be

[Shamus Young]

Wolfenstein is Better Than it Needs to Be

Wolfenstein: The New Order is better than it has any right to be. The devs could have phoned it in. But the team at Machine Games wasn't content with giving us an unending corridor of Bad Guys to mow down so they could ride the Wolfenstein name to the middle of the sales charts.

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[Erttheking]

I really am surprised how much praise is getting thrown in Wolfenstein's direction. I really need to pick it up when I get the chance.

 

[Dinosorcerer]

wasn't there a quicktime event youhad to do to stop Bubi from disembowelling you?

 

[Jandau]

wasn't there a quicktime event youhad to do to stop Bubi from disembowelling you?

There are a few quasi-quicktime events sprinkled throughout the game (for instance, one at the start when you're in a wheelchair and a nazi puts a gun to your head), but they are usually down to "Please press the Melee Attack button to stab the person in front of you" and aren't a regular part of the game mechanics (for instance, you don't have to do one every time you do a stealth takedown or some such nonsense). All in all, it's close enough to QTE-Free that I'd agree on declaring to clean.

 

[vallorn]

I do like how developers seem to be trying to grab the great old elements of shooters like they have in this game and others like Shadow Warrior. I can only hope that they continue with this kind of thing when it comes to the new DOOM game and that the developers can shove the marketing success of this game, even with the terrible Wolfenstien before it (The one yahtzee made a limerick review of) dragging it down, to the publishers at Bethesda and say "Look! This proves classic shooter mechanics still sell games!"

 

[Dinosorcerer]

wasn't there a quicktime event youhad to do to stop Bubi from disembowelling you?

There are a few quasi-quicktime events sprinkled throughout the game (for instance, one at the start when you're in a wheelchair and a nazi puts a gun to your head), but they are usually down to "Please press the Melee Attack button to stab the person in front of you" and aren't a regular part of the game mechanics (for instance, you don't have to do one every time you do a stealth takedown or some such nonsense). All in all, it's close enough to QTE-Free that I'd agree on declaring to clean.

i don't know, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. it's a damn sight better than what we normally get, but i don't believe we should stop there. after all, settling for less is one of the reasons the industry's in the shape it's in right now. by no means do i endorse an entitled attitude, but it is helpful to recognize and reward constructive bhaviors and recognize and punish bad behaviors. that's just common sense.

 

[Rad Party God]

Can id Software just give their IP's to Machine Games?, it seems they have a better understanding of id's games than id Software itself.

I'd love to see what can they do to Quake if they have the chance, either by following the first game's themes (Cthulu-esque horror) or the second game's story (Stroggs)... or a combination of both (!).

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I preordered this a day before it came out, played and completed it in one weekend then sold it.
That was a damn good anti social weekend!
In fact, for a game with (personally) no replayability, it says something that i dont regret spending that £45 on such a refreshing exprience.

Lastly, i swear my testes doubled in size the first time the duel wielded shotguns appeared on screen.

 

[Jandau]

wasn't there a quicktime event youhad to do to stop Bubi from disembowelling you?

There are a few quasi-quicktime events sprinkled throughout the game (for instance, one at the start when you're in a wheelchair and a nazi puts a gun to your head), but they are usually down to "Please press the Melee Attack button to stab the person in front of you" and aren't a regular part of the game mechanics (for instance, you don't have to do one every time you do a stealth takedown or some such nonsense). All in all, it's close enough to QTE-Free that I'd agree on declaring to clean.

i don't know, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. it's a damn sight better than what we normally get, but i don't believe we should stop there. after all, settling for less is one of the reasons the industry's in the shape it's in right now. by no means do i endorse an entitled attitude, but it is helpful to recognize and reward constructive bhaviors and recognize and punish bad behaviors. that's just common sense.

I give it a pass because it's infrequent, and when it does happen, you're supposed to press the "Stab with knife" button that you'd press if you were to, say, stab the guy with your knife in the general course of the game. It just didn't feel like a QTE, more like Blaskowitcz REALLY wanting to stab a single person...

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

...no quicktime events? I thought the Quicktime Universal Embracement Enforcement Foundation (QUEEF) didn't allow games to be published without them anymore!

It's a nice sign that some publishers are willing to try to push the envelope again. Sadly, I'm still not going to be getting the game.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Just how branching are the levels anyway? I recently started playing the Curse wad for Heretic(I still play those old shooters often enough) and that huge sprawling level design is just so refreshing. I really do miss it.

 

[Zaeseled]

It looks and sounds like a really good game, but all the un-skippable ads they forced down my throat on YouTube made me hate it. I'm not gonna buy it even if it were on a -75% sale on Steam.

 

[sXeth]

Isn't Blazkowicz actually Polish? Or at least has Polish parents. Either way, not a typical American Jack Stone hero. Funny, considering Wolf3D was basically the first FPS ever, or at least the first WWII FPS ever and the first bad-nazis FPS ever and it did not feature a Rambo as the main protagonist. It's the later games that did that.

So anyway is it not time already also for Wolf 2007 to get some recognition as a really good FPS?

He's always been American, though the name would strongly indicate the ethnic background. New Order kind of hints that his parents or grandparents were polish (he speaks Polish with Anya, but isn't great at it, and obviously prefers English which they switch to shortly after).

In an odd bit of discontinuity, Anya struggles with english in one of the cutscenes trying to say "surrender", but is later noted to have been at London university studying. Though that could be the 14 years of English being a dead language (though the border guard in London still uses it checking papers).

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Played this, its very good. It has that great blend of stealth and action. Where you can play it stealthy by stabbing, throwing knives ninja style or plain shooting them with a silenced pistol. But when you get spotted and it kicks off, out comes duel wielding shotguns or machine guns etc Stories good and lots of variety in enemies and levels. Makes me think the Doom reboot could be awesome.

 

[Jandau]

In an odd bit of discontinuity, Anya struggles with english in one of the cutscenes trying to say "surrender", but is later noted to have been at London university studying. Though that could be the 14 years of English being a dead language (though the border guard in London still uses it checking papers).

It's not dead, just dying. It never got the post-WW2 explosion through popular culture and is likely actively discouraged in the various former colonies of the British Empire (with German being the new go-to second language). USA was nuked into submission, so it's cultural influence is likely zero. All in all, it's not a global language and is only used in countries that have it as their first tongue, with local troops using it to facilitate communication with the indigenous population.

As for Anya, she knows the language quite well, but was initially unpracticed, likely not having much chance to use it since she left England. Once she got some practice, she became less clumsy with it. Which is pretty much how it works in real life - learn a language, then don't use it for years and years and you will stutter and stammer while your brain cleans out the cobwebs from the relevant info.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I watched a couple episodes of an LP on youtube and was instantly sold, even though I never really played a Wolfenstein before this one, nor have I been really into shooters the past years. What I liked most about Wolfenstein: The New Order was that, as mentioned, it took cues from HL2's approach. Not as sprawling as older shooters, but a very fair selection of approaches and well-designed locations in general. TNO does nothing really new, nothing really revolutionary, but it's all done with style and quality.

A damn good game that ignores many of the clichés that have plagued recent shooters. It makes you feel like a badass and doesn't feel the need to constantly remind you. Loved it.

 

[AkaDad]

It looks and sounds like a really good game, but all the un-skippable ads they forced down my throat on YouTube made me hate it. I'm not gonna buy it even if it were on a -75% sale on Steam.

So, you hate a game that you never even played because there are ads on Youtube that you don't have to watch?

This makes no sense to me, whatsoever.

 

[MercurySteam]

Wolfenstein: The New Order made me remember that shooters can have decent story, interesting characters, fun and interesting levels and clever game mechanics, how sad the Call of Duty-esque shovelware that the shooter genre has become almost made me completely lose hope. We meed more titles like Wolfenstein to bring the overall quality back up again, I hope we get to see more games like it in the near future.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Sounds great! Should pick it up.

"But this is the most fun I've had in a shooter since Valve stopped making them to go into the hat business."
Hehehe, nice one