Wolfenstein The New Order PC Review

It turns out that Wolfenstein: The New Order wasn’t quite what I expected. I figured it’d be an over-the-top, vaguely ridiculous game about shooting Nazis with improbably large weapons, which never really took itself too seriously. In actual fact, it’s a game about shooting Nazis with improbably large weapons, which occasionally takes itself entirely seriously. I’m not sure I’d ever say it’s subtle or understated, but it tries to do a bit more than the bare minimum.

Yes, there are battles against cyborg dogs and men in giant robot suits. Yes, there’s a degree of mysticism – or at least, there are ancient Jewish weapons of mass destruction. Yes, there are German covers of The Beatles songs, and yes, there are some laughably macho one-liners. There’s a lot of faintly ridiculous stuff in here.

Wolfenstein: The New Order casts you as B. J. Blazkowicz, an utterly gigantic American whose LinkedIn profile contains hundreds of endorsements for his skills at murdering Nazis. The game kicks off in a 1946 level as dull as it is brown; at this point, the Nazis are winning World War 2 due to technology hundreds of years in advance of what they should have. Things do not go according to plan, and Blazkowicz spends the next 14 years in a vegetative state, returning to his senses only when the hospital he’s in is closed down and he’s about to be unceremoniously “purged” as a sub-human. In 1960, the Nazi regime rules the world… which just means there are even more Nazis for Blazkowicz to kill than before.And that, really, is your job. Kill Nazis, find the resistance, kill Nazis, help find a way to fight back against the Nazi menace, and kill Nazis. Also, kill Nazis.

Killing Nazis can primarily be accomplished in one of two ways. You can opt for the guns-out route, charging around levels firing wildly and rabidly slaughtering everything in your path, or you can opt to take a more stealthy route, sneaking around and stabbing them in the neck. More than likely, you’ll have to employ both at different times – and not just when the game commands you to go for one playstyle or another.

The main reason for this is the presence of Nazi Commanders, who are cowardly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥s that continually call for reinforcements if they spot you. In any area containing these guys, you’ll at the very least want to make sure you know where they are before the alarms go off so that you can make a beeline to them and cut them down. Still, you can either charge directly for them guns blazing, or sneak your way through and stab them in the skull. Both options are entirely viable, and unlike most FPS games with enforced stealth sections, the stealth here actually works.

You’ve got a wide variety of weapons, almost all of which can be dual-wielded, and all of which have alternate firing modes. You can lurk around a corner and blast away with an automatic shotgun equipped with shrapnel shells that ricochet. You can pull out a pair of assault rifles, switch one of them to its rocket launching alt-fire mode, and go to town. You can peek out from behind cover with a marskman rifle, or use your Laserkraftwerk to turn Nazis into a messy red smear. All of these weapons have a satisfying sound and satisfying impact.

The biggest problem facing Wolfenstein: The New Order is that there isn’t a huge amount which stands out and makes it exceptional. There are some excellent segments like the trailed train scene, some fun locations, a lot of backstory in the form of newspaper clippings, plenty of hidden items to find and bonuses to unlock, a number of tragic moments underpinned by some excellent writing… but for the most part, it’s just an extremely well-assembled game that marries stealth and adrenaline-pumping over-the-top action far better than you might expect.

If there is one genuinely bad thing, though, it’s probably idTech 5. My first time through the game I actually suffered relatively few problems, although Wolfenstein: The New Order was clearly chewing through my hardware like a starving man at a buffet. The second time was a bit more problematic: tearing was abundant, lip-synching was out of time with the audio, texture pop-in was noticeable, and there was a weird multi-coloured haze flashing around fast-moving characters.

I’d argue it’s probably the best Wolfenstein game since 1992’s Wolfenstein 3D. It’s just that, good as it is, it’s not mind-blowingly spectacular. Wolfenstein: The New Order is a solid, highly-polished shooter that’ll provide around a dozen hours of entertainment, with a unique setting, some good writing, and strong mechanics. That’s all it is, but that’s no bad thing.