Developer: Machine Games
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Rrp: £39.99 (Steam, Humblebundle and Bethesda)
Released: 26th October 2017
Available on: Steam, Humblebundle and Bethesda
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 15 Hours
Sequelitis: (Noun). The tendency of a well received work to spawn many inferior sequels.This is something that can be witnessed with many a work, a great example of which is the Land Before film series. The first was a great, if somewhat depressing at times, film. The second was mediocre but bearable. The third was awful and it only gets worse from there (seriously there are fourteen of them now). So why mention this? Because it’s something any franchise can fall into. Thankfully this isn’t one of them… so far.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is the sequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order and carries on directly after the events of the previous game. If somehow you don’t know what Wolfenstein is, well its a first person shooter set in an alternative timeline where the Nazi’s won. You get to play as B.J Blazkowicz who fights against them. That’s pretty much it. I mean sure there are other details, but then you’re diving into story which I would prefer not to do.
Before this review truly begins I must issue a word of warning, this game features domestic violence, racial slurs, sexual slurs, and violence on domestic animals. If any of these subjects would bother you in anyway I would advise skipping this game.
This game starts you off with an emotional beating. That warning I gave at the start? It applies right from the first five minutes. You’ll still get some of it appearing from time to time which is mostly racial slurs since there are sections of the game that take place in the southern parts of the USA where the KKK are in control.
Mechanically speaking this game works just like any other FPS and includes the same mechanics as the previous instalments of the series, such as perks and dual wielding (for more information on those I suggest reading my previous review of Wolfenstein: The New Order). It’s not all recycled though, there are some new mechanics that have been introduced such as Enigma Codes, side missions and certain specific upgrades.
For most of the game you have only half of what would ordinarily be your health and it will remain as your maximum health for quite a while. There is a story reason for it but it does kinda’ put a dampener on the general feel of Wolfenstein. They do allow you to go to two hundred armour though which does help to balance things out a bit. However, once your health is brought back up to the standard one hundred mark you also get to choose between three new upgrades, all of which have very different capabilities and will have some influence on how you play. Don’t worry if you get to this point and struggle to choose though, the other two upgrades can be found but you’ll have to find them within the optional side missions.
These side missions I mention become available to you at around the half way point of the game, and involve the collection of Enigma Codes. Enigma Codes are found upon the bodies of Nazi Commanders you’ll kill while playing. To unlock the side missions you have to complete a match up style mini game that’s on a timer. If you fail to match all the symbols you lose an Enigma Code, thankfully these aren’t all that finite as you can go back and replay missions to collect more. These missions also have other side missions that you can complete along side them as well as upgrades to your weapons and gear that you can’t find in the main campaign.
Of course, like everything in this world, this game isn’t perfect. As was with the last instalment, this game has lots of invisible walls. Usually these are found around the outside of a level where its not so bad but there are some that are placed in areas you very clearly should be able to climb up or jump to.
The big issue for me is the apparent lack of a quick-save/load function, or rather it was my big issue. You see, I discovered that there is indeed a quick-save/load feature in the game… its just not listed in the keybindings menu or mentioned anywhere in game. I found out about this function while trying to find a mod to implement the feature. Why would you not have this function listed? It’s utterly baffling. Anyway, for those of you who might want the information the quick-save is bound to [F5] and quick-load to [F9].
This game doesn’t have quite the bevvy of fantastical environments that the previous main instalment did. Don’t get me wrong their all still rather amazing in their own right but don’t quite match up to going to the Moon or depths of the ocean… well most of them don’t. There is one location that’s rather amazing for a multitude of reasons but I won’t get into that because it would ruin it.
Honestly there isn’t much in this game that the previous instalment didn’t already do. So if you want more of the same with some slight gameplay changes, then this really will be right up your alley. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy myself playing this, in fact I found it a blast but I’d be fooling myself if I didn’t recognise that this is basically the same game as I last played. Sure they added a hub zone and side missions, but at its core this game is the same as the last one.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
Bioshock: Infinite
Wolfenstein: The New Order
