Developer: MachineGames
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Rrp: £14.99 (Steam and Bethesda)
Released: 5th May 2015
Available on: Steam and Bethesda
The Wolfenstein franchise has always been a little bit silly. That’s not a slight, if anything it’s something to be praised. The thing is the games have always been engaging enough to make most people look beyond that initial silliness (well most of the games have been).
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order. Once again you play as the all American Nazi kicking badass that is B.J Blazkowicz.
Mechanically everything that made W:TNO great is here. The combat is over the top and the game throws you into it very early on. However, this game is smaller in scope and so you don’t travel to any far flung locations (such as the moon), instead everything happens in and around Castle Wolfenstein. Just like in W:TNO you unlock perks by performing specific actions, such as performing twenty five stealth kills unlocks a perk that allows you regenerate some health with each stealth kill you perform.
As I mentioned before, you don’t get to go to any strange new locations but in its place you get to experience something that the Wolfenstein franchise had previously left behind (since the reboot), the occult.
This isn’t a bad instalment to the new franchise but it does feel a bit lacklustre when compared to the previous game. It’s unfair to compare a short stand-alone game to one that is much larger in scope, I know, but sadly the success of it’s predecessor weighs heavily on this game.
