Well where do I begin? The Wolfenstein games have been brilliant one minute, and the next they're downright dull, yet somewhat playable. The great Return to Castle Wolfenstein was amazing, both on PC and Xbox Original. But then we had the hollow, dull Wolfenstein reboot released in 2009. To be honest the comparison between the two games is obvious, the franchise undergoing a sequel and then one trying to reboot the entire franchise.
So then we had Wolfenstein: The New Order released this year, and I have to admit I was blown away by the Next-Gen sequel to the franchise. Not only is it a sequel, but puts us into a world transformed from our own history to a world controlled, and ruled by the Nazi war machine years after World War 2 came to an end.
So we are treated to a new world, and environment instead of the overused World War 2 setting in so many war themed first-person shooter games, The war is over, and fourteen years have passed since Nazi Germany won the war. They won through diabolical advances in science, and experimentation of humans and weapons.
Now the world is changed, governed by the Totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany controlling everything even space travel to the moon.
William "B.J." Blazkowicz is back, after falling into a coma during the war fighting General Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse before the end of the war, and does not know the Nazi's won the war and rule the world. He awakens into this new world, helped by a Polish woman, and her family to evade the Nazi's to join a Resistance group against the Nazi's.
The New Order takes on the proven, classical elements of retro First-Person Shooter games from battling massive boss enemies, using exaggerated weapons against droves of enemies, picking up simplistic health packs to heal yourself, the game pays and plays homage to the original Wolfenstein 3D classic but with the graphics of the Next-Gen consoles.
I found myself beating one play-through of the game within ten hours, battling massive boss enemies, waves of Nazi soldiers and wielding powerful weapons that were over-the-top against my enemies who used smaller weapons against me.
The Good:
- A brilliant entry into the Wolfenstein franchise, with a darker toned world that the classic games.
- A dark story of revenge, against the Nazi's in a world they control, who wield powerful weapons against those they rule over.
- Enhanced Next-Gen graphics make shootouts, and the fighting look amazing on the PS4. When not fighting, and simply traversing a level you see beautiful visuals, of the Nazi war machine's power and control with Blimps in the sky, and their towering buildings and structures.
- A varied arsenal of weapons, and equipment to use in battle ranging from dual-machine guns and rocket launchers to more stealth-based Silenced handguns.
- A solid ten hours or more in a play-through if you explore every corner of a level, collecting collectibles.
The Bad:
- No online multiplayer mode, and even though Bethesda told us there would be none in the game, you almost wish they did put a mode in with such great visuals, levels and weapons to have used. It could have rivaled Call of Duty, or even Battlefield for a brief period of time and it would not have taken much effort in making one, if they simply used smaller maps of levels in the game.
I thoroughly enjoyed The New Order, and would recommend it to fans of the franchise and avid lovers of true, classic FPS gaming like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom or Duke Nukem. However I cannot help but feel that the game is missing a simple online-multiplayer mode which would not have taken much effort to make, and the game almost feels half-finished. However The New Order, is still a great game and a worthy addition to your PS4 collection for replaying.