Genre: First Person Shooter
Year: 2014
Developed by: MachineGames
Published by: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, XBOX 360, XBOX One
#175
Feeling Like: Killin’ Nazis
I’ve been keeping track of my posting activity on the 500. It’s interesting to have seven years of data to look back on and find out which years were the most productive, least productive and trying to nail down why. I suppose it’s only natural that I’m starting to get down to the nitty gritty when I’m nearing…well, not completion, but in the conversation.
I’m about 65% of the way through and that may not sound like a lot, but that’s averaging one post every 9.91 days for over 7 years, so that’s somewhat consistent! Some years were very productive (2017 is the all time high with 62 entries) but 2021 and 2022 were disastrous, 16 and 26 entries respectively. At least I have an excuse – I was building the Ross Bay Cricket Club’s website which took about 200 hours of work. However, I can’t have too many more years like that otherwise it will take an embarrassing amount of time to finish this stupid/fun project.
Ever since February, I’ve done a course correction. I’m not sure whether it was because I set myself some new goals, or improved discipline, or the fear that it would take another seven years to finish, but I’ve been on a bit of a tear. In particular, since Kasim’s masterful writeup for Civilization 2, I’ve averaged an entry every 1.6 days and well on pace to have my most productive year, by far. Exciting. If I keep this pace up, I’ll have the 500 finished by May of 2024. Even the prospect of getting to number 1 seemed foolish at the outset of this blog. To actually visualize the finish line is, I will admit, thrilling.
What does any of this have to do with Wolfenstein: The New Order?
Nothing. I’m just rambling, but we have come to the end of “Scaling Up” and I like to reflect from time to time.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is an incredible take on alternate history; it has teeth, the shooting feels as visceral as anything and the cutscenes do not skimp out on the spectacle. There are very few games that follow through with threats to their protagonist; I never knew where the story was going. I get that this is alternate history where the Nazis win World War 2, but I still wasn’t prepared for how consequential everything felt. If I felt like BJ was in danger, he was. If I thought this was the part where I turn things around and win, I was usually wrong. How many games start off with you being in a vegetative state from a head injury and having to escape a psychiatric asylum?
I’m not sure how many first person shooters have narrative choices built into the story, but it can’t be that many. Here’s one of them, and I was itching to give Wolfenstein: The New Order a second go just to see what I missed out on initially. It’s not enough to just shoot guns at bad guys, the best ones have a window dressing all their own. You can criticize this game all you want, but you certainly can’t say it doesn’t swing for the fences in trying to be original.
Nazis make great villains, and if this was prestige television or an Oscar-nominated film, their atrocities wouldn’t need to be exaggerated. But this is a balls to the wall, violent as hell power fantasy about fighting back against one of the most evil organizations to exist. Forget what really happened, these 1940s Germans have robotic dogs and super soldiers at their disposal. And you’re going to need all the will, allies and firepower you can get.
The home base was a small refuge against a massive threat. It felt like home, cozy. Naturally, it’s populated by allies you recruit or rescue and they’re all the kinds of characters you want in a game like this. Motivations are clear, their design is unique and you want to help them. I mean with enemies like these, you’ll need all the friends you can get.
I loved the upgrade system. Instead of gaining experience and spending it on skill points, you gain upgrades by performing various actions, like secure a certain number of head shots or stealth kills. Normally I would rather reload a save than bring a knife to a gun fight, but in Wolfenstein it’s encouraged.
No two levels felt the same and I was always on my toes in combat. There are few annoying quirks, like having to hold a button to pick up everything but the overall package is such a guilty pleasure that I barely paid any any attention to minor misgivings. The villains, in particular Deathshead were a cut above. The set pieces are grand and I felt like my adventure could go anywhere, as long as it meant giving the Third Reich an ass kicking it would never forget.
The 500 