Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014)

From time to time a game makes me feel like I should like it more than I actually do. It has nothing to do with any particular genre, more than it's to do with the specific subject matter of the game. In this case, Wolfenstein: The New Order. See, I really liked the original Wolfenstein shooter. No, not that old top-down game from the '80s, but that game ID software did before Doom. The one with Nazi zombies and mech-Hitler.

I guess the left one is the ORIGINAL original Wolfenstein. But I wouldn't know as I've never played it.

The original Wolfenstein FPS was a fun, simple game. You'd wake up as a prisoner in the castle Wolfenstein. With a knife in your hand and a Luger on your belt, you have begun your escape, killing every damned swastika wearing buffoon on your way. And their dogs. And in some places their zombies.  There was a very little plot, but there was no need for it really. You were just a man with a mission and the missions were simple.

In theory, The New Order could have been more of the same. And in places, it is, with a firm b-movie tone in its eyes it throws steampunk-inspired, retro-futuristic Nazis at your face. Robot dogs, huge robots, all your standard fares you'd expect to see. Moon Nazis. Evil doctors and their amoral research. But then it throws a plot at your face. A plot that seems to be far too serious for the environment it is presented in. A lot of the time the tone of the plot and the way the voice actors are delivering it seem to be from an entirely different game. It is a game that was at some point far more serious game about Nazi Germany, rather than a b-movie riff with a dark sense of humour and comic book-like take on Nazi's as villains.

See? This is fun. And how we laughed.

Don't get me wrong: The New Order is a pretty fun shooter. It allows you to tackle your enemies in different ways: stealth, demolition or just gun expertise. That all is fun and the weapons are fun as well. but then it always revolves back to the plot, which is surprisingly bleak for the tone the visual design of the game would lead you to believe. Again, the plot feels like it was written for a game that was a lot different in design than the game that ended up in the stores. Perhaps it was less cartoony at some point. I don't know, but the two sides of the game don't mesh up together very well.

Frau Engel, one of those zany scientists

As I said, it made me feel that I should have liked it more than I ended up doing. The discrepancy between the two sides is a bit too much for me. It prevents me from falling in love with the game. Again, technically speaking, there's nothing wrong with it. It's a fun shooter and all. But it could have been much more having the two halves met with more finesse.

If you want it, you can get it from Steam.

And, before I forget, you can play that original Wolfenstein 3D in your browser. Good times.

Unlike the owners usually claim, he does bite.