Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus Review

Wolfenstein is a series that dates back a few decades at this point but is seemingly (and sadly) more and more culturally relevant in 2017 than it ever was. After the success of Wolfenstein The New Order in 2014, developer MachineGames decided to continue B.J. Blazkowicz‘s story into a brand new entry. After seeing the current 2017 political climate, publisher Bethesda also went full-force on the marketing campaign for the game, pushing the anti-Nazi agenda right at everyone. Wolfenstein has always been a game about killing Nazis, but the message is seemingly more controversial in a year that saw the rise of the alt-right movement. It offered Bethesda a rare chance to push a video game into political culture, and they handled it perfectly.

As for the game itself, Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus is basically a true sequel to The New Order. It plays largely the same, the story follows similar pacing, and everything just feels similar to 2014. This may be good or bad depending on what you are looking for. Personally, I found the overall story to be fine (with some outstanding production), the shooting to be fun, yet frustrating, and the main enjoyment being killing Nazis and exploring the base. I had a similar issue with The New Order where the gunplay felt solid, but offers too little feedback to the player, and sometimes get a bit too floaty on consoles. Feedback is one of my main overall issues with the game as well. You have no indication of when your health is low at all, aside from looking down at the number, and that just seems out of place in a modern shooter. The game isn’t necessarily hard (unless you use the harder of the 5+ difficulty modes), but due to lack of feedback and some wonky gunplay (especially from a distance), you’ll likely die a fair number of times before the end.

The places where Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus excels the most are changes in gameplay, the sheer insanity of the firefights, and the downtime you have to explore. Right off the bat the story has B.J. incapacitated and fighting Nazis while in a wheelchair, and it doesn’t look back from there. Blowing up Nazis with all kinds of weaponry is still a blast despite my previously mentioned control issues, and having time to explore your home base and find collectibles gives you a better sense of the world you are inhabiting.

Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus Review Final Thoughts:

Overall, Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus is mostly a success. My gripes with the game are largely feedback issues, which aren’t necessarily a dealbreaker. The New Order sold us on the idea that Wolfenstein could work in the 2010’s and New Colossus confirms that even if it doesn’t bring a lot new to the forefront. If you enjoyed the first game for its fun gunplay, insane plot, and fantastic production, you should love this one, and if you never played The New Order, play that, then this. The only caveat is that you need to be in the mood for a pure shooter, because at its core, Wolfenstein is about one thing; killing Nazis any way you can.