➤ Attention! The review! 🎮

The review was carried out taking into account the dayone patch available at launch.

Inside this new Wolfenstein there is paradoxically more Starbreeze Studios than id Software: some subtle link with the past that, during the hours of play, made us remember the dark tunnels and the cold scenarios of the two Riddicks, that frenzy in the shootings stimulated by the long slips of Syndicate or, again, the fascinating and delicate love story just mentioned in The Darkness. In reality, however, The New Order is the first project of the small Swedish software house MachineGames, which was set up in 2009 by former Starbreeze employees (including the two original founders) and then bought just a year later by Bethesda Softworks . But there is something in the developer's DNA that permeates the whole game and makes it feel decidedly far from the canons of the former Texan software house of John Carmack and from the previous remakes of that iconographic masterpiece that was Wolfenstein 3D.. Whether this is good or bad, we still haven't figured it out and we leave it to you to take the difficult task of taking one side or the other. As for us instead, we will try to tell you in this article what struck us positively about The New Order and what instead made us turn up our mouths because the title certainly lacks some mistakes of youth but, basically, it is a frenzy , enjoyable and fun experience.

Wolfenstein is back in better shape than ever. But are we sure it's really him?

Let's start with the fundamentals

Wolfenstein: The New Order is a first-person shooter, with a decidedly classic style, which opens the side to some of the contaminations seen in the shooters of the last two generations. And so if on the one hand we do not find multiplayer, of any kind, on the other we cannot help but notice some role micro-elements and above all a good dose, absolutely optional, of stealth. But let's take a small step back not only in a figurative sense. World War II is at its peak.

The Nazis are winning thanks to the numbers of the army put on the field, to the ferocity of their offensive campaign but above all to the incredible technological marvels they are endowed with and which places them, inexorably, a step higher than the other world powers. To manage such a military apparatus there is the inevitable shady figure, ruthless and cruel, who seems to make decisions only according to his lowest instincts, flanked by a handful of rather anonymous and barely sketched supporting actors. In the role of the perfect soldier, American by adoption, infallible but with a tender heart, William BJ Blazkowicz, we are obviously there and after a long prologue that also serves as a tutorial, we find ourselves catapulted into the perfect dystopian future. Much of the game is set in the 60s, in a world completely dominated by the Nazis who, nation, nation, have seen the whole of humanity fall, lifeless, at their feet..

But naturally, thanks to our fundamental contribution, we will first be able to gather a small pocket of resistance and then start a slow but inexorable revolt against the regime. We do not go further to avoid the risk of running into some spoilers but we would like to emphasize, in our opinion, that the plot does not seem to be the flagship of Wolfenstein: The New Order. Or rather, the narrative also works quite well, adequately interspersed with scripted sequences, beautiful dialogues and small glimpses of humanity and everyday life that adequately represent the metamorphosis undergone by a world torn apart by the most tragic of epilogues. The problem, if anything, is all in the lack of charisma of the BJ antagonists who, apart from their being practically out of the scene for three quarters of the game, they just can't convince because they are barely sketched, not very credible even in their blind cruelty and therefore not able to adequately justify the actions of the player who in fact finds himself decidedly more attracted by wanting to see how the events of his supporting characters end rather than moved by the desire for revenge or justice. Returning to the concrete unfolding of the single player, the campaign is divided into sixteen chapters and guarantees a good dose of replayability. Aside from all the collectibles scattered in great abundance throughout the game's levels, The New Order actually offers a kind of parallel double campaign. In the very first level we will in fact be faced with a very tragic choice that will lead us to decide the fate of two soldiers dear to us.

Depending on the outcome of this dramatic moment, we will have access to a different special ability for Blazko: the ability to pick locks or short-circuit some mechanisms. This will lead to some slight differences in the explorable areas within the maps, to the possibility of collecting a different power-up for our favorite soldier (more maximum energy, compared to more maximum armor) and there will also be some small deviations in the narrated plot as the supporting actors will change alongside William. This does not mean that there are multiple endings or two alternative campaigns in all respects, but it is certainly to be appreciated the decision of MachineGames to offer a sort of Game Plus to make the replayability of a title much more interesting, which we remember, is only and exclusively single player. Unfortunately, it is not possible to offer a precise statistic of the time taken by the writer to complete the game on the first pass, as there is no official data in the game, but we are about eleven hours with 62% of total completion and at least 70% of collected collectibles. All at the third difficulty level of the five selectable.

PlayStation 4 Trophies

Wolfenstein: The New Order contains the usual fifty-one unlockable trophies. Apart from platinum, the only gold can be earned by finishing the game on any difficulty, while the silver ones are related to unlocking the maximum ability of each of the four branches of talents, collecting all gold items, decoding of the four Enigma codes scattered throughout the game maps and upon completion of the game at the two levels of maximum difficulty. All bronze trophies, on the other hand, relate to unlocking individual skill perks and collecting other collectibles. By completing the game for the first time, we unlocked twenty-eight trophies.

And "then" there are the shootings

And this is where the true nature of Wolfenstein: The New Order comes into play, since undoubtedly it is the pure and hard gameplay, the spearhead of the entire production. Despite its classicism and without introducing particularly innovative game elements, the title can be fun and very engaging by offering stimulating, frenetic shootings that manage to represent a rather adequate challenge, also thanks to the abundance of five difficulty levels, all selectable from the very beginning. from the first game and can also be modified after the mission has started. The feedback of the weapons is always credible, the trigger is very reactive and the sensation of hitting the enemy manages to return a pleasant enjoyment to those who control the pad or the mouse and keyboard combination. It is interesting to note that practically all weapons can also be equipped in akimbo mode by holding two of the same type and controlling the guns with their triggers. . In addition, some weapons also have secondary fire modes, such as the shotgun that is capable of firing explosive buckshot, or the ordinance machine gun that will be upgraded later in the game even with a rocket launcher. There are also a couple of different grenades and knives that can be thrown or used in combat to carry out the classic silent kills. The character growth system, which offers that very light role-playing flavor to the title we were talking about at the beginning, is quite basic but effective. Blazkowicz has access to four branches of talents (stealth, tactics, assault, demolition) each consisting of eight skills (most passive, but there is no lack of a handful of active skills) that are unlocked by reaching certain goals in game related to the characteristics of that skill tree. For example, by carrying out silent kills with the throwing of knives we will be able to equip a greater number of them, or by killing enemies by leaning out of the covers we will have access to more capacious magazines for the weapon used during these kills. It will be possible to throw a grenade towards the enemy when we have killed enough with explosives and we will be able to move by holding two weapons at the same speed as when we hold only one after reaching a considerable number of kills in akimbo mode. In short, there is something for all tastes and the incentive to unlock this sort of internal objectives is always quite strong since the rewards are all equally interesting.

We talked a little above about covers and in fact in this new Wolfenstein it is possible to take cover behind any obstacle or wall and lean in any direction simply by holding down the left trigger and then using the left analog to "tilt" in that direction. The system is quite effective when you limit yourself to "peeking" from a bulkhead or when you want to protrude from the jamb of a door, but in conditions of greater chaos it is rather cumbersome and makes viewing from the viewfinder practically unusable, unless not having an extreme mastery of your fingers. If we add to this the fact that leaning out of cover does not automatically protect the player from enemy blows (very old school as a mechanism) and we consider the presence of the slide to quickly approach an enemy, you can imagine how in more full-bodied fights it becomes decidedly more comfortable and stimulating to perform in rapid runs through the scenario, perhaps with two machine guns on their arms, while firing madly at everything that moves. Another mechanic that comes straight from the past, albeit with the necessary updates, concerns the management of BJ's life.

The energy is in fact recovered automatically for a maximum of twenty points after you are hit, if you stay indoors enough. To make it grow further, it is necessary to collect food and medkits that are rich in the scenarios. With a real dive into the past of the series, it is also possible to overcome the maximum "ceiling" of energy while continuing to collect healing. In doing so, life will start to go down rather quickly to return to the "standard" value. The management of the armor is rather traditional: this can also be increased by collecting the numerous pieces of armor scattered in each level, it has a maximum limit and is lost when you are hit avoiding in this way that the enemy's hits directly reduce the points William's wound. And since we talked about the collection, it is essential to point out a mechanic implemented by MachineGames but that we just could not digest. Every weapon, ammunition, medkit, armor, object, everything but everything that can be taken by the protagonist, must actually be collected with the press of a button (square in the PlayStation 4 version we tested). This results in a furious and repeated press of the same button every time you cross a freshly cleaned room or battlefield. Obviously, this is not an element that undermines the gaming experience, but we cannot deny that it was rather annoying to us after the first few hours of gameplay.

Differently intelligent ...

It is also essential to say a few words for the maps that make up The New Order campaign. Unlike what one might expect, while all denoting a typical linearity of the latest generation shooters, the work done by MachineGames to try to offer many secondary access routes to the player, rewarding his desire to explore every single one, is absolutely to be commended. ravine and hidden tunnel, not only with dozens of collectibles but also and above all, with observation points and access to the various areas able to put BJ in a position of advantage over the enemy.

This attention to level design even manages to enhance a stealth component that runs through the gameplay of this new Wolfenstein.. It almost seems like a heresy to say, and here more than ever we notice the distance from the id Software tradition, but the game lets itself be played with great pleasure and satisfaction even by those who love to move in the shadows trying to sneak up on the enemy. And it is no coincidence that an entire branch of talent is dedicated to this style of play. Do not rush to conclusions though, because we are not talking about a competitor of Thief or Dishonored, it is obvious that basically The New Order remains an old school shooter where the numbers (of the opponents) are the masters and where it will therefore be necessary to do the accounts with several tons of lead on screen. If we really want to go nit-picking, we did not fully appreciate the developer's choice to make us return several times to the same setting that serves as the basis of the resistance, to carry out some absolutely secondary and borderline story-linking missions. of "pixel hunting", but you quickly get used to it and get over it just as quickly. The other inevitable element to be judged in this genre is artificial intelligence. Do not expect miracles on this front: the enemies know how to perform their duty in Wolfenstein but they never manage to shine for skills of strategy and tactics that can leave you amazed.

They know how to manage shelters properly and sometimes they will also be good at surrounding you but they denote a certain constipation in the use of grenades and when the most armored enemies come into play, there is a tendency to limit themselves to coming towards you with the finger pressed on the trigger rather than performing some clever, risky move. It must be clear that, most of the time, this is enough to offer a level of challenge absolutely above the norm, but as the level of difficulty increases, in addition to the number of enemies on the screen and their physical resistance, very little changes.

If anything we would have expected, to mitigate a little the feeling of pure cannon fodder with different textures, a greater diversity in the enemies encountered, when in reality they exhaust themselves in a handful of differently armored soldiers, a couple of robots and a protected dog. from some armor. There are other small exceptions such as silly flying drones and a robotic hound that, net of the scripted sequences, we will face only once, but there is a certain lack of ideas on this front at MachineGames. Lack of ideas that can also be found in the armamentarium which, despite being well varied, is rather standard in what it offers: a pair of pistols, two submachine guns, a sniper rifle with an energy variant and a pair of shotguns. In addition to knives and a sort of multipurpose laser rifle also useful for cutting bulkheads and fences. Perhaps we would have expected something more from a shooter that focuses on shootings but it is clear that this "avarice" does not have important repercussions on the stability of the gameplay and on the involvement in gunfights.

... but fluid to see

We conclude with the technical aspect. Wolfenstein: The New Order is pretty good in this aspect too: it never reaches heights of excellence that can leave the player speechless, but it can offer several rather well-managed environmental glimpses that combine with excellent management of the lights when it is outdoors. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the numerous interiors in which we will find ourselves facing opponents, and which all denote a certain lack of details, without resulting in low-resolution textures.

On this front, the rather cold and neutral artistic cut does not help, which fails to properly represent a dystopian future that could be much more fascinating, at least on paper. Imagine a search for details in BioShock style starting from the hypothesis of a world conquered by the Nazis. Here we would have liked to see something like this, while here we are definitely closer to the Escape From Butcher Bay-style technological rationality made up of hundreds of square metal crates and long corridors with ninety degree angles. However, where the strength of id Software's Tech5 can be seen is in the excellent solidity of the framerate which, on the PlayStation 4 version we tested, is practically nailed to sixty frames per second and practically never shows an uncertainty in the resolution of 1080p. Excellent work also done on the uploads that are always extremely fast. As for the audio sector, the work done on the Spanish dubbing is absolutely commendable, extremely well acted and with a fair amount of different voices, all in the part. It is a pity therefore that an equally adequate sound mixing work has not been carried out, since in many cases it will be difficult to hear the dialogues correctly, which is why, after a couple of hours of play, we felt practically forced to enable subtitles so as not to miss the phrases said during a shooting. The soundtrack is also excellent, with a couple of sung tracks and an accompaniment made of guitars, synthesizers and electronic noises able to give the right charge or accompany the moments of greater narrative tension.

Comment

Version tested: PlayStation 4 Resources4Gaming.com

8.3

Readers (303)

8.4

Your vote

The New Order is paradoxically a Wolfenstein in name only. Ok, the protagonist is the right one, we are dealing with a world dominated by the Nazis and the gameplay is heavily biased towards shootings with a frenzied pace. But there is little of that dark horror and almost trashy charm that we have come to know with id Software's first masterpiece and its often forgettable sequels / remakes that have followed over the years. And this is good since in the end the work of MachineGames still manages to carve out its own personality and above all to be enjoyable and fun from the first minutes in which you take the pad (or mouse) in hand. It is not a masterpiece and will not leave a mark in the Olympus of video games but we guarantee you that this Wolfenstein: The New Order lets you play it is a pleasure.