WOLFENSTEIN: THE NEW ORDER Impressions - E3 2013
The new Wolfenstein is my favorite game at E3 so far. MachineGames is a relatively new game studio founded the same year the last Wolfenstein was released, 2009. Established by former founding members of Starbreeze Studios, MachineGames was acquired by ZeniMax Media in 2010.
For those of you who don't know:
The game takes place during the 1960's after the Nazi's have won World War II. You, of course, are BJ Blazkowicz, part of a growing resistance. Set in Europe, The New Order will have players infiltrating Nazi strongholds and battling legions of enemies, while taking control of "super weapons" that the Nazis have used to dominate Earth.
The game is Single Player only, and I am perfectly fine with that. Machine Games developer Jens Matthies described the game as an action adventure first person shooter. This game will also delve into what makes BJ tick and why he does what he does. He went onto add that BJ still has a good sense of humor though.
We were introduced to a gameplay demo. The first part is set on a night train to Berlin. You and your contact throughout the game, Anya, are undercover as a traveling couple. You are getting coffee/ doing reconnaissance when one of the main villains of the game Frau Engel calls you over.
Let me just say this bitch is crazy; she is sadistic and psychotic. Her personality is very unsettling. She is sitting with Bubi, a boyish looking man that Matthies called "her Austrian psycho-sexual boy toy." She tells you to take a test to see if you are a "true Aryan," a test to see if you have "impure" blood. This entire one-sided conversation is incredibly intense. All the answers are player driven, and I don't know if there were different outcomes.
The second half of the demo takes place just after you blew up a Nazi convoy. You are then tasked with picking off any survivors and rendezvousing with other resistance fighters. The game is over the top chaos, but it isn't overwhelming. One thing I noticed during the demo was a great attention to detail--when a nazi soldier was killed by a car explosion, his body was charred.
If one thing stood out it was the guns. You can dual wield guns, assault rifles and shotguns included, and almost every firearm has a secondary firing mode. The guns also have a lot of variety, from a gun that can cut through wire to a good old fashioned pistol. There are also laser turrets that can be ripped from their pedestal.
After the demo was over I was able to get a hands on with an entirely different demo that lasted around 30-45 minutes. This game is challenging, not so much that I was cursing at the screen, but it's no walk in the Nazi-occupied park. I was tasked with infiltrating a Nazi compound located in London, which is now a police state. The compound housed rocket technology used for going to the moon. I had to gather intel from the secret lab inside. This straightforward, ridiculous sounding mission seemed very old school and I loved it. The HUD is also very old school; you have ammo, health, and armor. Health packs are scattered throughout the level. Your health does regenerate but only to a certain degree and very slowly. You can also find body armor.
I was expecting BJ to seem heavy and hulking much like Isaac Clarke from Dead Space. I was so wrong he sprints, he jumps, and he slides like James Bond from the opening of Casino Royale. You really feel like a classic John McClane. The cover system is also very easy to use. Dishonored tried to do something like this, but it never felt comfortable. Using L1/LB and the left stick you can lean and peak out of cover. This feature was really handy when I got into tight situations.
Throughout the level I was chased by Nazi Mech-Dog. I destroyed light mechs and heavy mechs, and don't forget the flying mechs. Also throughout the demo there are hidden collectibles, guns, and ammo off the beaten path.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is very close to becoming my E3 2013 game of the year.
Will you be getting Wolfenstein when it's released?
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