[ENG] Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - Review

(I think I don't have to tell this but - review contains my feelings and thoughts about the game, and after reading this - reader should decide if the game sounds cool or not really)

(Minor spoilers ahead, any major will be marked)

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a sequel to critically acclaimed Wolfenstein: The New Order, which was released in 2014. The sequel was released three years later as The New Colossus has been brought into daylight in 2017. It was produced by MachineGames and released by Bethesda Softworks on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Is it a good sequel? Does it tie up the story? How does the game stand in comparison to the prequel? Well, I'll try to answer most of these questions...

The story of The New Colossus begins at the exact moment where The New Order has ended and left the fate of B.J. Blazkowicz (William Joseph "B.J." Blazkowicz to be precise, but for simplicity's sake I'll stick with B.J. Blazkowicz) unclear. Wolfenstein follows an alternate history path in which Nazi Germany won the Second World War and dominated the world. Due to the events in The New Order, leader of Nazi Germany is General Frau Engel (Not Adolf Hitler as all would think). She is ruthless, sadistic, racist, xenophobic and cold-blooded murderer.

The game is filled with racism, xenophobia, white supremacy and all things that are associated with Nazi Germany. 

I'll start with addressing one huge problem the narrative of this game has. It kind of forced me to rush through the story. On one hand - you have really tough and melancholic thoughts and memories of B.J. Blazkowicz (which... Excuse me, but since when Wolfenstein is associated with melancholy?) BUT at the same time you have cut-scenes where characters toss a dozen of offensive words to each other, where they have party, get drunk, etc. And... Mind you that these cut-scenes are between 20 to 30 minutes of difference between each other! There is also traumatic childhood of Blazkowicz, filled with pain, racism, xenophobia and fear - it is a nice touch but it adds more of unnecessary melancholy to the badass Nazi slayer that is B.J. Blazkowicz. The story needed a sequel, but it didn't need melancholy.

Second half of the game is... Alright, like - it's what Wolfenstein always was - shooting Nazis, joy between characters, a lot of action. But the first half is... I'll repeat myself here - unnecessary melancholic...

A lot of the characters from the prequel come back here - Max Hass, Caroline Becker and Ania Oliwa to name only a few, as well as many new faces - but I won't spoil these new names for you here.

The New Colossus mainly takes place in war-torn, Nazi-ruled United States of America (and few other locations) and on Eva's Hammer - your main base of operations and main HUB area. Some of the 'other' locations are really well made like the a bit painful court section or the end-game levels, but some are bleak and unintuitive - they give you zero to none advice where to go and... It's a good thing that the game doesn't treat you like a dumbass and doesn't point out everything to pick up, where to go etc. but... when you're circling around for 20 minutes in one location because you have no idea where to go and the game doesn't give you even the teeny tiny clue - it's not okay. Or maybe I am just dumb, who knows...

Collectibles have changed a bit - you have Gold as in The New Order, but you also have Concept Arts, Records or Starcards, but the most interesting in my opinion are Enigma Codes. In prequel, these Codes were hidden and could be found and decrypted in the main menu to unlock new modes. Here, Enigma Codes are found on corpses of killed Commanders and after collecting few of them (and getting to certain part of the story) you can use them to track down locations of Übercommanders - these are the only side missions I could find (excluding very few on Eva's Hammer). They send you back on already completed maps with purpose of locating and killing Übercommander. When you die, you start from the beginning. To be honest, these missions are interesting, but the main point is to kill one singular target and take their Death Card so... technically speaking - you can sprint through the location, burst down Übercommander, pick up the Death Card and end the mission.

Although I complain and complain about The New Colossus, there is one aspect of the game that's been improved. The combat. Killing Nazis is juicy and satisfying, there is a small variety of weapons but modifying and dual-wielding them adds a hell lot of a combinations to your arsenal. I have to mention an axe. A melee weapon which can also serve as a throwing one. There are heavy weapons that can be picked up after certain enemies and have to be dropped sooner or later. The system of skills has changed. From the start you have several skills unlocked - you can level them up (up to 5 levels on one skill, for example - you need to do 10 silent eliminations to get a level up in that certain skill, so you need to do 50 of them to get to level 5). Just like in The New Order, you can adjust the skills to your playstyle - and leveling the skills give you various small bonuses like - higher damage when aimed, faster crouched movement and so on. 

After certain point in the game you can choose from one of three different enhancements that unlock new various paths in missions (although you can find rest of the enhancements on side-missions, or at least I know I did).
It's a nice touch that you can save your game whenever you want - on one hand this system can be abused a bit, but on the other - sometimes it's really helpful to make a save at certain point.
Plus - you can find classic Wolfenstein 3D arcade machine hidden within game which... Well - let's you play aforementioned game, a beautiful touch.

Just like The New Order, The New Colossus allows you to either rush into Rambo-style and begin slaughtering everything or move methodically and quietly and... The game doesn't reward your sneaky playstyle as the prequel did which paradoxically is a good thing? I mean, Wolfenstein shouldn't be a stealth game but I still think the game should reward you a teeny tiny bit better for successful stealth (which often is almost impossible to do due to nature of certain enemies and locations).

Game's length is similar to the prequel. I completed The New Order in 11 hours and The New Colossus in 13 hours, but... I would rather play through the whole New Order again instead of The New Colossus. It just feels better overall. And the finale of both games - in prequel you have pretty nice boss fight and here? You have gauntlet of enemies and then... So unsatisfying finale, the conclusion of The New Colossus should've been so much better...

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus isn't necessarily a bad game. The combat is good, whole storyline is pretty decent and some of the locations are interesting, if they didn't include this whole unnecessary melancholy and unsatisfying conclusion, I think I would enjoy The New Colossus as much as I enjoyed The New Order. I admit, the story needed a sequel, but it deserved better. But... I am happy, as the ending of The New Colossus pretty much ties up the B.J. Blazkowicz storyline (well... unless they do Wolfenstein III: The New Revolution or something like this for no apparent reason...). I'm not the type to give numerical summaries of what I think of certain games but I'll do an example - I would give The New Order 8 or 9 out of 10, but The New Colossus receives a 5 or a low 6 out of 10 from me. Despite all of this, I still recommend you try this on your own - who knows, maybe you'll enjoy the melancholy and a bit heavier climate.

Best of luck in slaughtering countless Nazis and fighting for your freedom in world dominated by Nazi Germany!

Kind Regards,

Wing.