Wolfenstein: The New Order Review (PS4)

Wolfenstein has gone through a lot of changes since releasing for PC in 1981 and The New Order is no different. Releasing a first person shooter is basically an everyday thing now at days but Wolfenstein is special. This is the game that is credited with popularizing the first person shooter genre.

The year is 1946 and the Nazis are working their way across Europe with the help of new advanced technology they’ve developed. Allied forces are staging an attack on a weapons laboratory run by general Deathshead but the plane carrying William “B.J.” Blazkowicz and his team is shot down in the assault leaving them on the beach surrounded by the enemy with a mission to accomplish. Things don’t go as planned and B.J. is hurt as he tries to make his way out of the weapons lab. This is where B.J.Blazkowicz begins his adventure to put an end to the Nazi menace once and for all.

Wolfenstein: The New Order has the same type of gameplay you would expect from a Wolfenstein game. Overpowered guns, blood, gore and Nazis are all there and look better then ever before but you don’t have to go the kill everything ask questions later route. Going the stealth route is a solid choice. No matter how you choose to play the game you will unlock little perks based on how you play.

If you take out guards silently with a throwing knife enough times you will eventually be able to carry more knives for example. There are usually multiple different paths you can take giving you a variety of ways to approach a situation. The New Order’s levels were designed to be very open and explorable and doing so will pay off. Not only is there a ton of Nazi gold hidden throughout each level but also armor upgrades, Nazi files, enigma codes and a bunch of always useful armor and ammo.

The New Order’s gameplay is fast and fun but it could have been better. The controls that The New Order uses can be problematic at times. Some buttons have double uses which leads to doing things you didn’t mean to. The throw grenade button also acts as the weapon wheel button when you hold it meaning you cant cook grenades and when you instinctively try to cook one you just end up standing there looking at your weapon wheel or worse you accidentally change your gun to something else which is very possible because the weapon wheel is very sensitive. Another problem with the controls is with knifing. Since melee kill and throw knife are on the same button there are times where I would try to melee and just end up throwing a knife and vice versa.

On the bright side our leading man B.J. Blazkowicz really shines in The New Order. Before this B.J. wasn’t much more then a Nazi hating American with a lot of guns. This time around he has more life to him. Hearing him talk about his past and the things he has and is going through makes him feel like there’s more to him then just big guns.

The New Order is graphically on par with what I expect from a current generation game. Everything looks great and is very detailed but it still wont be winning any awards for looks. If you’ve ever played RAGE just imagine that but in 1080P and set in Europe during the war and you have Wolfenstein. They both use the same graphics engine and you can tell by how detailed faces are. I remember being blown away by the detail in RAGE and its only gotten better with our current line of consoles.

Remote Play is one of the best features of the Playstation 4 and its criminally under utilized by those who have the means to use it. I spent about an 8th of my time playing Wolfenstein The New Order on Remote Play from work and it worked great. Getting used to the controller layout takes a few minuets but once you get it down your good to go. It is going to be harder because of the smaller screen and thumb sticks but its totally doable and very convenient to be able to play when your not home.

Wolfenstein: The New Order has a lot going for it. Big open maps ready to be explored, tons of hidden things to find and even a slightly different story for your second play through depending on the choice you make at the end of chapter one. Controls are The New Orders biggest downfall though some might say its lack of multiplayer is but I don’t see multiplayer working well with this type of FPS game. Clocking in at roughly 13 hours for my first play through there is definitely enough content here to get your moneys worth and have a blast playing.