Yes, you read that headline correctly. Wolfenstein: The New Order lets you drop acid with Jimi Hendrix. He's called J, not Jimi Hendrix, in the alternate-reality 1960s world of Wolfenstein, but there aren't any other afroed guitarists playing left-handed versions of "Little Wing" I can think of. It's a silly, cool moment in a game filled with silly, cool moments. Unfortunately, Wolfenstein: The New Order tries too hard to be a serious shooter in between, and frequently gets in the way of its own momentum.
A quick recap for those unfamiliar with the franchise. Wolfenstein: The New Order draws its inspiration from Wolfenstein 3D, a 90s PC FPS classic that featured a tough-as-matzoh POW named B.J. Blazkowicz whose escape from Castle Wolfenstein culminated in a showdown with Adolf Hitler in a mech suit. There are numerous winks and nods to the original in Wolfenstein: The New Order, including the game itself, which exists as a mini-game accessed via a bed roll in the resistance headquarters. Paying tribute to a legendary game does not a legendary game make, however, and Wolfenstein: The New Order fluctuates too frequently from wildly creative story telling to tepid ad hoc shooter to have much impact on the genre.
Case in point: Jimi Hendrix. It's both absurd and absurdly cool to have a historical figure like Hendrix chilling in the resistance bunker playing slick riffs on his guitar and making homemade psychedelics in a mop bucket. But as soon as you wrap your mind around the why and how of him being there you're shuffled into another mission, and the unique and original narrative vision is washed away by generic shooter bloodshed.
The gameplay allows for both sneak kills and dual-wielding bloodshed, but doesn't do enough to force your hand one way or the other. You'll frequently find yourself sneaking when you don't have to, or shotgunning soldiers who could otherwise have been silently knifed to death. I found myself wondering "did I do that right?" way too often. Wolfenstein: The New Order isn't as idiot-proof as other shooters, but cramped indoor environments and lumbering enemies waiting to receive their headshots don't live up to the big, bad Nazis in the storyline.
There are limited collectibles scattered throughout the game. Enigma Code Pieces can be gathered to unlock various gameplay modes, each of which is just essentially higher difficulty settings. There is golden loot to be had, too, but outside of unlocking a few achievements they do nothing. Wolfenstein: The New Order gives you more than enough tools for slaughter and asks for nothing in return.
It could just be that the gameplay is overshadowed by the excellent storyline and gorgeous cut scenes. There is a lot of story to be told in Wolfenstein: the New Order, and Machine Games tells it very well. The characters feel like real people, and there is a heavy sense of loss when beloved team members are crushed beneath the Nazi jackboot. There are some scenes that sell Nazi cruelty so perfectly you cannot wait to get your hands on the Nazi scum. But when you do it's not as challenging or as satisfying as you'd like. The gameplay just doesn't live up to the story, which is a shame since it is so frequently the other way around with shooters.
For example, a Nazi lunar base sounds like a pretty awesome location to have a shooter. But there is only one brief instance of low-gravity gunfighting and the rest of the base has the same hallway-into-room-into-air-duct-into-room layout seen in previous levels. Even the enemies feel generic. There are basically two types of enemies in Wolfenstein: The New Order - meat or metal. Meat enemies (humans, the occasional dog) are stabbed and splattered with conventional weapons. Metal enemies (super soldier robots) are incinerated via the LaserKraftwerk, a Swiss Army-laser that does everything from cutting through chain link fences to delivering semi-auto laser rifle fire. It only takes a few upgrades for the LZW to become brutally effective, turning the metal enemies from a terrifying challenge to a minor hurdle as you dash from hallway to room to hallway. Boss fights follow the cliched "aim for the red spot" mechanic we've seen for 20+ years.
Ultimately, when I write reviews the guiding question I ask myself is if a game is worth the money. And Wolfenstein: The New Order just doesn't have enough going for it for me to recommend anyone buy it at full price. It has no multiplayer, something I am fine with. But no multiplayer means the replay value of the game is basically non-existent, so if you're curious about Wolfenstein: The New Order I'd recommend waiting a few more weeks. Pick up a used copy, beat it and trade it back in. Pool some money with a couple friends and get a copy to share. It's just not worth a full retail price, especially when the best parts of the game can just be viewed on YouTube. Or right below:
