Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

[Mr. Analog]

Launch trailer dropped today, not as slick as some of the earlier trailers but shows off some goodies:
https://youtu.be/bmy4WW8TqL8

I don't know about you guys but I'm ready to beat some NAZI ass. The New Order was such a fun game, this looks like more of everything I enjoyed about the first one plus more. Alternate history dieselpunk but with guns and junk? Heck yeah!

Also. Damn, I didn't realize the launch day was the same day as Mario Odyssey - s'gonna be a busy weekend

[Mr. Analog]

So once I got this game running (there were a lot of nVidia related bugs on launch - now fixed) and got tucked in I had fun, not as much fun as New Order tho...

For one the cutscenes in New Order kept the story flowing and were just long enough to keep things fresh and dynamic, it added character and motivation to what you were doing. I never thought I'd ever (EVER) identify with BJ Blazkowicz, but that's what good writing is all about. In New Colossus they extend the cutscenes out to a ridiculous length, even on first playthrough I wanted to skip 'em - that's not good. What should be entertaining just got boring after a while. The story is ridiculous, which is to be expected, but the pacing is a bit tone deaf and things that seemed like they would be great finales ... weren't? Without going into spoilers the last fight seemed pretty weak (not just the fight itself, but the story reasons for why we were there). After doing some of the wild things already in-game the final fight and why you are doing is unsatisfying. But what about the gameplay.

In New Order you had maps and enemies carefully designed for you to work your way through in a variety of ways in New Colossus the maps are more like connected arenas and the enemies come in waves until you kill the officer(s) (or you can stealth your way to an officer and kill him before the alarm goes up). Where the previous game gave you a way to be successful at both ways of fighting this game really incentivizes the head on approach. Sure you technically can find the patrol patterns and take out enemies silently but they trigger alarms so easily you'll either use a ton of quicksaves or just go all out.

The combat engine is like Doom (2016) and you can take out most enemies with a single melee attack, it became obvious early on an easy way to fight guys is to kite them around into situations where it was easier to pick them off with a melee attack. You can upgrade your weapons, which includes scopes etc but not many maps are really designed for long distance fights (not like the previous game) the other thing I found odd was that many of the weapons' iron sights are often obscured by effects (a fully upgraded & charged LaserKraftWerk is virtually impossible to aim with using iron sights / scope due to the "glow" effect) or just plain difficult to read (the assault rifle.) I ended up using a combination of the LaserKraftWerk, the SMG and the axe to do most of the work (mostly because SMG ammo is plentiful and has a large-ish mag)

The auto-save system was also a point of annoyance. I had completed the game but wanted to go back to a previous level and replay a part so I could do a fun thing, so I went back to one of my manual saves without manually saving in the post-campaign world hub. Well big mistake because as soon as I got to a checkpoint (which is right after loading the level for some damn reason) it overwrote my progress. Now I have to decide whether to keep going and re-finish the game with the timeline I've selected OR go back from the start and replay it using a different timeline. ANYway, annoying and avoidable - once I beat a level gimmie a level select so I can go achievement hunting...

In conclusion:
It was a fun experience but it wasn't nearly as good as New Order was, that game was a well designed package that told a complete story, New Colossus feels like a stepping stone and was very unsatisfying to beat.

There's DLC for it but unless they change the core combat mechanics I've fought every fight already, several times (waves of enemies, kill officers... wash/rinse/repeat)

[Melbosa]

Should I play The Old Blood first or New Order first?

[Mr. Analog]

Should I play The Old Blood first or New Order first?

You can skip Old Blood IMO, New Order you can rip through pretty quick and it's a much more fun experience. Old Blood is good but New Order will knock your socks off.

[Melbosa]

Should I play The Old Blood first or New Order first?

You can skip Old Blood IMO, New Order you can rip through pretty quick and it's a much more fun experience. Old Blood is good but New Order will knock your socks off.

Yeah that is what most people say... I will say it took me almost 30m to get the game to pay stably on my external monitor from my gaming laptop. That was frustrating but have it finally sorted playing beautifully on my 1070

[Mr. Analog]

Should I play The Old Blood first or New Order first?

You can skip Old Blood IMO, New Order you can rip through pretty quick and it's a much more fun experience. Old Blood is good but New Order will knock your socks off.

Yeah that is what most people say... I will say it took me almost 30m to get the game to pay stably on my external monitor from my gaming laptop. That was frustrating but have it finally sorted playing beautifully on my 1070

Awesome! Enjoy your fight against the NAZI scum!

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