I recently played The New Order, and The New Colossus. But this thread is definitely gonna focus on Wolfenstein II more.
The New Order
It was very good. Definitely stands head and shoulders above the majority of modern shooters, and I get why people talk about how unexpectedly good it was. The weapons are all fun to use, and sound good and punchy, the soundtrack is rock solid, and there are CERTAIN moments in the story that were neat. I'd say my main gripes were a lot of the bullet sponge enemies, the way picking up items is handled, and hitscan enemies. It's odd that TNO tends to make running and gunning the not-optimal way to play a surprising amount of time, considering the tools the game gives you that might encourage that.
I also wasn't a big fan of the story (Yeah, sue me). Most of the characters were severely underdeveloped, and had minimal screentime. There were certainly some good moments in it, like the asylum scene, but most of the shit that went down didn't stick with me very much.
But overall, I'd say that TNO is a solid 7.5, or 8/10 or so. And my retrospective GOTY for 2014, but I haven't played Shadow of Mordor, or Dragon Age Inquisition yet, so that could change.
The New Colossus
Now onto The New Colossus... I'm honestly quite shocked at the amounts of hate that this game gets for the gameplay. Everyone talks about how you can't run and gun above normal, which I say is a load of shit, since I played on Do or Die, and was able to run and gun nearly all of the time, save for one or so exceptions. It definitely wasn't quite the same as DOOM run and gun though, since Wolf 2's run and gun is definitely more about sprinting around throughout the arena to either get a better angle on enemies, or to grab some stuff when your health is knocked down. Not so much about crouching behind a box, and then leaning up to take potshots as I was told.
I gotta ask, were the people that were complaining about this game playing on Console? Because thinking about it, that's the biggest explanation I can think of for why the gameplay is so heavily criticized. Picking up things on the ground with a mouse and keyboard would be easy, you can move, control the camera, and pick things up at the same time, but on console, picking up things is relegated to square. I guess this is kind of a Max Payne 3 situation.
It's also like Max Payne 3 in the sense that the game puts a rather unnecessary amount of emphasis on story, despite neither of those two being particularly great. I appreciate cutscenes being fully skippable, but I'm also not a big fan of just being stuck in first person, unable to do anything except watch. My opinion on the story of TNC isn't all that different from TNO. Neither of the two games had very good stories. But they did have some cool moments. I get the distinct impression that this is also a case of "Game story being praised, because our standards for good writing in this medium is comically low". Then again, I really like Danganronpa, so who the fuck am I to speak?
The gameplay is what kept me going in TNC, because good lord, this game was so much more fun than it deserved to be. Dashing around levels, killing anyone that got in my way, every single shootout was like a game of cat and mouse, with moments where I was just getting up in the enemies face with shotguns, and strafing with ARs and SMGs, and other moments having me scrambling to dash into a room with supplies in it so I could retaliate. Sadly, while the hitscan, and the "Hit button to pick up shit" wasn't fixed (Although you could auto-pick up some things in this game, the hitbox/window for it was fairly small), it was swiftly made up for it by the fun weapons. Also, most of the spongey enemies have been toned down, which is also good, and keeps up the hectic pace of combat. If there was one thing that was a downgrade for sure, it was weapon switching. For some reason, it takes forever to switch out to another weapon. It doesn't need to be as fast as DOOM, but when I've run out of ammo for one weapon, I'd appreciate the ability to get back into the thick of things quicker.
Like The New Order, the weapons are a ton of fun to use. The SMG, the assault rifles, the grenade launcher, the Dieselkraftwerk, and the shotgun all saw regular use (Notice I left out the pistol) on my part, and I can't really pick a favourite. I mainly used the Nailgun SMG and the Rifles for Ubersoldaten (On semi-automatic mode, it will absolutely shred them so as long as you keep on the head) and standard nazis from all ranges, the Dieselkraftwerk and grenade launcher for traps, and the shotguns for raw damage, when I needed to just kill enemies in one shot, and keep going. Or more often, whenever I just felt like it, which was a lot.
While TNC definitely has it's flaws, I'd consider it an overall improvement in terms of combat, and an absolute truckload of consistently high-octane fun. Really looking forward to what MachineGames has in store for Wolfenstein 3. TNC gets a 9/10 from me.
Also, the courthouse battle was fucking awesome. Fight me.
Both are supremely fun games, highly recommended. Definitely gotta try out the Old Blood at some point. I might try out Youngblood once I see how the patches have changed it.
The New Order
It was very good. Definitely stands head and shoulders above the majority of modern shooters, and I get why people talk about how unexpectedly good it was. The weapons are all fun to use, and sound good and punchy, the soundtrack is rock solid, and there are CERTAIN moments in the story that were neat. I'd say my main gripes were a lot of the bullet sponge enemies, the way picking up items is handled, and hitscan enemies. It's odd that TNO tends to make running and gunning the not-optimal way to play a surprising amount of time, considering the tools the game gives you that might encourage that.
I also wasn't a big fan of the story (Yeah, sue me). Most of the characters were severely underdeveloped, and had minimal screentime. There were certainly some good moments in it, like the asylum scene, but most of the shit that went down didn't stick with me very much.
But overall, I'd say that TNO is a solid 7.5, or 8/10 or so. And my retrospective GOTY for 2014, but I haven't played Shadow of Mordor, or Dragon Age Inquisition yet, so that could change.
The New Colossus
Now onto The New Colossus... I'm honestly quite shocked at the amounts of hate that this game gets for the gameplay. Everyone talks about how you can't run and gun above normal, which I say is a load of shit, since I played on Do or Die, and was able to run and gun nearly all of the time, save for one or so exceptions. It definitely wasn't quite the same as DOOM run and gun though, since Wolf 2's run and gun is definitely more about sprinting around throughout the arena to either get a better angle on enemies, or to grab some stuff when your health is knocked down. Not so much about crouching behind a box, and then leaning up to take potshots as I was told.
I gotta ask, were the people that were complaining about this game playing on Console? Because thinking about it, that's the biggest explanation I can think of for why the gameplay is so heavily criticized. Picking up things on the ground with a mouse and keyboard would be easy, you can move, control the camera, and pick things up at the same time, but on console, picking up things is relegated to square. I guess this is kind of a Max Payne 3 situation.
It's also like Max Payne 3 in the sense that the game puts a rather unnecessary amount of emphasis on story, despite neither of those two being particularly great. I appreciate cutscenes being fully skippable, but I'm also not a big fan of just being stuck in first person, unable to do anything except watch. My opinion on the story of TNC isn't all that different from TNO. Neither of the two games had very good stories. But they did have some cool moments. I get the distinct impression that this is also a case of "Game story being praised, because our standards for good writing in this medium is comically low". Then again, I really like Danganronpa, so who the fuck am I to speak?
The gameplay is what kept me going in TNC, because good lord, this game was so much more fun than it deserved to be. Dashing around levels, killing anyone that got in my way, every single shootout was like a game of cat and mouse, with moments where I was just getting up in the enemies face with shotguns, and strafing with ARs and SMGs, and other moments having me scrambling to dash into a room with supplies in it so I could retaliate. Sadly, while the hitscan, and the "Hit button to pick up shit" wasn't fixed (Although you could auto-pick up some things in this game, the hitbox/window for it was fairly small), it was swiftly made up for it by the fun weapons. Also, most of the spongey enemies have been toned down, which is also good, and keeps up the hectic pace of combat. If there was one thing that was a downgrade for sure, it was weapon switching. For some reason, it takes forever to switch out to another weapon. It doesn't need to be as fast as DOOM, but when I've run out of ammo for one weapon, I'd appreciate the ability to get back into the thick of things quicker.
Like The New Order, the weapons are a ton of fun to use. The SMG, the assault rifles, the grenade launcher, the Dieselkraftwerk, and the shotgun all saw regular use (Notice I left out the pistol) on my part, and I can't really pick a favourite. I mainly used the Nailgun SMG and the Rifles for Ubersoldaten (On semi-automatic mode, it will absolutely shred them so as long as you keep on the head) and standard nazis from all ranges, the Dieselkraftwerk and grenade launcher for traps, and the shotguns for raw damage, when I needed to just kill enemies in one shot, and keep going. Or more often, whenever I just felt like it, which was a lot.
While TNC definitely has it's flaws, I'd consider it an overall improvement in terms of combat, and an absolute truckload of consistently high-octane fun. Really looking forward to what MachineGames has in store for Wolfenstein 3. TNC gets a 9/10 from me.
Also, the courthouse battle was fucking awesome. Fight me.
Both are supremely fun games, highly recommended. Definitely gotta try out the Old Blood at some point. I might try out Youngblood once I see how the patches have changed it.
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