Wolfenstein: The New Order review: killing Nazis put a smile on my face

I think it was when I landed on the moon dressed as a Nazi sailor that I realized I was loving Wolfenstein: The New Order (WTNO). That confused me. The Wolfenstein series has been going for some time now, and is a fan-favorite for its gloomy Nazi castles, robotic Nazi death-machines, and of course, the killing of good old fashioned Nazi storm troopers. And Hitler.

I have never been very interested in the series, so when I picked up WTNO, I wasn’t expecting much. It’s been a long time since an FPS did anything to surprise me and even my old favorite, Halo, let me down with Halo 4. With everyone else scrambling to copy the success of the (absolutely awful) Modern Warfare series, my hopes weren’t high. I suspected WTNO would get nothing more than a tepid review. In fact, I was almost looking forward to hating it!

Admit it, this doesn’t look inspiring.

Instead, after a couple of hours of playing, I found myself playing WTNO with more enthusiasm than I have any other FPS in years. I loved it.

I especially loved killing Nazis because they are one of the few groups of people that merit absolutely zero sympathy. There is nothing wrong with shooting a Nazi in the face. But let’s face it, whilst Nazi killing isn’t the go-to gameplay mechanic that it used to be, it’s hardly unique.

Nope, no guilt at all.

The main reason I really enjoyed WTNO is because it’s fun. Whether you’re landing on the moon, blasting your way out of an asylum, or infiltrating a prison, this game is more fun than a barrel of Red-Bull-drinking monkeys!

(See: Watch Dogs is one of the most racist games I’ve ever played)

The main character William “B.J” Blaskowicz, is described by his friends as being “born to kill Nazis” and “a right destructive c**t” by his Scottish comrade Fergus. And they are both right. During WTNO, Blaskowicz blows up Nazi museums in London, crashes space rockets into city centers, and steals a nuclear submarine. If this was Gears of War, one of these objectives would have taken a third of the game; for Blascowicz, it’s all in an hour’s work.

The prison break was a highlight.

Machinegames has worked hard to prevent the action from getting stale and it has done this by scattering weapon upgrades around the map. Some of these are simple scopes, but some of them are game-changers, like the rocket-launcher attachment for the assault rifle. Almost every gun can be dual-wielded and many of them have multiple fire modes. Twin assault rifles allows you to fire rockets with one whilst spraying bullets with the other. The Nazis will never know what hit them!

(See: Titanfall review: mech-smashin’ good, but not perfect)