Considering B.J. Blazkowicz started his video game life as a gurning character portrait at the bottom of your screen, his transformation into a nuanced, relatable character – which continues at full pace in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus – is symbolic of much of what made this title one of 2017’s best.
Deftly straggling a line between the serious and absurd, the story and characters in The New Colossus shouldn’t work, but they do. Veering from the desperately tragic to the comically absurd with little warning, developer Machine Games juggle changes in tone that would leave other studios floundering, and manage to do so while developing a cast of characters – in a first-person shooter of all things – that you actually end up caring about.
Now, while B.J has been gifted with more than one dimension to his character, his original defining characteristic – namely his ability to murder lots of Nazis – means that the bombastic, blood drenched combat is also present and correct. In odd ways it does feels like a small step back when compared to The New Order – especially in terms of the stealth – but there’s still plenty to like. Crank down the difficulty, dual-wield the gloriously destructive shotguns, and blast your way through waves of Nazis. Satisfaction is guaranteed.
B.J’s quest to liberate America also serves as a great opportunity for some spectacular world building. From the nuked remains of New York to the spectacle of the National Mall covered in Nazi banners, all the little details of how this superpower fell are fascinating. Throughout the campaign you’ll want to hoover up every last detail about a society collaborating with its occupiers: a return to slavery, a resurgence of the KKK, and Nazis colonising space. Parts feel like pure fantasy, while others, not so much.
Looking back on all the titles released in 2017, it’s clear to see it was a great year for video games. In lots of other ways, though, it’s been thoroughly depressing. The overt rise of extreme right wing views in some parts of the world has been really disheartening to see, and in this climate Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus feels prescient in many of its themes and messages. While this is more through luck than design, the faint echoes in the real world of Wolfenstein’s frequently horrifying one hits home hard, and when you couple this with its frequently shocking story, this is a title that’s more than worthy of a place in Push Square’s top ten games of the year.
Were you drawn in by Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus' dystopian view of a Nazi invaded America? Sip on some strawberry milkshake in the comments section below.
Comments 28
Fully deserved
Gonna buy this, hope it's better than Doom's repetitive gameplay and poor multiplayer
Great game once you adjust to the changes in mechanics from the previous ones. Superb story too..
Puts up a good challenge too, far more than Doom ever did..
Its in my top 5 too!!
For me it started of somewhat disappointing, then got much better towards the end. Oddly the difficulty spike was one that made it much easier instead of the opposite.
I got burned out after doing a lot of the uberkommander missions, but it's definitely still on my list of games to get through. There did seem to be a lot of political controversy/commentary involving this game, which made for some good popcorn moments
Should be Number 1 just saying. Didn't enjoy anything else this year.
Very good game, I hope they make the third game as planned.
Wasn't bad, but much preferred TNO, to the point that this was my biggest disappointment of the year. Only because I loved TNO so much.
Not liking what I've heard about this one. Sounds like it's not as much fun to play as TNO.
Great game but damn...the difficulty is mad! I have rage quit this game several times now! I've lowered the difficulty to the second easiest and I still die several times!
Some more deaths and I will change it to the easiest to enjoy the story only!
To be honest the gameplay sucks a bit, the weapons go all over the place and sometimes you can't even know where the f*** you're shooting at since the sights are crap and the enemies are all black and blend with the enviromnent! The first one was way better on that department...oh well, I still love the story
Edit: Well I was in SPOILER Obberkomando in Roswell and I was having a damn hard time there at the end with the giant ass robot...so I did the best I could, run for the door and gtfo from that damn level lol
Btw I only just now found out you can save everywhere and make your own checkpoints, that should make things a little bit more tolerable! Still, I'm not pumping the difficulty back up
Finally a game that I played, lol, also it's a great game as well.
Now only four games left, looks like that Gravity Rush 2 will not be on top 10.
The Trump reference is a bit much (and I am not a fan of his, so I’m being quite objective).
Mediocre-at-best shooter, with far too many cutscenes and not enough gameplay to justify full price, which is why it sold poorly and was quickly discounted. Some of the content is frankly disgusting and off-putting. (Personally, I don't like games where you shoot your dog and brutally murder your dad, but YMMV.)
But because of the heavy-handed politically-tinged marketing, virtue-signalling game journos and even non-gaming journos fell over themselves to shill for this title as if it was the second coming of Ocarina of Time. (Trump card, geddit? GEDDIT?!?!)
I'd wait for WOLFENSTEIN 3: BUY THIS GAME OR YOU ARE LITERALLY ADOLF J. HITLER. The Collector's Edition comes with a steelbook case and a 1/6th scale poseable Jeremy Corbyn action figure.
Great game. Would have made my top 5 on the PS GOTY votes but I didn't get to it in time.
brilliant game
@SuperCat I understand your criticism about not enough gameplay (that isn't exactly the best one around too) but being tilted about the story for SPOILER killing a dog (lol pls) and "your" dad (that was an idiot and deserved worse lol) seriously tilts me...god damn, nowadays you can't do nothing in a story that you get treated with "disgusting"
I was disappointed with Wolfie 2 as compared to the New Order and Old Blood. I found the level design to be poor and stealth, which is actively encouraged, is thwarted by enemy positioning and detection. That said, the story was great and that I did drop the difficulty to get through and enjoyed my game.
I seriously do not get all the SJW and 'virtue signalling' comments I have seen here and elsewhere about the game. Nazis, particularly as portrayed in this game, are the ultimate bad guys. How can anyone argue against these people as villains? This isn't politics? Was Indian Jones virtue signalling when he took down the SS officers when getting the Arc of the Covenant?
@AFCC Totally agree with you. Bat sh*t difficult and weapon fights not so enjoyable. I may be finishing it next year
Trump card? "a return to slavery, a resurgence of the KKK, and Nazis colonising space. Parts feel like pure fantasy, while others, not so much." WTF? There is no resurgence of the KKK and no return to slavery on any level here in the USA. Where's the evidence of this besides hysterical SJW journalists who just can't accept that they lost the election?
So, SJW's have converged here too. It's hard to escape the hysterical propagandists these days. The only answer to it is to boycott the site. Been coming here for years. I'm never coming back.
Bye.
I have TNO and this but still haven't played either yet. Really looking forward though.
@Ben_Rage_V2 Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
@gamer_since_83 but the story is so crazy I love it so much!
To me the only weapons enjoyable to use are those laser ones that big dudes drop and the shotgun, the rest just shoots all over the place
EDIT: WTF is going on here... there are people raging and leaving the site lol
The comments 😂🤣
@AlexStinton
I'm dying to play this game but haven't played any of the Wolfenstein games that are offered for the PS4. If I want to understand some of the story, should I start out with the new order or the old blood? Or should I play both before tackling the new colossus??
@NYJetsfan123 I would definitely play The New Order first as many of the characters carry over to the sequel. The Old Blood on the other hand is good, but isn’t essential in my opinion.
I guess it's still an ok game considering.Take a look at link to theanxiousgamer.blog for similar articles
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