Sadly, the drabness of the actual environments in which you fight likely means you’ll think twice before diving back in. Wolfenstein 2 does theoretically offer decent replay value in that respect, as there is so much to find and replay. Once you’ve beaten most of the game you can head back into areas and explore them for secrets and special ‘Oberkommando’ targets, but the desire to revisit any of the stages is pretty low. Later levels do vary the colour palette a little, but they’re all on the spectrum between brown and grey. What’s worse is that they look so samey, it’s very easy to get completely lost and spend ages backtracking before you find the way forward. Endless corridors of grey, or maze-like buildings crumbling into dreary swamps, these stages really don’t inspire me to dig out every last secret.
WOLFENSTEIN 2 CHARACTERS FULL
Sure, areas like New York, the base underneath Roswell (seen in all the pre-release footage), and all the later levels are absolutely rammed full of collectables and weapons to snag but… they’re all very drab. What isn’t so great is that the signposting is poor, and levels are far from a delight to explore. In other words, the pace is always varied, and you’re unlikely to get bored while you’re actually firing a weapon or swinging a hatchet. Weapons are well balanced and satisfying to use, with some genuinely creative firearms letting you literally vapourise Nazis or burn them into small, crispy chunks. Dual-wielding genuinely makes combat feel different to vanilla, single-gun use, and there some neat stealth and exploration options mixed in with all the straight-up violence. Wolfenstein 2 captures the spirit of old-school shooters perfectly, while keeping a few tricks up its sleeve to make the action fresh. It’s an odd flaw in an otherwise exceedingly polished game. It’s not a huge deal - you’re here to murder Nazis and be entertained by the offbeat resistance characters you meet - but the shift from one level to the next can feel jarring, and could have been much better finessed.
WOLFENSTEIN 2 CHARACTERS SERIES
Sadly, there’s little cohesion or overarching plot keeping all the pieces in place, and it can often feel like you’re playing a series of mood-pieces tied together by the central hero. Spending time with each of the game’s characters is a genuine delight, and there are some of the best one-liners in all of games to be heard. The rest of the plot is all righteous fury, ridiculousness, and well-written monologues. Think of a ‘bad childhood’ stereotype, and it’s probably in here. As mentioned before, Machine Games is pulling zero punches with the depiction of BJ’s life, and while the brutality of his childhood is in keeping with the aesthetic of the rest of the game, it borders on the comically evil at times. I won’t spoil them here, but let’s just say his upbringing wasn’t the kindest, and does a great job of explaining how he turned into such a righteously furious killing machine later in life. See, this time we find out about Blazkowicz as a person, and there are numerous call-backs to his childhood. "The action is wonderfully violent, featuring guns that burst flesh and melt bone with unparalleled ferocity, all done at a pace that rarely lets up." The rest of the game sees BJ taking out strategic Nazi targets to try and liberate America, and dealing with events a little closer to home. Perhaps that’s what makes you furious enough to murder them in swathes, even if you’re confined to a wheelchair and only have half-health. In this historical timeline the Nazis didn’t just win World War 2: they crushed the allies, and nuked half of the US. Exhausted and wounded after the events of the first game, you can’t even walk… but that doesn’t stop you single-handedly repelling a boarding party of Nazis as their commander, Frau Engel, continues her relentless pursuit of you and the remainder of the American resistance.
The plot sees you, as Blazkowicz (or Terror Billy to the Nazis), wake up aboard stolen U-boat Eva’s Hammer. The results are mostly positive, but not always so. It’s anarchy bottled, shaken up, and sprayed liberally in your face when you dare to open it up. New Colossus mixes its ‘zero-fucks-given’ design philosophy through everything it does, from the ridiculously over-the-top story and tech within it, through its characters, and right down to the pacing and design of each level, and the difficulty of each scenario in them. Not just in the way it depicts the savage violence you - as thoroughly broken hero BJ Blazkowicz - inflict on the entire Nazi army, but also in the way it tells its story and treats its players. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is a bold game.
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