America has already lost World War II and the entire United States has turned “blood red” by being held hostage through the Nazi/German army and dictatorship of one very evil general…For the rest of the Kreisau Circle rebels and for former Army ranger Sergeant B.J. Blazkowicz, it is all about staying one step ahead of the Nazi’s and being discreet while infiltrating every German controlled operation on “domestic soil.” In our review of Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus, we will discuss existing, different and new features of the game as it picks up the story from Wolfenstein: The New Order as well as what to expect from the game-play.
B.J. Blazkowicz Returns
Continuing from the conclusion of the previous Wolfenstein game (approximately 6 months to before the events of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus), Blazkowicz has defeated Deathshead and has torn another piece of the Nazi Stronghold away; but, for Blazkowicz it’s another up-hill climb to serving the cause of saving and liberating the American people.
In Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, Blazkowicz still has one goal and one goal only and that is…Killing Nazi’s. Besides killing and scaring off the ones who refuse to challenge him face-to-face, Blazkowicz has to uncover more secrets that are helping the Nazi army remain dominant while occupying in the U.S.A. to finding out how to defeat the sadistic General Engel who is in charge of the German Resistance sectors occupying America…so you have to track down a delusional psychopath that controls a look alike of Area 51 that does mind-control of robots that have no mind at all
For fighting the Kreisau Circle’s cause of reigniting a revolution back into the American people, Blazkowicz must meet a lot more new faces and recruit more individual resistance to the cause on the go while fighting on a different battlefield “close to home” to stop a legacy that is the blackest of blacks.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus Gameplay
Getting into the gameplay of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, there is not much difference to the gameplay style as seen in The New Order with the same objectives in mind such as finding and taking out the commanders in certain parts of each level to infiltrating through stealth means (eventhough this game isn’t meant to fully incorporate a stealth walkthrough).
One piece of detail to reveal is that you get to choose a certain story-line between Fergus and Wyatt that determines certain outcomes of certain levels (their interactions to what happens to them) in the game to the special heavy weapon that you’ll get first-hand to use for the rest of the game.
The New Colossus brings a whole new range of weapons that were not used in The New Order to take on Elite foot soldiers to armored enemies such as Super soldiers (SuperSoldat), Citadel’s, and other enemies that may require some major fire-power to destroy.
In addition to the weapons there is a simple weapon upgrade system in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus where each of the weapons (except the heavy weapons) can be upgraded through weapon upgrade kits that can be found through all levels to help increase the damage level to take down enemies a lot quicker or with most of the weapons increase the ammo capacity…don’t worry there is a way to add a suppressor to some of the weapons if you prefer the era of silence.
Also like in The New Order, there is an opportunity to find a variety of readables scattered across each level that the player can read (if you’re not in a hurry to complete a level). These can be journal entries, notes, newspaper articles, etc. that can be interacted with and would be counted towards the achievement at the end of the game which tell individual mini-stories behind the eyes of people on both sides of the fence after WW2 to certain random’s that have no relevance to the war and after.
Finally, there are of course the commanders that are occupying some areas in a majority of the levels where you can test your stealth skills to sneak up to them or using the common strategy of getting close enough to them to get an opportunity of aiming for a head-shot to get the quick kill before the commander has the time to raise the alarm to signal more reinforcements to their location…don’t forget to pick up the enigma codes that can be retrieved from there corpse’s since they can be “cashed in” for a bigger prize.
Collectibles in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
Besides completing the main campaign and completing main objectives in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, there of course is the side objectives of the game that include collecting all 200 collectibles found in the game.
The collectibles include gold pieces which highlight a particular person or object found somewhere in a particular level or from a previous level that can be added to your personal treasure chest. Besides finding your own gold mine, there are also concept art collectibles that are just screenshots of a particular scene in the game to schematics of certain objects the developer team of the game designed in Wolfenstein 2.
Speaking of the developers of Wolfenstein 2, there are 75 “star card” collectibles (the most out of the collectibles found in the game) that show a particular person that are possibly developers and designers of the game…some of the developers looks are normal while others probably made the same abnormal look into the camera made for their high school photo-shoot.
There are also collectibles that can be retrieved for Max Hass which are his long lost toys scattered on some of the side missions that can be found to re-stock Max’s shelf in his room aboard Evas Hammer. Only a man-child with half his brain missing that only says his name all the time and fears firing an assault rifle could misplace his toys…he probably left his toys at each location on purpose just to get us killed, right!
For anyone who is into the 1950’s and 1960’s classics…the music of the back-in-the-day jazz and early rock music can find some soundtrack collectibles in the form of vinyl “records” across each main campaign map (the records make up the least amount of collectibles in the entire game) . Just don’t listen to the music while in a fire-fight with 30 Nazi’s that despise American music trying to shoot you in the back…
Ubercommando’s & Enigma Codes
One of the best additions to a Wolfenstein game is the chance to find and assassinate all the Ubercommando’s in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus which are all heads of each sector in the U.S.
To finding each Ubercommando’s location, the enigma codes that you pick up from the dead commanders over the course of each level can be decrypted by using an enigma machine that would coordinate the exact location of a specific ubercommando.
As a result of finding and neutralizing each ubercommando, you get to play basically as the executioner in signing their death warrants by signing their “deathcards” and collecting them that can be used towards another achievement in the game…taking the ubercommando’s out will make every other Nazi soldier run for the hills knowing their sector leader is no longer around to defend and lead their lives to the next superpower.
Personal Views about Wolfenstein 2
Bringing me back to the first time we ever played a Wolfenstein game title with The New Order 4 years ago, there was the ultimate excitement going from one end of the story to the next not knowing how the ending was going to play out…the same can be said as the story continued in Wolfenstein: The New Colossus making the game a complete mystery…
Starting out with the positives of playing through Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, I was happy to see the slight improvements of the character animations such as when Blazkowicz is peeking around the corner…his weapons movements are interacted when getting close to a wall or object making it realistic (it’s noticeable when duel wielding with the machine pistols and the assault rifles).
In addition to character animations, the selection of a story-line with Wyatt and Fergus brought back from The New Order made the game interesting since selecting from either of the two had different interactions when dealing with certain situations in the game versus what happens to them in the game which gives a slight twist as seen in The New Order…the same question comes down to of the two guys who would be more beneficial to you as they play a role in assisting you in the game the best.
As for other things enjoyed with Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, there are more side missions in this game when comparing it to The New Order and the enigma codes retrieved actually are being used for once towards the ubercommando side missions rather than unlocking special game modes in the prior game…one hint there is a surprise waiting for the last ubercommando side mission once you defeat the other ubercommando’s.
The ending in Wolfenstein: The New Order was the way of ending a game; but, in the New Colossus not so much as you will see why I’m not impressed with the ending to this game if you play through it to the end of the campaign…we’re not going to tell what happened
Another negative found in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus for us is the dissatisfaction of the game only providing Vulkan API support which is good for reducing CPU/GPU load and rendering benefits; but, some capture software platform doesn’t support it’s usage in it’s software (with exception of Bandicam and NVIDIA’s Shadowplay) which can make recording near impossible and a hassle to deal with if you’re recording for YouTube (sorry Twitch streamers)
Besides everything else discussed here, we don’t know what the future holds for Wolfenstein: Youngblood besides knowing there is a next generation of “Nazi Killing Machines” keeping the Blazkowicz name and legacy alive as the Nazi army is getting closer to the point of become extinct from the face of the Resistance and America. Hopefully, the mystery behind Wolfenstein: Youngblood will raise the bar to the next level as B.J. slowly exits the picture of the Wolfenstein franchise.
