- Version Tested: PS4.
- Available on : Xbox One, PS4 and Microsoft Windows.
- Developer: MachineGames.
- Publisher: Bethesda.
- Genre: FPS.
Wolfenstein : The Old Blood breaks the ice of its first tense encounter with lieutenant Rudi Jager by declaring I am a Hotdog. Its safe to say the comedic humour doesn’t stay much longer when said hotdog gets caught infiltrating Castle Wolfenstein whilst looking for a top secret nazi folder containing the location of General William ‘Deathshead’ Strasse, from the castle commander Nazi archaeologist Helga Von Schabbs.
William ‘B.J’ Blazkowicz campaign starts off strong as the infiltration is a success, only to be spotted by nazi soldiers minutes later whilst slamming draws and ruining filing cabinets looking for the top secret folder, This is where we get our first taste of combat as the dumb AI nazis politely queue up and take it in turns to get mowed down by dual wielded assault rifles.
To my surprise as the firefight quickly comes to an end there’s a nod to Bethesda’s other title Skyrim as a Dragonborn’s helmet is sitting on the desk.                 Â
Happy with his disposal of the Nazi scum B.J continue his search for answers. Things start to go drastically wrong when he investigates another room greeted by Rudi Jager and a fist to the face. This concludes our brief introduction into the world of Wolfenstein and kick starts Chapter 1 of the 8 part game.
Chapter one changes the pacing of the game once again as we start or campaign in Castle Wolfenstein’s prisons guarded by giant super soldiers tethered to the ceiling by power cords, as they walk around the prison on a pre planned route, Their main purpose in life is to shoot anything that moves, considering this is a maximum security prison guarded by giant mechs armed with heavy machine guns deactivating them is a tense but easy challenge. Powered Super Soldiers can be temporarily shut down by locating and using its power switch, once shut down when you get close enough you can take out its power cord and disable it all together.
This section relies heavily on your pipe, be it prying open doors, climbing up walls, smashing wooden crates or stealthily stabbing anything you see in the neck its a welcome edition to the rooster of weapons at your disposal from the under used Handgun to the grenade firing kampfpistole, Your staple weapon the assault rifle 46t and the heavy powered single shot rifle the bombenschcuss or shock hammer shotgun it’s always offering up some new dynamic way to blow the enemy away. Viva la Kampfpistole.Â
Explorations follows a linear path giving you wide open areas to explore as well as pushing the story forward with natural progression, taking us from the prisons you escape to the docks where BJ declares to ‘kill every nazi in sight’ till he finds and frees Wesley, the other American officer tasked with infiltrating Castle Wolfenstein.
As we clean up the docks with the colour of blood It draws some attention to the red in the beautiful but bland world mostly coloured in multiple shades of grey.
As my story progresses so does the diverse selection of areas from the tightly knit claustrophobic catacombs, Zooming along in a cable car ride from hell to Wolfenstein keep, where red nazi drapes colour the background reminding the player that danger lies around every corner.Â
The A.I starts to ramp up its hunt for B.J as waves and waves of lower level grunts start to turn into shotgun wielding heavy artillery soldiers and my remark about mindless drones of enemies lining up to die slowly bites me as I hit the deck more times than I can count, showing that the level of difficulty ramps up as we progress bringing hardened and smart enemies to the fray.
This steady paced action FPS gets better and better as you explore the world, offering multiple ways to approach enemies, where weapon choice is everything, every weapon offers a different way of dealing with the scenario, be it precision shooting or clearing out whole rooms with the shotgun it all falls down to your stubbornness to die.
The gameplay mechanics feel smooth and allows for diverse on the fly changes of plan as you battle your way through waves of enemies, from the effortless change of weapons with a simple press of R1 or the cover mechanic which allows that little break in tense firefight everything is tied together nicely, nothing feels slow, every decision counts just like the last bullet in your clip.
When it comes to replay ability the game has a lot to offer from the jaw dropping amount of collectibles scattered across all 8 chapters, The challenge mode which pits you against waves of nazis to unlock medals and bragging rights amongst friends or the nightmare mode found when BJ decides to have a sleep on the job taking us back to the original Wolfenstein 3D there really is something for every fan of the FPS shooter genre, I won’t go into to much detail about the story as i’ll leave that tale to unfold in your hands but I really do think Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a welcome edition to a gun junkies collection.
Now I’m going back to shatter some skulls with my main Hotdog BJ Blazkowics.
MachineGames new Prequel to 2014 Wolfenstein: The New Order is a stellar edition to the fantastic alternative reality. This time round BJ takes us on a mission of revenge as things going wrong in his quest for a top secret Nazi folder
[review]
What do you think? Have you picked up this newest DLC? Let us know in the comments!