It doesn't hit the crazy highs of The New Order, but then that's to be expected of what is ultimately a DLC prequel to the game. The story unfolds nicely with fairly minimal, but very well put together and voice acted cutscenes. Although most of the time, if truth be told, I just blasted my way through levels in typical Wolfenstein style - pretty much the same as I did in the New Order. Fail to do that, and you'll have a whole lot more to deal with. If you can take them out before anyone can fire up a klaxon, you only have to deal with the smaller number of soldiers that patrol the level. On most levels there are a couple of commanders who will radio for reinforcements if the alarm is raised. Like in The New Order, there are elements of stealth to the game. Hint: there's plenty of wall-climbing in this game, and if you're stuck, it's usually because you missed a bit of weak wall that you can scale using the trusty pair of broken pipes you always seem to have at hand. Once they're taken care of, things begin to settle into a more Wolfenstein-typical shtick, with myriad Nazis to blast into oblivion, and some pseudo-puzzling as you search for exits that lead you to the next enemy-filled area. Yeah, it's not long until you get your ham-sized mitts on a gun, but for a while at least, there's some sneaking around to be done as you figure out how to best a bunch of seemingly-invincible Nazi robot-hybrids that are stomping around with some pretty nasty hardware. But not without first being stripped and flung into a hole, just so he can start out with absolutely nothing but his bare hands. He literally walks in through the front door, and not long after that kicks off another bloody romp of death, destruction and mayhem. Enter hero Blazkowicz as he enters Castle Wolfenstein on a mission to save the day. With rumors that the Nazis are about to unleash a "dark and ancient power," that could well win them the war once and for all, a plot is hatched to thwart their plans. The Germans are developing technology that is helping them hold Europe in an iron grip, and the outlook is grim. The year is 1946, and World War II isn't going so well for the allies. Just smaller in scope than its prior incarnation, taking place, as it does, across two parts, each split into four chapters. The bar has been lowered, shall we say, but it's still a Nazi slaughter-fest. The end result is a more modest experience, but when I say modest, that really is the wrong word for it. The game is smaller, sure, but it feels tighter and a little more consistent - for the most part. This time out, it seems that the MachineGames team has scaled back its ambitions a little. That said, it was still a really enjoyable game – warts and all. It scored a ten out of ten for effort, but an eight out of ten for execution. The end result was a sprawling adventure that hit some great highs, but also had a few lows that pegged it back somewhat. Part of the problem with The New Order was that while it was an epic game, sometimes it felt like it was biting off more than it could chew. I'm having a ball: indeed just as much fun than I had with The Old Blood's predecessor last year, and I enjoyed that plenty, despite its flaws. I'll hasten to add that this isn't a complaint. I was just trying to blitz my way through the game so I can get this review written, and the intense, non-stop action was literally searing itself into my brain. If that sounds like a bad thing, don't get me wrong. I was only wondering, because by this point I'd killed so many Nazis, that when I took a break for dinner, I had that weird screen overlay effect where I was staring at my chicken, while ghostly images of Nazis and my gun were overlaid on reality. It's about halfway through the game, and I found this particularly amusing because I was pretty much asking myself the same question. "How many Goddamn Nazis are there in this world?" yells William Joseph "B.J." Blazkowicz to nobody in particular, before wading into yet another set piece of shoot 'em up mayhem. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team. This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247.
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