FRIST_008 Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus Review

I finished Wolf 2 yesterday, without the DLC for now, though. Killed all the Übercommanders. My overall score is 8 as a Wolfenstein, but 9 as a game. Compared to The New Order, which I expected nothing from, that one was a pure 10. I'd split the game into just 2 components, namely gameplay and story. Story-wise, it's still a great game for me; it's not a 10 only because it didn't change my life and it's not a new word in the genre. Yes, it doesn't touch the strings of the soul as delicately, and there's none of that heavy Max Payne noir, it all slid into Hollywood. But for me that's a logical development for a sequel on the principle of "bigger, better, wider, louder". It's a change made to follow the rules of sequels... that loss seemed almost inevitable. That's why I still think the story is the strongest part of the game. As for the gameplay. The shooting itself doesn't seem to have changed much, although I liked the idea of making it more brutal, as it was in the standalone DLC The Old Blood. But if you imagine it doesn't exist, then it's... well, just the same. A couple of new guns, and it's already a blast. But the gameplay itself... To be honest, I never thought about how a simple arena with enemies in The New Order is interesting because of how the enemies are placed, and the puzzle of clearing it, whether in the action or stealth version, is just intriguing. But the second part, with commanders who call in endless enemies in WAVES until you kill them, was most likely solving these tasks: - the player should be more mobile - it should be a fast shooter like Quake - the player should feel tension Which in the end turned into a plain, dumb quick save / load. And since I don't have a quick version on console, I did it manually through the menu. Luckily, they added a couple of handy tricks for that. But that's not the point. Because of the endless mobs, in 50% of cases the firefights (and that's exactly how many firefights per level have a commander) come down to you not enjoying the gameplay, because no matter how you spin it, they'll just overwhelm you with numbers. And Quake-style play isn't for me. In the end, I was reduced to quick save / load in a stealth playthrough. And, surprisingly, they didn't ruin it, they even improved it: slowing down time, hiding in tight spaces, and so on. A long time ago there was Crysis 3, which offered 2 ways to play: either stealth or shooter, depending on what you upgrade. And there the problem was in the OR. And here the problem is exactly the same. Instead of balance between both, you choose OR, not AND. And with that, the game made itself worse. That's why my gameplay score is 7: to enjoy it, you need to learn and understand your own style. And I only figured that out after a good half of the game, which is ridiculous. If someone doesn't like stealth or Quake, then for the sake of the story it's better to start the second part on medium difficulty or lower and just run through it without bothering. For them, I admit, the gameplay score might drop to 5 or even 6. Although the shooting itself, I repeat, is just as pleasant. If The New Order was a shooter with stealth elements, then The New Colossus is a STEALTH shooter, where the word "stealth" comes first, because that's the only part done well. And if you look at the game as stealth and forget about the shooter, then gameplay-wise it can come out to a 9. That's where my score of 9 comes from. And the average between story and gameplay is 8. It's a pity that because of shooter fans the second part drowned in negativity back then, and many never bought it, so, as far as I know, it didn't pay off. Maybe it did with the long tail, only a couple of years later.