Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

[biggytitbo]

Getting some stellar reviews, anyome else looking forward to this?

I thought the first Wolfenstein was up there with the best FPS games ever made (and the expansion pack was fun too, although nowhere near as inventive and surprising). They've managed to hit this perfect blend of great feeling classic shooting and outlandish settings and ideas but combine it with some really excellent writing and characters. I was struck by the first game how grown up it often was, like the relationship between BJ and Anya, and how seriously it treated its characters and theur predicament in between the absurdity of the gameplay.

From what I've read the second game follows suit, ramping up the inventive silliness but also addressing head on stuff like racism and anti-semitism.

[Mobius]

Never played the other one but all of the reviews saying how great the single player is have encouraged me to buy this game.

[Neomod]

I remember having a lot of fun with Return to Castle Wolfenstein on the PS1 so not having an XBONE for New Colossus i'm now playing Wolfenstein on the 360.

I do like the 1960's time frame for NC.

[Blue Jam]

Looks like the campaign might be a bit short, but yeah.

[Ignatius_S]

Looks like the campaign might be a bit short, but yeah.

The stuff I've read has suggested 10-12 on standard difficulty, which is basically the same as The New Order. However, that depends on how you play – if someone is attempting as much stealth as possible and exploring, it's double that (or a bit more).

Colossus also has a number of unlockable missions, which is a plus.

[asids]

The stuff I've read has suggested 10-12 on standard difficulty, which is basically the same as The New Order. However, that depends on how you play – if someone is attempting as much stealth as possible and exploring, it's double that (or a bit more).

Colossus also has a number of unlockable missions, which is a plus.

10-12 hours is probably about right for an FPS. I'd be more worried if it was 30 hours long to be honest. I'm one for "all killer no filler", especially when it comes to something like a FPS.

Anyway, I've had The New Order in my Steam account for a while, but I've not played it yet. I might get round to playing it soon and then by that time (if I like it) The New Colossus will be on sale. I do like a good single-player FPS.

[biggytitbo]

This is a single player only game isnt it? Thankfully, hopefully it will be a big success to combat the recent EA bullshit.

[Beagle 2]

I got absolutely stuck as shit on The Old Blood, not that far into it. Looked up how to get past the bit and still couldn't do it. Couldn't find any evidence that anybody else had a problem with that bit. Absolute shiter.

So this game can FUCK OFF nah it looks decent though really.

[itsfredtitmus]

My favourite part of New Order is when you first find refuge in the safe house fuck it's great
I wonder if this will have those little moments like that 

[Thursday]

Jesus christ the opening of this doesn't fuck around.

I need to put Mario back on to settle down.

[Thursday]

Just finished this. A lot of fun, guns feel amazing, the actual locations get too samey, it's absurdly difficult on anything about the first 2 (of 6) difficulties for me (you can change at any time though) but the story is something else. Some of the most insane cutscenes I've seen in a game.

[brat-sampson]

I picked this up today and have played the first few missions. It feels like it's just about to actually get started, but has already been damn good fun. Some genuinely uncomfortable stuff amongst the delicious scenery-chewing. I loved the first one too, so yeah, interested to see how far this one goes (I heard... far).

[remedial_gash]

was there a choice early on with Furgus and the other chappess - didn't really do much and Furgus lived, didn't feel like I made a choice.

[Thursday]

You make that choice between Fergus and Wyatt in the first game, and you get to remake it here.
It's annoying because Fergus is the better character, but if you save Wyatt some of the other secondary characters are better, so you don't get this scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLE8MXDQ_nI

[brat-sampson]

I picked Fergus in the first game and honestly by the end I'd forgotten he was even a choice, he seemed so well built into the universe. Made the same pick here. Maybe I should go back and see if Wyatt's cool too. He probably is.

EDIT: Forgot to talk about the game... I'm further in and having fun, but man a) if you want me to fight through a level, just let me fight through a level. Don't put a Kommandant (sp) guy like 100+m away with enough guards en route that stealthing is basically impossible. You can't move bodies or anything, and being seen/heard/having a body discovered is basically an instant stealth fail (the gauge takes some time to fill with red but it's still really fast and I've yet to see it go back down once triggered). It makes me feel bad for failing at stealth rather than just having fun with the ensuing madness. b) That Penthouse level was quite the spike. I had to drop the difficulty level for a bit there then put it back up. c) your laser rifle is possibly a little OP, what with it one-shotting armoured soldiers with a head-shot.

[Bazooka]

I chose whoever gave more health or armor can't remember think it was the Scottish lad, as I was playing on the hardest difficulty.

[brat-sampson]

Pretty sure I saw the bit that's making people's jaws drop (lol) and yeah, this is definitely a videogame about slaughtering hundreds of Nazis. I'm actually not even certain if that was the bit, but it sure was something. Managed another difficult section without having to drop difficulty, so go me :) (I did have to scum an extra manual save point though).

[Thursday]

There's quite a few scenes it could be though, I don't want to mention something that's aHead of where you are.

[brat-sampson]

Done.

I still fucking adore the way the writing/directing/acting elevate these so far above the original conceit, but compared to the first this felt a little damp overall. Yes, it was all highly fun and entertaining, but compared to what I had in mind having watched the trailers and buildup, the final product slightly failed to live up to expectations. There's nothing in here that's even close to the concentration camp section from the original, in terms of showing the genuine pure evil of a genocidal fascist regime. The turn towards Billy's history was welcome, but it should've had more to tie it to the modern day. You see the KKK, but only in conversation as subjugates to the occupiers, with maybe one or two characterless enemies in side missions to fill out their role. I felt like more could've been done to show the true horror of suppressed elements of society being cast out and ostracised in parts I thought were coming but never came. Even the interplanetary sections managed to feel less other-worldly than the Lunar parts of the first, with their differing gravity and empty open spaces. Here it's just another facility, only you're supposed to regularly refuel some resource at regularly available machines.

So yeah, not 'bad', but not stunning. My favourite shooter of the year, as someone who doesn't really like shooters.

(I hope this doesn't seem too spoilery, as there are a good few genuinely fantastic story moments I deliberately didn't touch on...)

[Thursday]

Agreed the first game's campaign took you through lots of different, interesting locations, whereas this mostly felt the same throughout each level. I thought the whole game might be like the Roswell bits, but it all takes places in facilities and destroyed towns. I was hoping the actual shooting would take place in locations like the Roswell scenes. There were some good set-pieces but the first game varied the gameplay a lot more. Also stealth is less viable in this game, which I wouldn't mind so much. But it keeps forcing those "kill the 2 commanders or enemies will keep spawning" sections on you. Level design just wasn't really playing to the game's strengths. Also weird problem with enemy visibility.

[Bhazor]

Currently half price and you can get an extra 15% off on Greenmangaming using the GMGBLACKFRIDAY voucher.

https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/wolfenstein-ii-the-new-colossus-digital-deluxe-edition/

[remedial_gash]

Agreed the first game's campaign took you through lots of different, interesting locations, whereas this mostly felt the same throughout each level. I thought the whole game might be like the Roswell bits, but it all takes places in facilities and destroyed towns. I was hoping the actual shooting would take place in locations like the Roswell scenes. There were some good set-pieces but the first game varied the gameplay a lot more. Also stealth is less viable in this game, which I wouldn't mind so much. But it keeps forcing those "kill the 2 commanders or enemies will keep spawning" sections on you. Level design just wasn't really playing to the game's strengths. Also weird problem with enemy visibility.

I played it through only a few weeks ago (hands up - I nicked it), but I can't remember much about it.

There were some interesting characters  but it's mostly a corridor shooter with some fun cut scenes and then it just ended. No Payoff at all, presumably for a third and final part.

On the plus side 'id tech 6' seems to run really well even on this heap of shit mid table AMD rig.

A fun romp, if I could afford full price I probably wouldn't, but for 20 quid it's probably worth it as above commentators have said the production values are great, just a bit of a middling game.

[Bazooka]

I can honestly say I do not want cut scenes/characters in an FPS, the last game of the genre I can think of that did it well (because it was brief and (skipable) was Halo 2.

It was fine back in games like Turok 2 because it was simple, but, nah not anymore. I just want to blast.

[Thursday]

I'd agree but the cut-scenes in this are so good. There's a clear understanding of film making not usually present in game stories.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

You make that choice between Fergus and Wyatt in the first game, and you get to remake it here.
It's annoying because Fergus is the better character, but if you save Wyatt some of the other secondary characters are better, so you don't get this scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLE8MXDQ_nI

w...The fuck

[Bhazor]

Similar to Metal Gear the cutscenes are as much a part of the experience as the game is. Certainly it pisses all over the likes of Naughty Dog's efforts.

Proof that I don't hate stories in videogames I just hate shite stories in videogames.

[Bhazor]

Finished this a couple days ago. Not as good as the New Order but still a really fun ride. I think they've learned some lessons from Doom and the level design felt much more open as a result with multi tier areas and much more mobile and aggressive AI. Unfortunately it also had some of the same problems. Too many enemies were just pure bullet sponges and despite the balls out action, weapons felt fairly mundane. Powerful but with the exception of the napalm gun and the bouncy shotgun upgrade none of them did anything too exciting and the machine pistol was completely worthless. A game like this and Doom really should take a page out of Resistance or even Ratchet & Clank and really just throw some weird shit in there.

The writing was a let down though. It handled the pacing better with a lot less Naughty Dog style non skipable cutscenes disguised as gameplay. But it just felt lacking in terms of story. Worst part being the trip to Venus which despite a wonderfully trashy opening turns out to be the worst designed level in the game and which added nothing to the overall story. Which is a shame because the depth of the writing is fantastic and its clear the team poured a lot of love into it. Levels are filled with incidental details with hundreds of posters and books and unique assets. Every person on the ship has a fully fleshed out character and back story and little sub plot which you'll only find out if you track them down and listen to them after every mission. They even recorded a full album worth of Nazi pop as an easter egg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAsSnMHC2EU

Side question, was the cut scene with the cartoon lizard from the trailer not in the game?

[Famous Mortimer]

w...The fuck

J's, er, later scene made this jaded gamer rather emotional.

[Bhazor]

All 3 DLCs out now. None of them especially great with all the obvious signs of being cutting room floor DLC. Wouldn't pay for them unless like me you got it at a heavy discount.

[Famous Mortimer]

Agreed the first game's campaign took you through lots of different, interesting locations, whereas this mostly felt the same throughout each level. I thought the whole game might be like the Roswell bits, but it all takes places in facilities and destroyed towns. I was hoping the actual shooting would take place in locations like the Roswell scenes. There were some good set-pieces but the first game varied the gameplay a lot more. Also stealth is less viable in this game, which I wouldn't mind so much. But it keeps forcing those "kill the 2 commanders or enemies will keep spawning" sections on you. Level design just wasn't really playing to the game's strengths. Also weird problem with enemy visibility.

One of the Uberkommandant mini-missions is in Roswell, so you can wander about, stab the fuck out of some KKK guys, that sort of thing. Well, you can stab one, and then the alarms start.

Mostly, I've been shooting me some Nazis and having a grand old time, but I stealthed through one of the Uberkommandant missions without too much trouble, and I just stealthed through the first bit of New Orleans (which, to be fair, wasn't that difficult, just a few bits of waiting while a Nazi walked the right way.

I like the humour and the occasional oddity, to go along with Billy's incredibly bleak backstory and the new world of 1961. I'm taking it slow, trying to collect all the collectables, and hoping there's a New Game Plus feature so I can have some fun on playthrough 2 while seeing what happens when you don't save Fergus.