Killing Nazis has been a favourite pass-time of gamers over generations, but what if you had to do so not as a soldier, but as a rebel.
This is an idea that Wolfenstein The New Colossus explores as returning main character B.J. Blazkowicz helps a resistance try to overthrow the Nazis in America.
The Wolfenstein games look at what would have happened if the Nazis had won World War II. The result is a very different America as the KKK roam the streets and anyone caught speaking English, is thrown into prison.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is set in a 1960s America controlled by the Nazi regime
And as Narrative Leader, Tommy Bjork reveals, things aren’t easy for Blazkowicz: ‘When you start the game he’s this broken man who can’t walk and is stuck in a wheelchair, although he’s still killing Nazis of course.
‘We introduce a new dilemma and antagonist, you previously encountered Frau Engel where you met her lover and killed him. So she’s mad at B.J and is gunning for him- she has this huge flying air fortress which she’s using to hunt him and the resistance down so there’s quite a lot of opposition for him in New Colossus.’
Playing the game, I quickly realised that fighting a giant, weaponised airship from a wheelchair won’t be ideal, it goes against gaming norms – you can’t run around and duck behind cover. And to make matters worse, Blazkowicz has to navigate the small corridors of a ship, and find out ways of moving up and down between the different decks.
Main character B.J. Blazkowicz returns and is now wheelchair bound fighting the Nazi regime
With staircases and ladders teasingly placed, I found myself more than once instinctively trying to climb them, before being forced to find a smarter solution like parking my wheelchair on a cargo lift or a moving conveyor belt.
It’s these kind of ridiculous situations that makes New Colossus so engaging. The new engine, the id Tech 6 which was also used for Doom, not only ensures that the game is stunning but also has meant that MachineGames could be really ambitious with their latest title.
Still, Senior Game Designer Andrea Ojerfors reassures us that while gameplay has changed, it still has everything Wolfenstein fans loved about The New Order: ‘Working on a new engine is always fun but challenging, we were really ambitious this time around and threw out a lot of different systems that we felt we needed to completely overhaul.
‘When we first launched The New Order, we were really happy with it and it seemed like the audience really appreciated the game so we decided to take that as a statement to form a foundation for the future.
‘We tried to identify all of the core components of the game and then push them as far as we can in terms of quality and intensity. That goes for both gameplay, which is more frantic and interesting, and the story which is bolder but more personal – it’s a more human story.’
The explosive gameplay Wolfenstein fans know and love is still there but with new upgrades
It’s a story that is easy to picture, taking you back to the not-so distant past of America in the 1960s which we’ve all seen plenty of in television and movies but the twist of Nazi control completely flips society on its head. An America through the lens of the Nazis where the the Civil Rights Act never actually happened and members of the KKK wander the streets.
Narrative leader Bjork sets the scene: ‘The Nazis have been in control of America for almost 12 years, they have what they call ‘the liberation war’ in the beginning where they crushed the first wave of the resistance that cropped up during that time.
‘After succeeding with that, they felt they had to take the propaganda and brainwashing slowly. As we’ve seen before, they’ve been using TV shows and Sitcoms, part of classic American culture, but combining it with their own twisted Nazi ideology.
‘They’re upping the pressure and it’s almost time for ‘the change over day’ where everyone has to stop speaking English and if they do they get thrown in jail for a reeducation, everyone has to learn German. I think it’s an interesting thing to explore because there’s different reactions from the citizens.
‘You have people who are basically traitors who jumped on the Nazi regime from the get go, you have people growing complacent with living under their control thinking it may be best if I don’t do anything otherwise my family or I get hurt, and there’s the quiet resistance who operate in the shadows.’
Wolfenstein 2 explores what America would be like if the Nazis had won the World War
A world like this seems unimaginable yet some of it is real, events like the Charlottesville incident are eerily similar to New Colossus but Bjork insists that this was never their intentions: We’re of course aware of it, it’s not something we wanted to make to have a commentary on today’s political landscape, it’s pure coincidence – the game has been in development for years.
‘It’s really strange and really disturbing to be living in a time where there can actually be some kind of controversy over a game that has a strong anti-Nazi message.’
That’s why you and Blazkowicz fight, to regain the morals and values of the nation. And to do that, blood has to be shed.
This is where the creativity of Wolfenstein really kicks in, it’s isn’t as simple as point and shoot because that would be no fun. Ojerfors explains the options players will have at their disposal: ‘One of the things we liked in the New Order was that you could switch between different ways of playing the game, sometimes it was stealth and sometimes it was more gung-ho. That was something we looked at and decided to make that aspect as strong as possible. We identified three play-styles: mayhem, tactical and stealth.
‘Mayhem is classic Wolfenstein, dual-wielding, guns-blazing, rushing into combat. Tactical is perhaps the more sophisticated approach, using cover and keeping enemies at a distance, you might try to flank an enemy, you try to outsmart them.
Multiple playstyles are encouraged: run and gun, be tactical or choose stealthy takedowns
‘And our stealth is a more aggressive aggressive form of stealth, it’s not about avoiding the enemy and getting past them, it’s about getting near to them undetected and jamming a hatchet into their spine. We’ve had a lot of fun with our takedowns, from the beginning were meant to be a stealth thing. There’s a lot of different ways to kill with that hatchet, we were really creative with it and it’s really entertaining for the players.’
‘We worked a lot on trying to support all three of those playstyles everywhere through level design and weapon upgrades so you can upgrade your weapons to suit your preferred playstyle. The enemies also support these, even giant robots can be taken down by stealth if you’re clever.’
Enemies range from low level soldiers through to heavier foes with armour and bigger weapons, right up to the monstrous Panzer-mechs, hulking bipedal mounds of metal which will ruin your day if you take cover immediately.
Every enemy encourage these playstyles, you can even stealthily takedown humongous robots
The twisting levels filled with multiple paths are back from the first game. They can reward stealth if you’re sneaky, or they can provide a maze to get lost in if you’ve got too many Nazis breathing down your neck.
Gunplay is just as fun as New Order, you can still dual-wield weapons but now they don’t have to both be the same. You can dual-wield any type of gun, you might have a pistol in one hand and a machine gun in the other. Or you could be toting a shotgun and a weapon which fires explosive rounds.
And you can customise each of those to your liking by adding various attachments to your weapons. A silencer on your pistol will make stealth a viable option or if all out action is more your speed, you could simply add attachments to your assault weapons to increase their magazine size. Less time reloading means more time shooting bad guys.
There’s a plethora of options at your disposal and as Ojerfors elaborates, the combinations offer some fantastic possibilities: ‘I usually have an automatic shotgun in one hand for close encounters and then I have a battle rifle in the other hand for longer distances so I’m always ready.
MachineGames had a lot of fun with creating different, brutal takedowns using the hatchet
‘Another thing I enjoy is the updated LaserKraftWerk which is the main laser weapon we also had in The New Order. In the old game you could cut out surfaces in metal sheets but then we realised it was too fiddly to use in combat Our games are mainly about combat, so that had to change.
‘We simplified the design so you now can shoot lasers at enemies and they’ll just melt away. You can quickly remove enemy’s cover and it’s also good against armoured enemies and robots. So I also dual-wield that with a battle rifle so I can use the LaserKraftWerk to shred an enemy’s armour then finish him off with the rifle.’
Wolfenstein beautifully balances the crazy, frantic, shooting gameplay by grounding it with a story that immerses you in a chilling, alternate world that eerily feels plausible.
To celebrate the launch of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, GAME is offering a special pre-order deal for die-hard fans of the legendary series, featuring an exclusive 12-inch model of franchise hero “BJ” Blazkowicz, billed as “Terror-Billy”.
The unique action figure comes equipped with a hatchet and four guns, together with Blazkowicz’s signature yellow and black jacket, and an alternative bomber jacket featured in the collector’s edition.
Despite the collectible being valued at around £75 on its own, those who pre-order will get the game and model for just £59.99, although with only three days to pre-order, time is running out.
Fans looking to secure their copy of the Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus should visit the GAME website: www.game.co.uk