Wolfenstein - The New Order Delivers Beautiful Visuals And Retro Gameplay

During our time at the Bethesda booth today, we had a chance to get our hands (And eyes) on the newest Wolfenstein : The New Order, a title attempting to reconnect to it's roots from the original DOS title. Taking place in an alternate reality in which Nazi forces actually won, the game stars the original protagonist with the slightly laughable name: Captain 'B.J.' Blazkowicz and his quest to wipe out the global rule of the regime in an impossible counter offensive. Featuring completely new takes on classic Wolfenstein characters, this new iteration distances itself from the recent 2009 Wolfenstein reboot with a slightly more campy spin on the franchise, more in line with the original.

The incredibly unsettling 'Coffee moment.'

One of the best moments in the presentation came in the form of a scripted interaction in which a very creepy senior Nazi official and her boytoy 'Bubi' intercept you on a Nazi train and question whether you're truly Aryan in a very tense exchange. That particular scene truly wowed us, showing off the raw power of next gen consoles in terms of in-engine emotive power with these characters, who were incredibly believable and expressive, asserting their power over you in a moment of sheer helplessness.



Gameplay wise we were rather mixed, with the game offering some rather straightforward shooting segments that nearly seemed retro in respects with the exception of an intuitive cover system. Whether this choice to embrace the more old school shooter gameplay was intentional remains to be seen, as our gameplay demo time was under 20 minutes, and not even on a next gen system unlike the next gen video demo we were shown in the Bethesda press theater. Believe it or not most of the next gen versions of these multiplatform titles were not available to play this year at E3, much to our puzzlement. That tangent aside though, the gameplay of New Order will eventually determine whether this title will be remembered as a classic IP with a shiny new coat of paint or a true contender in an ever more crowded FPS market.