At the commencement of The Old Blood; everything with Wolfenstein: The New Order starts to click. This is a prequel, and it is simultaneously a remake of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which was a Quake 3 engined first person shooter from the dark past before multi terra-byte hard disks and multi core processors being the norm.
Thus, is it refreshing to see a game of this era be remade with more modern technology?
Yes and no. This game has the same underlying technology issues of unexplained lag spikes and slow frame rates when the action heats up. It's almost like they're pushing the engine to the max, but I don't understand why.
I tried, again, all the standard fixes circulating online. No dice.
But hey, I persevered through the game. And by golly good-gum-drops; the pacing, variety, and gun play in this game is so much better than the The New Order.
Sure, this was a stand alone expansion to the The New Order and, upon completion, acts more like a prequel than a full remake of Return to Castle Wolfenstein; but the quality of the scripted scenes and set pieces here are second to none.
In one sequence of combat, you drop down through a lift hatch (they you were previously standing on top of) - as it was rushing towards the bottom of the shaft. Just as you do a stealth take down on the unsuspecting occupant of the lift, and draw your weapon, the doors open, your corsshairs already perfectly focused on the head of a further unsuspecting enemy.
A firefight ensues, and this is just one of the many moments in The Old Blood that you'll enjoy.
Such a tightly designed game, such satisfying weapons, but with some rather large issues. Enemies seem to spawn from tiny rooms off screen, and furthermore, the "arena" based combat and scenario stuff sees enemies important to the story leave through untold means.
The number of locked doors is crazy too, making this a completely linear experience.
There's a segment where you can take a nap in a bed, and as you do, you get to replay an original Wolfenstein 3D level in a modern engine.
Towards the second half of the game, you get into the old school demons and nazis type shoot 'em up that Wolfenstein has always been known for.
As a result, while the front end of the game is frustrating with some stealthy bits, it is totally worth sticking through these difficult segments (which are more like puzzles than they are stealth sections) the frenetic pace of the later half of the game makes you hungry for more of this style of shooter.
Lucky, because I've got The New Colossus to play next.
This is a series of reboots that can truly be enjoyed in a weekend. A valid criticism would be the short length of these titles; but for what they are, they're incredibly sweet.
Want more content from me?
Witness my futile efforts to play my Steam Game collection in alphabetical order.
Are you aware that I love photography? Check out my work in a collection.
If you want to see my Splinterlands antics and rants live, Find me on Twitch
If you prefer sleeping in your designated time zone, go watch replays on YouTube.
Thanks as always for your time!