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You don’t have to play Wolfenstein The New Order like CoD

I feel Machinegames (former Starbreeze developers) might want to give this out as a PSA. Or at least I want to for people interested in the new Wolfenstein. I’m not much of a Wolfenstein fan since I only played the first one as a kid and was a more Doom guy, so my opinion on how this fits into the series is pointless.

Wolfenstein The New Order is playable right now at the Eurogamer Expo which started yesterday and goes on until Sunday, 29th September (here's a thread). I played it yesterday, and I’m sure other people have at other conventions (Gamescom, PAX, E3).

What I did notice a lot is people playing this new Wolfenstein like Call of Duty. Sticking behind cover, aiming down sights, shooting at targets from a very far distance. As far as I know, this game is taking place in the 60s so those players might be disappointed there won’t be futuristic scope mods for normal rifles to suit their playstyle. The Laser Cutter might have a very long scope that can work as a sniper rifle but it works on a battery charge so you can only get a few shots before it runs out.

wolfenstein_the_new_order_body_reactions_by_digi_matrix-d6oxu4q.gif


The reason for why you don’t need to use “aim down sights”? Because like previous Starbreeze games, the reticle is a laser dot (my favourite kind of reticle) that expands if you are about to get a headshot. I never had many issues getting headshots or kills by shooting from the hip, and I didn’t witness much bullet sponge. Maybe that was because of the normal difficulty or playing on 60 fps (PC build with 360 controller), which would mean I’d rather play this on a PC or next-gen consoles. Shooting from the hip and getting a headshot is a much more satisfying feel when you can see more periphery with the fantastic enemy hit reactions and bloody mess you're causing rather than just down a scope.

The thing is, after playing it without using the ADS or cover lean system (though as fantastic as previous Starbreeze games), I played it in a more run-and-gun style. That’s the antithesis to CoD which punishes you for going too far ahead and breaking the scripting triggers. Why would you want to run-and-gun? Because the health system works off health and armour pickups. And you can only pick those up if you’re always moving to grab them off dead enemies or from other rooms. You can overcharge your health past the point of 100. So while you can stay in cover, picking off dudes from a distance, there’s no point because there isn’t fully regenerating health like CoD. Also, destructible cover and enemies like to flank.

wolfenstein_dual_wielding_shotgun_by_digi_matrix-d6oxu0i.gif


Dual wielding. Dual wielding! What this means is more spray-and-pray so you can move forward a lot more to go along with the run-and-gun playstyle that I would be adopting.

I played the demo on the “Don’t Hurt Me!” difficulty which is meant for casual players, but the Bethesda staff advised to stick with it and it’s no joke. Maybe that’s just an optimisation thing that needs to be worked on, since it’s not coming out till 2014.

In addition, the gun sounds (dat shotgun) and industrial metal music were perfect to go along with the solid shooting mechanics. Localised body reactions and dismemberment mmm.

wolfenstein_dismemberment_by_digi_matrix-d6oxtzm.gif


Machinegames really needs to put this demo out to the public. So that I don’t come off as a sycophantic Starbreeze loonie fanboy.

Oh I forgot, you can crouch slide and see your pretty legs. It's more like Far Cry 2/3, so it's not full body awareness like The Darkness or Riddick. My main disappointment :p
 

komplanen

Member
I think I've lost interest in games like this. Even Rage made me
rage
over not being able to peek behind cover when the enemies sure as hell could. After I played Crysis one all those years ago I've been spoiled to what First Person Shooters could do.
 
I have faith in this one. The id tech engine means a great framerate and damn good gunplay that doesn't fall into the CoD mold, and Starbreeze seems to really be focusing on making a meaty, varied campaign, which is refreshing in a world where single player FPS often come across as cinematic filler for the multiplayer components.

Also, you can dual wield shotguns to fight mecha-Nazi dogs, so it has that going for it as well
 

AJ_Wings

Member
Thanks for the impressions messofanego. You just reinforced my excitement for the game. :)

Also, how much is the weapon limit? I know it's not restricted to two but did you exchange weapon slots for another?
 

scitek

Member
Thanks for the impressions, it sounds awesome. I still don't think a lot of people know this is running at 60fps, so it comes off as seemingly unimpressive, but it's not.
 
At first I was kinda "meh" about this game. But then I've been reading more hands-on impressions and previews and its actually shaping out to sound really good.
 

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
only thing that matters to me is the mp, when it comes to Wolfenstein. Any impressions on it? Does even remotely resemble the incredible RTCW, which still is the best online FPS to this date (imo)?
 

VanWinkle

Member
This game doesn't have multiplayer, right? I don't know if I'm just misremembering or if that's the case. If it doesn't, I just can't see myself getting it. I understand if they don't to for some reason, but a shooter has to be truly EXCEPTIONAL for me to get it without multiplayer.
 

Glass Rebel

Member
It looks rather good and I hope it does well as Machine Games' first project. I hope people don't dismiss it solely on the fact that it's missing multiplayer.
 

Elginer

Member
Already preordered on PS4. Love Starbreeze and it's been too long since I've shot nazis in the face. Looks fantastic, hope the next-gen versions really amp up the visuals.
 

Coxswain

Member
If you can move at full speed and shoot at full accuracy at the same time, the game is automatically better than 98% of the modern FPS genre.
 

dhonk

Member
Im a huge starbreeze fanboy. (I even did a riddick lets play before lets plays were a huge thing, AKA I was just a big old nerd.) I need this game, especially after reading your impressions!
 
only thing that matters to me is the mp, when it comes to Wolfenstein. Any impressions on it? Does even remotely resemble the incredible RTCW, which still is the best online FPS to this date (imo)?

v54 v57 v583 v586 v55

You get it, my friend. You get it.

(vchat was the best thing ever in Wolf. Translated: "Hello! Wunderbar! The Enemy is Weakened! Good Game. Good-Bye!"... only other thing I could spam is v21...)
 

dhonk

Member
v54 v57 v583 v586 v55

You get it, my friend. You get it.

(vchat was the best thing ever in Wolf. Translated: "Hello! Wunderbar! The Enemy is Weakened! Good Game. Good-Bye!"... only other thing I could spam is v21...)

..........oh my god, yes. I was an Enemy Territory guy though.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Does it have keycards and secrets? Because that level design is what facilitates the fun factor of that arcade playstyle, not the playstyle itself.
 
..........oh my god, yes. I was an Enemy Territory guy though.

I miss everything about ET... the way you built experience in matches through the various rounds and then had skills reset for the next match, the class-based systems, how Medics and Loots and Engies and Cov Ops had to really work together even though it never felt forced, the objectives and sub objectives... everything about ET Wolf was just pure design bliss.

No game has matched it since, not sure any ever will. The most fun I've ever had. ET Quake and even Brink tried similar formulas, but nothing has done it as well as ET Wolf. Man, what a fantastic game.

Oh, can't wait for the new Wolf too. I just love that franchise.
 

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
v54 v57 v583 v586 v55

You get it, my friend. You get it.

(vchat was the best thing ever in Wolf. Translated: "Hello! Wunderbar! The Enemy is Weakened! Good Game. Good-Bye!"... only other thing I could spam is v21...)

oh, the memories of RTCW days bring tears to my eyes. If only they released a modern game with the same brilliant multiplayer...

one map: Destruction and two teams slaughtering each other were all i needed
 
Thanks for the impressions messofanego. You just reinforced my excitement for the game. :)

Also, how much is the weapon limit? I know it's not restricted to two but did you exchange weapon slots for another?

I think I counted 5? That's including the knife which can be separately handled like Counterstrike and has two stances: stealth pose (knife rests behind hand) and attack (knife out) pose. I had a shotgun, assault rifle, pistol, and tech-y weapon. It reminded me of old Max Payne games where you're fitzing through the weapon selection menu to dual wield or not. Unlike a certain Max Payne 3 which dropped weapons if you went dual wielding ("realism").
 
Run-n-gun is the antithesis to COD-style? wat

Maybe if you're playing on the easiest difficulty, otherwise the tons of enemies that are thrown at you from a distance with perfect accuracy would've made you stick behind cover or prone. When you're hurt the game even tells you "stick behind cover" so not exactly run-and-gun in my book.
 
There was a live wire minigame where you matched both with the analog sticks (was quite hard) and it opened a room full of goodies like full armour, health, and ammo.
 
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