New Colossus continues the tale of a nightmarish alternate universe where Nazis span the globe and conquer all. After sticking it to Deathshead in New Order, it's time for BJ to take back America from the grip of Frau Engel.

Being that this is post Doom (2016), this game looks gorgeous. Light and shadow complement the colorful yet nightmarish places in the US that make New Order look drab in comparison. A nuked New York, an overgrown New Orleans, a chipper yet sinister Roswell, and the DOOM-like Venus - it all looks amazing. Music-wise the tracks have also surprisingly improved - some graduating to full on earworms compared to New Order's tracks that were so subtle you likely missed it.

Mechanically the game focuses much more on run and gun action than the strict stealth of Old Blood. Using extraordinarily powerful fuel canisters, laser weapons (that sound amazing), and a giant robot dog that spews fire, there's plenty at the player's disposal to take down Nazis. Perks are more obvious and match the player's playstyle better, and upgrades are back to tweak weapons for a little more longevity. There's a few less bosses (sorry, London Monitor), but each enemy is sinister and tense to run into, especially on the higher difficulties.

That said, the star of this show has gotta be the story. Featuring a BJ that grows out of his edgy monologues from New Order into a character haunted by his abusive past and the loss of people he loves, he manages to find the will to go on and cheers up a little among friends. As for friends, you'll be recruiting all walks of life for the revolution - former Nazis, your old pals, black liberation, drunk Marxists. Anyone who's got a score to settle with the Nazi menace is coming together and the tragedy and comedy of these interactions at your home base and shooting through the crazy carnage make this one of the best stories ever committed to a FPS.

Whether you heard about the nightmares of an America settled all too comfortably into Nazism, want to see the beautiful vistas, are looking for a tight challenge with some very satisfying side content, or just want to blow stuff up, you've come to the right place.

What struck me most about Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is that it's a 2017 FPS that has you picking up health packets to heal instead of the duck-and-cover mechanics that have been industry standard, with some notable exceptions, for the last 20 years. It's not the only thing about the game that feels kind of dated: It's tone and story feel a bit like something designed to appeal to the "we used to be a country" generation. It has a kind of bizarre vibe where the story and characters are simultaneously obvious parodies of a wide range of tropes and yet played dead-serious at all times. It's like it's operating in its own world and set of rules and has been for a very long time. Makes sense I suppose, since this is the most recent installment in a series that holds the crown for longest running FPS series. It operates on a certain familiar Americana-infused Nazi-killing power fantasy that fueled many a video game of years gone by and acknowledges the legacy of these types of stories while subverting things just enough to keep the player guessing. I love that about it. The whole thing felt weird and scrappy yet somehow AAA. This is the only Wolfenstien game I've actually completed but I certainly enjoyed trying to make sense of the inscrutable lore, mechanics and humor that defines the long-running series. Hopefully we keep finding novel ways of presenting the idea of rebelling against the forces of fascism and pure evil in this world because without that sentiment, would video games as we know them even exist?

Also, shout outs to the E3 booth for this game, where I was served a very nice strawberry milkshake. It was a long day and that helped.

A strange game! Without being too hyperbolic I do think this is the best writing I have ever seen in an FPS, combined with some of the best direction I've seen in cutscenes for one. And yet, half the time I was playing it, I felt frustrated and tired!

The pacing is brilliant, the dialogue is so sharp, the characterisations are all interesting and all have minor or major arcs to them. Most cutscenes my monitor would accidentally shut off because I would sit there in dead silence glued to the screen not touching anything, just watching the performance.

The cutscenes are all pre-rendered and locked to 30 which isn't amazing, but luckily the rest of the game is absolutely stunning on PC, and I never noticed a single drop on my machine. It just went down smooth. A few times I really did lean back and just gawk at the screen and some of the details in the environments. I was almost annoyed that in a game with such wild locations, the one I was most visually impressed by was... New Orleans?

What happens in-between all those cutscenes and writing though? Uhhhh, yikes. None of it in particular feels excessively bad, but it was really, really frustrating. Why such a smart game has so many strange design decisions I couldn't get my head around. Just to name a few:

• These are the worst hit indicators I've ever seen. I never had any idea when I was taking damage and from what direction it was coming from.
• Why are so many of these environments so confusing to navigate? So often I was just running around for 15 minutes looking for the grate I had to walk through to progress or the very specific spot I had to activate my go-go-gadget legs.
• Why are these checkpoints so awful? I can't think of the last time I played an FPS game with checkpoints as stingy as this. Really annoying especially when it feels like sometimes: you just die out of nowhere!
• Why is changing weapons SO slow and SO weird about the dual-wielding? Dying because I couldn't manage which guns I was slowly shuffling around made me want to pull hair out.

Definitely not a perfect game, but the story and writing is so brilliant and so much fun it's an easy recommend. I'd love to see what a Wolfenstein 3 will be to wrap up the rest of these story threads (they really left a lot hanging, the ending felt quite abrupt with an extremely weak final fight). This is one you want to play on the easiest difficulty just to get through the fighting as quickly as possible and to the next morsel of good cutscene.

About halfway through Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, there's a level that presented an argument for why this might be the best first-person shooter series of the 2010s. After launching a nuke in Roswell, New Mexico, BJ Blazkowicz is headed to his submarine home, when all of a sudden, he takes a detour. The road takes Blazkowicz to his childhood home, decrepit, but full of memories. This level doesn't allow the player to use their weapons. Instead, Blazkowicz simply moves around his old yard, interacting with elements that remind him of his past. The player sees his first interaction with a neighbor girl Blazkowicz had a crush on, their friendship over an unknown period of time that revolves around everything from life, love and death. Inside the house, Blazkowicz deals with his abusive father that we have been told was abusive, yet we still see humanistic moments between father and son, as the father tries to convince his son that there are no monsters in their basement.

This whole level exists to give us a more fleshed out view of who Blazkowicz is. In this level, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is showing the player that everyone is fragile - an idea that continues throughout the game - and shows that there is in fact humanity to everyone, even if they are Nazi pieces of shit. In a genre that usually glosses over the lead protagonist, in lieu of the strong, silent type, Wolfenstein II gives the lead depth, character and heart. While most first-person shooters put gameplay and multiplayer maps at the forefront, with Wolfenstein, character is integral to the story being told. Everything else is almost secondary.

I can't think of too many first-person shooters that have such fully fleshed out lead characters, as Wolfenstein II has with Blazkowicz. His family life is integral to the way Blazkowicz acts, he's afraid of becoming a leader, and for the first half of the game, Blazkowicz is simply trying to keep moving before he dies. He doesn't want to pay attention to his wife - pregnant with twins - because he knows he'll only hurt her when he soon dies. There's an impressive amount of depth to Blazkowicz and his entire crew that makes this game stand out from the typical FPS fare, and makes this franchise better because of it.

With Wolfenstein: The New Order, I was immediately impressed with everything that game did right. Wolfenstein put you in a terrifying place, presenting you as an objector in a world that has gone to Nazi hell. The story was ridiculous, yet always did justice to the horrors of World War II. Especially the way the character leveled up impressed me in The New Order, as the game directed the player to think outside their usual way of playing these types of games.

In The New Colossus, I never had that same sense of discovery and surprise with the game. Most of this is more or less exactly the same, or in some cases, just not as interesting. I never quite cared about leveling up my character, and The New Colossus seemed far more focused on crafting interesting worlds for Blazkowicz to be thrown into, instead of telling a compelling story about Nazis vs. the world.

Wolfenstein II begins with Blazkowicz beaten and destroyed, believing himself to be on the way to death. Strangely, the game's first level has Blazkowicz in a wheelchair, an odd way to start a game in a level that is usually designed to teach the player the game's mechanics. For the first half of the game, Wolfenstein II leaves Blazkowicz as this damaged shell, as the game often becomes a fight to keep Blazkowicz from losing his constantly depleting health. These kids of obstacles are more likely to appear in the second half of the game, but putting them at the beginning makes getting to know how to play this game somewhat difficult. For about the first half of the game, I tended to play around with the difficulty and try to find a way to play this game that was challenging, without being oppressively difficult.

I also found this sequel's narrative arc to be somewhat disappointing after The New Order. The New Colossus essentially puts all the problems of the characters at the very beginning, so the rest of the game is these characters only improving, never quite having as many conflicts later on. The game is consistent betterment, without any bumps along the way to the end. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in every scenario, and with a few exceptions, the game is mostly optimistic in your play through.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is still able to impress me and surprise me in its character work and the way the game tells its story. There were several times, I was actually shocked by a choice the story made. Sometimes, I couldn't believe the game was actually making this choice, other times, I couldn't believe how dumb the idea was. But regardless, it's rare for a FPS to take me my surprise as much as Wolfenstein II does.

I haven't played Wolfenstein: Youngblood yet, but I hope that the game throws even more surprises at the audience. I'd like to be even more engaged with the gameplay as I was in The New Order, and I'd like for the narrative arc to not just be a constant incline. Wolfenstein is a FPS series that does a lot right - more than I ever expected this series to - and I think with a few slight tweaks and improvements, this could be one of the all time great franchises.

I actually kinda like this one more than the first. I’ll quickly gloss over the gameplay stuff so I can get to the real meat and potatoes of this game. First off, the gunplay is better; you now have 3 attachments for all your main guns, you can now dual wield different weapons in each hand, etc. In general there’s a big improvement, except in two areas. For me, I felt the game was quite difficult to play through even on normal difficulty and I also thought that the level design had taken a dip in quality.

However the narrative and overall presentation of the narrative are much better. The cutscenes in this game are insanely good. I honest to god believe that this game has the best cutscenes. Everything is just so stylish and unique in its presentation, from the camera work to the clever editing decisions.

All the characters are great; BJ Blazkowicz is now one of my favourite videogame characters. They make him so compelling and interesting, BJ has these internal monologues throughout a few of the missions that also add to his character. The supporting cast is also excellent, Set Roth is a particular favourite of mine, and overall I’ve got to talk about how funny this game is at times. It has a really great sense of humour that makes the game much more fun to experience than if it took its premise super seriously.

Also the soundtrack, while not as good as the first game’s, is great - particularly the track “change-over day”.

Overall I love this game, and while it doesn’t get everything right, it has some really great and memorable moments and some of the best cutscenes in gaming.

9/10

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is, like its predecessor, a very good game. The characters are just as good, Frau Engel is still an excellent antagonist, it's funny and, most importantly, it's not afraid to do anything (Adolf Hitler is in this game, ladies and gents, and one of his first actions is to piss on the floor).

The story feels well-crafted and there's a much heavier emphasis on character this time around. We learn about Blazkowicz's past and have him confront it in a pretty emotional scene. I didn't notice any pacing issues or anything like that. The cinematography and editing in tired l the cutscenes was just so good as well.

My main issues with The New Colossus come from its gameplay. Because of how The New Order ended, you spend about 75% of the game playing with only 50 health points meaning that it's much more dangerous to play the game as a run and gun. The low health forces you to play the game as a cover shooter (one of the more criticised aspects of The New Order) but the enemy AI isn't designed to play as a cover shooter. I died a lot more in this game than the last. Oh, and if you thought the drones were annoying to take down in the last game then you haven't seen anything yet. The New Colossus's drones made me want to die.

The gunplay also didn't feel as smooth as The New Order. In that game, the gunplay was very smooth and it played well on all sensitivities. In this game, house however, the gunplay felt slower and less smooth. I didn't find a "perfect" sensitivity like I did in The New Order.

Overall, however, The New Colossus isn't a bad game. It's just not as good as the last.

4/5

I thought Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was a great game. It has a great story, beautiful graphics and intense and smooth gunplay.

The story picks up right where The New Order ended. Blazkowicz is severely wounded after the battle with General Deathshead and is ready to leave this world. Then, he is rescued by the Kreisau Circle and brought back to the captured Submarine Eva’s Hammer, where he is patched up (to some extent). Then, General Engel (the sub-main villain from the first game) attacks the Hammer and you need to defend yourself and your friends while in a wheelchair.

After the attack Caroline is killed and you get to burrow her special suit to be able to walk, sprint and shoot again with your still broken body. From here, a quest for revenge, sabotage, guerrilla tactics, and recruiting members for the resistance begins. It all ends when you finally burrow your hatchet deep inside the skull of your arch nemesis General Engel.

The story has some intense cutscenes and plot twists that always kept me wondering what would happen next. It is storytelling at its finest. My prime example of this is when BJ is captured and his freaking head is cut off. The twist that follows blew my mind.

In the core, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a linear game in which you finish missions in chronological order. The maps are huge and offer many different paths or approaches to achieving the end goal. The game offers possibilities for stealth, Full Rambo mode or a combination of the two. Your full arsenal from the first game is back, with the addition of some new weapons.

Between every mission, you return to Eva’s Hammer, the submarine and your base of operations. Here, you can search for collectibles, play Wolfenstone 3D and accept side quests in areas you have already been to. In the Hammer, you can also revisit areas which are called Districts. These come available later in the game. These bring even more content in the game with the addition of the Enigma machine, in which you hunt Übercommanders in all districts.

The perk system is also back from the first game and is now a little more refined. You can replay missions by visiting Districts and level up your perks, even if the game ends. The only problem is that there is a flaw in which your perk progress is saved when you reload the game or die. This means that you can spam a certain action over and over again to fill up the progress meter.

The amount of content in this game is the main reason I thought it was good. Both in terms of gameplay and overall value. You got your main story line, side quests, the Killboard, DLC, and collectibles to find. This is not a game that you rush through in a few hours if you want the full experience.

The graphics in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus are stunning. This game is already eight years old but looks absolutely amazing. The smooth frame rate, the detail, the facial features and expressions, the in game cutscenes, it is a work of art. The animations are also fluent and masterfully done. When you blow the head of a Super Soldat, it tilts to the right and then falls over like a wooden plank, just epic. The only problem I have with the graphics is the fog and God Rays. They smear over your screen like Vaseline and in the ruin’s areas of the game, this is God awful.

The Sound effects are also glorious. Gunfire sounds solid and the impact of explosions and grenades is just plain awesome. The grunts and screams of the soldiers are masterfully done and the metal soundtrack that plays with big battles enhances the experience.

Controls work smoothly, are easy to understand and just work perfectly.

Although I really like Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, there are some very serious issues that could potentially break the game or make people stop playing.

For starters, the difficulty. This game is utterly sadistic in its difficulty level. Not because people don’t like a challenge, but because of the “Mein Leben” mode. In this mode, you need to complete the game in one setting. No saves, no breaks, no ”coming back later”. If you die, you start over. This is already extremely difficult, especially the “you need to do it in one setting” part. What makes it forty times worse however, is the insane number of glitches, crashes and problems that could break your perfect Mein Leben run, as mentioned right here below. To top it off, at the beginning of the game, you only got 50 health. When an enemy soldier as much as slaps his d!ck against you, you are dead. I think the developers thought that this game was not hard enough already.

For example, you got the “Super Soldat Invincibility Glitch”. With this glitch, Super Soldaten are Immortal all of the sudden. Your cursor will not be turning red, and you might as well shoot a wall. This glitch can be resolved by reloading a last save, but if you encounter this problem in Mein Leben mode, you are f*cked. You will get nuked instantly and there is nothing you can do.

Then you got the frequent crashes. There is a specific crash that can happen when you pick up Star Card collectibles and want to see them in your inventory. Sometimes, this just makes the game crash. Other times you get the “Could not write dump” error and the game shuts down. Yet again, when you are in a serious Mein Leben run, this could crush all fun and motivation to try again.

Lastly, my personal biggest issue of them all: “Getting more stuck than a Stepsister in a washing machine” behind tiny ledges. You need to enter a million doors in this game, every door has a little edge between the door post and the floor behind it, in this game, you almost always get stuck behind them and need to wobble back and forth to eventually go over it. This can f*ck up your stealth run or get you cornered instantly. The absolute worst scenario is in the Gunslinger Joe DLC when there are forty million doors and pathways with this kind of ledge. The stairs in this game behave exactly the same way. It was absolutely infuriating and cost me at least three Mein Leben tries.

Although I think the flaws can be considered game breaking, my overall opinion and experience with Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is very positive. The solid story, beautiful graphics, enormous amount of content, high paced action and overall design, makes it a worthy successor from the first game and I would still recommend it.