- Tested on Xbox One
- Game purchased
- About 20 hours of metering (11h on the campaign in Normal mode, 9h in Hardcore mode).
While DOOM, an absolutely inescapable series of the industry, knew three opus before being extinguished and then reborn in a new and more brutal form in 2016 (read our test), Wolfenstein 3D, a precursor of the First Person Shooter (also developed by id Software), knew several attempts to reboot made by several distinct studios. First in 2001, with Return to Castle Wolfenstein by Gray Matter Interactive, overall well received though quickly forgotten. Then in 2009 with the soberly titled Wolfenstein, developed by the mythical Raven Interactive (to whom it also owes the series Heretic or Quake 4), which will hardly convince its audience. In 2014, however, the franchise experienced a real turning point in its history, with The New Order, created by the very young studio MachineGames, opening the way for a brand new series, otherwise more ambitious.
The Master of the High Castle
It is not obvious who of the world ruled by the Nazis or by the Bolsheviks would have been the most infernal, in a parallel reality where the allies did not win the war. On the one hand, the repugnant ideology behind a real ethnic purging, on the other nearly 100 million completely unjustifiable deaths and a famine without borders. Not to mention total propaganda, in both camps, voluntarily touching youth to lead the people towards acceptance of a dystopic ideal. Imagining what the world could have looked like under the banner of one of these monsters with huge mass graves has something to cool in the back, but remains a rather interesting exercise. An exercise in which one of the greatest authors of the last century gave the time to a novel that marked many readers.
With his very long list of Romanesque works, whose posterity will retain only the Science Fiction, Philip K. Dick has been able to imagine many strange worlds. Author who didn't have his like in what was absurd (all those who had the chance to read Ubik, one of his most famous novels, or Substance DeadHowever, he did not always look very far for the subjects of his stories. For example, The Master of the High Castle among other detours to a fantasy Japanese society, a very different vision of the post-Second War, where the Nazis would have ended victorious, the annexed allies, and the Bolsheviks crushed. A literary experiment, also called Uchronie, that manages to captivate its audience, and it takes little thought to understand why. Despite the horrors committed during the war, and those imagined for the future, Nazi imagery, its cult of the leader and its unhealthy ideology have something fascinating, even though it is a morbid thing.
In this imaginary world (which I invite you to read in VO, for lack of qualitative translation), following a devastating defeat of the allies, the only positive point finally seems to the abolition of destructive communism (pleonasm), responsible (in our reality) for a number of deaths all the more catastrophic than any ideology throughout the centuries. Unfortunately, this is accompanied by the will of the SS government to take ever more power, by reducing an impotent Africa to the state of mass grave, soon transformed into agricultural land, and by annihilating the Slavic peoples, unable to defend themselves after a war that cost them too many men. A dark universe, which is cold in the back, in which the last Jews are hunted, the political opponents executed, and where the understanding between the two new powers, Asia (controlled by Japan) and Germany is only a matter of little. However, hope remains possible. An intellectual holds the high dracée to the party, with a blasphemous book that passes from hand to hand under the coat...
This hope, it is no longer part of the vocabulary of survivors in Wolfenstein : The New Order, another work to be stored among the uchronies, and another vision of a morn war in which Germany crushed its opponents. Here, no Japan, no Bolsheviks, and allies to subscribers absent following a war won by a Nazi army with strangely advanced technology. Death awaits all those who leave the ranks, each member of the party wants to threaten the people and shows cruelty condemning to hell, whatever you believe in. Nazi supremacy is no longer questionable. In this real nightmare, our hero, William Blazkowitcz, a former American elite soldier, wakes up after fourteen long years vegetating in an alienated asylum in Poland. It was then 1960. His anger will open many doors to him, but could also cause him to sink into a madness, including murder, of which it is impossible to return unharmed.
William, he was also the protagonist of the previous games of the franchise. Until then, however, he was not lent great personality. Like the DOOM guy, he was finally just a kind of davatar in which the player reflected, nothing more. At The New OrderHe now has his own character, and a very recognizable voice, that of the late Patrick Bethune, whom you have necessarily already heard, even in films Harry Potter where he plays Alastor Maugrey in the VF. A hero who adds a real plus, thanks to his interventions in the form of a narrator, to the whole fabric of this Wolfenstein. Without him, this flat and predictable story, where nuance is never allowed, placing on one side the good Americans supported by God and on the other side the wicked Nazis sent from hell, would not have held on to much. He will be recognized for his performance qualities, including a landing as memorable as that of Medal of Honor: First Line (Let someone make a remake of this game!), but unfortunately the set struggles to commit over time.
The Instinct of Death
What engages the player, in Wolfenstein : The New OrderIt's all the rest. First of all, it is interesting to see that this is a cross-generation game, released in parallel on PS3 / 360 and on PS4 / One, in addition to a PC version. Which intrigues a lot, when you throw it on a recent console (on Xbox One concerning me), since it reveals strangely pretty. The effects of light are pleasant to the eye, the blood sheaves and the dismemberment really make good, and a lot of small effects turn out to be nice, in addition to rather convincing textures. So, of course, concessions had to be made, and these are seen mainly in the animations, which are generally dated, whatever the versions. But even on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the game does not have to blush. If it's not his dead bodies that disappear, because it tends to make smile more than to promote immersion. We are years away from the industrial disasters that were Call of Duty : Black Ops III or Middle Earth: The Shadow of Mordor on old gen, two titles that should never have come out. First real good point for this FPS which, moreover, remains quite conventional for the time.
Because Wolfenstein : The New Order Finally reprints the recipe of the time, standardized, of the FPS solo. That is an explosive staging, a boat scenario, and a linear set without much surprise. Recipe we found at Bulletstorm, Killzone 2 & 3, the series Resistance, Call of Juarez or, difficult to avoid elephant in the room, any opus of Call of Duty since Modern Warfare (2007). So many games I have, personally, very good memories of, and for cause, they were all kind of friendly. Kind of like Gears of War which created a lot of pleasant Cover Shooter and Third Person Shooter, this wave of uncomplexed, dynamic and well staged First Person Shooter had something invigorating. The New Order is no exception. This is all the more true as he enjoys a rather memorable artistic direction, a licked soundtrack (which is owed to Mick Gordon, also at work on the DOOM 2016, decidedly), or an honorable lifetime, rotating around 10-12 hours of play. We will gladly recognize it a beautiful variety of situations too, getting a little feeling of doing the exact same from the beginning to the end of the adventure.
But of course, what works best in this title that doesn't hurt on the hemoglobin is its gameplay. Simple access, taking over everything we knew at the time (and still today, the rest) of the First Person Shooter, with triggers to aim and shoot, the B key to squat or slide on the ground, and the A to jump for example, the title of MachineGames does not, however, deprive itself of more pointy ideas. In particular, it offers the possibility (and sometimes the need elsewhere) to lie down to pull under ventilation doors or grilles, or to lean on walls and corners for a more precise purpose, while benefiting from a cover system which, although perfectable, nevertheless makes coffee. Also, proud of its origins, the title takes over the separate system of armor and health, which is also found in DOOM, bringing at the time (and it's still valid elsewhere) a little fresh air, facing the titles that proposed a system of life going up on its own while covering for a few moments.
So many good ideas that do not take away anything from absolutely jubilatory shoot sensations, quite close, to a certain extent, to what we will find in 2016 at the excellent DOOM of which I have already spoken too much in these columns. The weapons are quite different from each other so that you feel like you are changing, even in similar categories, and that you have our favourites of course (pump rifles will always remain a safe value). Moreover, The New Order offers a double weapon system, as players of Call of Duty know better under the name of Akimbo, there again jubilatory. System that can be used or not, favouring fire power at the expense of accuracy, and vice versa. If the game is rather generous in ammunition, at least until the difficult mode that will make you count your balls, you can also say the same about armament in itself. The first half of the adventure will offer you rather classic guns, as well as grizzly grenades, while the second half will offer you some more original kneaders.
But Wolfenstein : The New Order is a more generous and profound title than it appears in the first place. Far from the abominable residues of Light-RPG that have become the norm following the success of Far Cry 3 et al., the title of MachineGames is adorned with a asset system that gives the player permanent bonuses, provided that he performs some in-game actions not always obvious. Most often, it is a matter of killing a number of enemies in a particular way, for example by sliding to the ground. We feel all the more gratified to acquire these assets, as we have really worked to do this! Moreover, if he cannot compete with a Prey (read our test) for Level Design, since overall very linear, Wolfenstein : The New Order However, regularly offers the player the opportunity to settle the situation discreetly, even though running into the heap without thinking remains possible. Finally, special mention to the system of secret codes to decrypt (or to hack on the internet) allowing to unlock new modes, including a Hardcore difficulty.
Heir of the best FPS of the seventh generation consoles, on which he releases in parallel PS4 and Xbox One by the way, Wolfenstein: The New Order is certainly the best episode of his franchise at the time he came in. With its jubilatory gameplay, consistent content and surprising subtleties, the title of MachineGames hits hard and blows a real wind of freshness. What is still true today, moreover, when it only takes a handful of euros to buy it in a second-hand ferry, or at a Steam promo.
For
- A refreshing uchronic context
- Directing
- Gameplay absolutely jubilatory
- Subtleties that Surprise
- Honorable life
- A lot of difficulty modes
- Sensitive secret code system
Against
- Unsurprising scenario
- Maybe a hair too linear
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