Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is an action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released on 27 October 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and is scheduled for release in 2018 for Nintendo Switch. The game is the eighth main entry in the Wolfenstein series and the sequel to 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order, set in alternate history 1961 America following the Nazi victory of the Second World War.

Plot
The story follows war veteran William "B.J." Blazkowicz and his efforts to fight against the Nazi regime in the United States.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The game makes improvements from the original.
 * 2) * Areas crucial to the plot that cannot be revisited at will (e.g. Section 7, the Ausmerzer, the Oberkommando, etc...) only have readables for the player to collect. Any missed collectibles are deposited into the Vault area of the Eva's Hammer after their respective missions are completed, ensuring that nothing is lost despite the game's lack of a chapter selector.
 * 3) * Collectibles themselves are much easier to find now that instead of killing the commander without being detected, you just have to kill them, thereby making the stealth segments largely optional.
 * 4) * Enigma Codes (aka the only collectibles that actually do something) are now found by killing Commanders instead of being hidden, making it near-impossible to miss them.
 * 5) * There is now settings to adjust the audio meaning the soundtrack won't be drowned out like it was in the previous games.
 * 6) Brilliant story, as it starts where the original left off and tells how the Kreisau Circle plans to take back America.
 * 7) The game continues using the two different timelines that was established in the first game as you're given the choice to either choose Wyatt or Fergus like before.
 * 8) The game gives William "B.J." Blazkowicz further character development by showing glimpses of his childhood which explains his burning hatred for the Nazis.
 * 9) The Nazi-occupied version of the U.S feels realistic and is very well designed.
 * 10) After B.J. gets his head cut off, the player is given one of three Contraptions to choose from (though the player can find the other two in side missions) that grants him new abilities that relate to a specific playstyle.
 * 11) *The Constrictor Harness: Allows B.J. to access certain openings and passages which are otherwise too small to fit through, allowing the player to move quickly and quietly through an area using routes which enemies cannot enter or see into or hide underneath certain objects. Its associated battery of secondary abilities primarily benefit a "Stealth" playstyle.
 * 12) **Kobra: The Constrictor Harness' main function, allowing entrance into small places while crouched. Activated by crouch-walking into appropriate apertures while aiming at them. Staying in these cramped spaces too long causes health to start to deplete slowly, but most such areas are quick enough to navigate that this isn't an issue unless one stays concealed inside them for an extended period of time.
 * 13) **Silent Step: Normal movement is made completely silent just like crouch-walking, and sprinting is significantly quieter. This makes stealth play significantly less tedious as the player can move faster through certain areas without increasing their risk of being detected.
 * 14) **Terror-Billy: Enemies will freeze in terror upon seeing B.J., which is represented in-game as a brief period of slow motion. Getting behind cover immediately when this triggers can sometimes cancel the enemy's awareness but in it's generally more effective to use the window to bring a silenced weapon to bear or close the distance for a melee takedown without other enemies being alerted. Enemies can still bring their weapons to bear whiled slowed down and if they manage to fire a shot the alarm will be raised as usual. This ability works against all human enemies (soldiers, Commanders, Übercommanders and Klansmen) and Supersoldaten but not against Kampfhunde or robots.
 * 15) **Iron Lung: an upgrade to the basic Kobra ability which increases the time that the constrictor harness can be used for before health starts to deplete. Unlocked by completing Habib Ismail's side quest on the Eva's Hammer.
 * 16) *The Ram Shackles: Oriented toward the "Mayhem" playstyle and as such grant abilities mainly focused on enhancing B.J.'s capabilities in direct combat.
 * 17) ** Rammbock: The main function, activated by sprinting. Running into certain cracked walls or metal grated doorways will smash through the wall, allowing quick entrance to previously inaccessible areas. Running into human enemies will knock them over and damage them, sometimes kill them outright or even causing their entire body to explode in a satisfying shower of gore.
 * 18) ** Sturdy: B.J. is no longer knocked over by explosions going off nearby, making enemy grenades and environmental explosions less dangerous.
 * 19) ** Cannon Arm: Grenades and hatchets are thrown much farther and faster. Hitting an enemy directly with a Handgranate will knock them down.
 * 20) ** Mechanic: One of the most useful of all the contraption abilities, allowing armour as well as health to be regenerated. Inactive when armour is reduced to zero, but picking up any armour boost will still trigger it; otherwise it engages automatically if no damage is taken for a few seconds. Like health regeneration, armour replenishment stops at certain intervals but can be bumped up to the next interval by collecting some; where health stops at multiples of 10, armour stops at multiples of five. Unlocked by completing Ritva Tuomivaara's side quest on the Eva's Hammer.
 * 21) * Battle Walker: A pair of retractable metal stilts which B.J. is able stand, walk, and shoot from without balance issues.
 * 22) ** Wanderer: Main function, activated by double-pressing the jump button. Extending the stilts allows access to elevated platforms or passages for more thorough exploration of an area. In combat, this ability can be used to exploit tall objects for cover while still being able to fire over them or to reach enemies firing from elevated positions for a takedown.
 * 23) ** Quick Draw: Time is slowed down when the Weapon Wheel is displayed, allowing for safer switching between weapons mid-fight.
 * 24) ** Adrenaline: A boost of 3 health is granted every time an enemy is killed. All kinds of enemies and all weapons trigger the effect.
 * 25) ** Stamina: Overcharged health only begins draining once damage is taken, and stops draining when health is restored. Naturally this synergizes well with the adrenaline ability. Unlocked by completing the Irina Yakova/Septimus Stubbins side quest on the Eva's Hammer.
 * 26) Great visuals with improved texture work as the game now uses id Tech 6 allowing for fully 3D texture work.
 * 27) The dual-wielding system has been enhanced, now it's possible to wield two different weapons at the same time.
 * 28) The Nazis are still a huge threat and have produced more lethal war machines like the Laserhund and the ÜberSoldat to battle BJ.
 * 29) Great soundtrack that features a metal cover of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" over the ending credits.
 * 30) The enemy AI in this game has been updated to be able to form and field quite sophisticated tactics against the player. Hiding behind a tall cover will have them split up to flank the player while the other half of the squad stays behind to lay down suppression fire. Blazkowicz strutting around on his Battle Walker and gaining the advantage of height? They will throw grenades or unleash Kampfhunds.
 * 31) Hitler finally appears in the game, whom you can kill with just a kick (although, this isn't canon). The game also portrays him as a pathetic senile old man with bladder issues and a cartoonishly violent temper. Mel Brooks would be proud.
 * 32) The original Wolfenstein 3-D is presented in its entirety as Wolfstone 3D, with the same gameplay and levels but the setting changed from Nazi bases to Resistance/Terrorist hideouts, with Nazi symbolism, enemy sprites, digitized voices and even some of the music changed appropriately.
 * 33) The Freedom Chronicles DLC Pack features three different protagonists fighting in different places around the US:
 * 34) * The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe: Focuses on former quarterback Joseph Stallion as he deals with Nazis in Chicago and all the way to space.
 * 35) * The Diaries of Agent Silent Death: Focuses on ex-OSS assassin Jessica Valiant as she infiltrates Nazi bunkers in California.
 * 36) * The Amazing Deeds of Captain Wilkins: Focuses on Captain Gerald Wilkins as he dismantles a Nazi operation in Alaska.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The core gameplay barely has any differences from The New Order other than a few tweaks.
 * 2) The level design can be dull at times and the navigation and obstacles of some levels are very confusing and will leave you stuck without any knowledge of what to do unless you look up a walkthrough, even at the beginning of the game.
 * 3) No boss battles, unlike the previous Wolfenstein titles, except the dual Zestorers at the end of the final mission.
 * 4) It's ridiculous that despite all the people that join you over the course of the game, Anna, B.J.'s pregnant wife, constantly goes on dangerous missions. The Ausmerzer level even shows her doing stunts like jumping around and dodge-rolling which in reality could harm the children she's carrying.
 * 5) Upon the game's launch, the PC version suffered from game-breaking bugs.
 * 6) * The PC version of the game exclusively uses Vulkan as the graphics API, preventing many older (as in pre-2016) graphic cards from even running the game because of the inconsistent Vulkan support on older graphics cards.
 * 7) Two new characters, Grace and Horton, are unlikable if not outright irritating, though the game seems to be self-aware about that.
 * 8) The humor can feel bland or cringeworthy at times.
 * 9) While the enemy AI is smart for the most part, they can really struggle against a player sitting behind a low cover. If a cover lets the enemy see and shoot at the player, but not reliably hitting them, their AI will freak out and either attempt to throw grenades, which can be tossed back for some easy kills, or just run around like a flock of headless chickens for a good while until Blazkowicz shows his face once more, where they will likely repeat the whole charade from scratch.
 * 10) The game has been frequently described as more difficult than The New Order.
 * 11) *The first half is played with BJ's maximum health at half the unupgraded maximum health of The New Order. This is due to B.J. suffering from kidney failure after being wounded at the end of the previous game. Fortunately, you do get your health back to 100 after B.J. gets his new body.
 * 12) * The UI is less indicative of where hits are coming from, meaning that a random mook will often do lethal or near-lethal damage if he spawns behind you.
 * 13) *Stealth overall is nerfed like crazy in this game; there is no longer a perk upgrade that helps you find officers on the map, and even so, finding officers is much difficult than in The New Order. Enemies in general tend to be a bit more clairvoyant and heavily armored, rendering them resistant to the usual amount of silenced shots.
 * 14) *The weapon wheel no longer causes everything around the player to slow down. Instead, this has been attached to the Battle Walker for no reason.

Reception
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was released to "generally favorable" reviews, with critics praising the game's story and characters, as well as improving the intense gameplay from The New Order/The Old Blood. Entertainment Weekly placed Wolfenstein II at #10 on the list of the "Best Games of 2017", Polygon also placed it at #10 on their list of the 50 best games of 2017, and GamesRadar+ ranked it eighth on their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017, while Eurogamer ranked the game 20th on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017". EGMNow also ranked the game at #5 in their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017. It was even rewarded "Best Action Game" at The Game Awards 2017.

Among fans, however, it's more divisive. Some agree with the critics, while others had problems with the game's length as well as some of the changes to the gameplay and the cutscene-to-gameplay ratio.

Trivia

 * 1) At launch, the official Wolfenstein twitter account promoted the game by saying "Make America Nazi Free Again", which led to many criticizing the game as they assumed it's an SJW game.
 * 2) The game censored Hitler in the German version by removing his mustache, to which many players jokingly said that they turned Hitler into Merkel

Videos
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