Thoughts On...

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Standalone add-on and prequel for Wolfenstein: The New Order

PC, XONE, PS4; 2015

Bethesda, Machine Games, id Software

~

 

            The Old Blood is built like The New Order. There are combat scenarios that you can either sneak through or shoot through and a fair amount of character interaction and story development to break up these combat sections. There are also letters and secret areas to find, this time the secret items being gold bars. Old Blood is a solid gameplay package that results in another “first-person shooter with some extra spice” for us to enjoy.

            The characters are solid for a Wolfenstein cast. Like in New Order, player-character B. J. Blazkowicz offers up some cheesy action-movie-esque one-liners. There are some great lines in this one, many of which are only funny in context, but one I can quote here: “Well I’ll be, it’s raining Nazis.” I loved New Order’s cheesy humor, but if you didn’t, Old Blood’s won’t do anything for you. The quasi-humorous Wolfenstein 3D dream sequences also make a return.

B.J. is tracking down a document with the location of Deathshead’s weapon-making compound. B.J. must contend with Rudi Jager and Helga Von Schabbs, two greatly psychotic Nazi adversaries. Rudi has a pack of dogs he’s very fond of, and Helga’s after a long buried secret of King Otto, the Holy Roman Emperor, lost beneath a ruined church in Wulfburg. Long-time fans of the series know this is a throwback to part of Return to Castle Wolfenstein's story. So, yes, there is some occult and undead stuff here.

            Most of The Old Blood pits you against the living, and this is the stronger part of the game. The game is divided into eight chapters, which are split between two parts. The first five chapters are really good, but the last three are weak by comparison. In these latter segments—spoilers?—undead Nazi come in. The combat loses its cover-and-fire core as ‘standard’ battle scenarios are now complemented by segments with undead running at the player. The gameplay flow breaks down because of this (though you do get a sawed-off shotgun in this stage of the game, which makes up for it, I suppose). It leads into a ridiculous ‘keep-pounding-in-the-ammo’ final boss fight that long overstays its welcome.

            Personally, I would have loved more tombs, and more interesting undead enemies. Some King Otto-era zombies with sword and shield like in Return to Castle Wolfenstein would have been an interesting opponent. As it is, all the freshly undead Nazi zombies are like the Flood in Halo.

            The humor also tapers off once you get deep into the undead segment, with a strangely morose ending that sets up for The New Order. So Old Blood’s an uneven package, but mostly good, and I’d recommend it. The non-undead combat, cast of characters and humor make for a great time.