The follow-up to developer MachineGames’ masterful 2014 Wolfenstein franchise reboot is as beautiful and brutal as the first but feels noticeably thinner.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is the direct sequel to MachineGames’ blockbuster reboot of the franchise that birthed the first-person shooter genre. It is, in essence, that very same game from three years ago. A few bells and whistles have been added to the blood-soaked fray, but Colossus feels more like an expansion to Wolfenstein: The New Order than a fully realized sequel.
Once again, we step into the weathered combat boots of one William J. Blazkowicz, a meaty slice of World War II-era Americana wrapped in alternate-history supersoldier technology and laden down with ludicrous lead dispensers of every stripe. Wolfenstein is arguably responsible for the existence of the first-person shooter genre, and it wears its legacy well. The modern incarnation trades mazes and keys for stealth and RPG elements, with varying levels of success. Still, the essential Nazi butcher shop experience is intact: acquire weapons, creatively discharge those weapons into the servants of the monstrous Führer, lather, rinse, repeat.
But The New Colossus trades the expansive campaign of the The New Order for an intense focus on exposition via cutscenes and leaves so much of the experience on the cutting room floor that I frequently felt as if those (certainly well produced) cinematics were meant to accent a much more satisfying whole. It feels as if the game is a series of increasingly colorful ellipses, boiled down to “one thing led to another” between missions that needed stitching together in the simplest possible manner.
That isn’t to say this meal lacks flavor, but rather that the portion size is more haute cuisine than steak and potatoes. And unfortunately, what is offered is in every essential way identical to its predecessor, making it feel more like an especially well-produced expansion than a title worthy of standing on its own.
Insofar as the narrative is concerned, your context for this deli’s worth of bloody Nazi giblets surrounds the resurgence of American guerilla resistance to the dissolution of the United States by a Third Reich equipped with ancient artifacts, flying battleships, and robots. Contrary to what the marketing suggests, this is all about as topical as the sentiment “Nazis are bad.” All of the hot takes — read: Trump insults or Richard Spencer references — are confined to hidden collectible text blurbs, with all of the verve you would expect from a marketing department intensely interested in capitalizing on the current national discourse.
Yes, video games can make meaningful social commentary. Nazis were, and are bad. This isn’t a groundbreaking proposition. These modern references, however, reek of a marketing team trading in outrage for profit. This is Coca-Cola does politics; resistance through marketing analytics.
On the gameplay front, things are much simpler. Gunplay is tight, focused, and as satisfying as any shooter on the market. If there is one thing Wolfenstein knows, it’s how to make a spectacle of its slaughter. Upgradeable weapons and leveling perks mean that Blazkowicz is both actively and passively tuned to your gameplay style, with consistent and satisfying results. It may not be as utterly glorious as 2016’s DOOM revival, but it’s certainly close.
Unfortunately, while the game maintains its keen eye for visceral chaos, it has lost some of The New Order‘s flexibility along the way. If anything, stealth is somehow less interesting than in the first game. The levels are tighter and more linear, and approaches to the situations outside of running in guns blazing are extremely limited. Nevertheless, it remains a game that is fun to crawl through, until things spin out of control — then revert to BJ’s natural destructive tendencies to grease the wheels for a blood-soaked escape.
Still, at the end of the day, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is fun while it lasts. That’s a target all too many games in the current “games as a service” (to the publisher, courtesy of your wallet) climate have managed to miss. What is there is enjoyable, hampered only by its brevity. I think, given another year or so to expand on the game’s epic premise, we would have had another genre-defining title on our hands. As it stands, it’s merely “pretty good.”
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