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"[GAME] Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PC)"

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Tue 15/12/15 at 17:25
Regular
"eat toast!"
Posts: 1,466
Those who played Wolfenstein the New Order may remember that the game takes place in an alternate future where the Nazis won the war. They may also remember that the game began in 1946 and came with some nice various weapons and enemies for that era. If like me, you would have felt that it was a bit of a waste that the assets were never seen again after the first chapter. Well, unsurprisingly, it appears that those art assets were being put to use for Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, but is it any good?

The old blood is the stand-alone expansion pack to the main game Wolfenstein: the new order. All American hero B.J Blazkowicz has been tasked to infiltrate castle Wolfenstein, steal a file locating Deathhead's compound and triggering events leading to the main game. But things quickly get out of hand and half of the game is spent trying escape from castle Wolfenstein and the other half trying to steal the folder whilst thwarting the Nazi's current evil scheme along the way.

Whereas the main game was the wild child of the series, The Old Blood is more reserved. W:TNO favoured adrenaline pumping heavy metal and pitted players against the might of the robot Nazi war machine using fantastical weapons under the sea and in space. The old Blood prefers ambient orchestral music and drawing on its Occult heritage for inspiration. Old castles, European medieval villages and catacombs (complete with monsters) are offered to players .

Those familiar with Wolfenstein: the New Order will know exactly what to expect from the Old Blood; a solid linear shooter that leads players through a satisfyingly action packed story that offers enough flexibility for both stealthy and combative play styles. Stealth is still however occasionally hapahazard at times. Guards ignore dead comrades when patrolling or those eating a bullet in the face provided it kills them in one shot. Other times guards are almost telepathic. Kill a guard just as he registers the player presence but not quick enough to cry out a warning or kill an armoured guard with 2 quick headshots and all the guards become alerted. It's not helped that after sneaking through to an objective like activating a button and all (surviving) guards become alerted anyway with enemies immediately spawning into the area.

Luckily, The Old Blood is definitely at its best when the game drops all pretences for subtly and resolves problems with violence. In fact, the game actively encourages it. Rarely does messing up a stealthy ambush result in an immediate quick load to try again. Instead players could go for broke killing the officers ,eliminate all the enemies in the vicinity or going out in style. Who knows? Play your cards right and players may even walk out of a scrap intact thanks to the overcharge ability for health and armour that activates by over collecting the numerous health and armour pickups where are absolutely everywhere in this game. In fact, it's not unusual to see values pushed beyond 200%, so players can have fun and go wild charging around shredding soldiers dual welding shotguns or assault rifles. Even if engagements don't work out, additional large health and armour pickups are never far away and health regenerates. So there's little reason to reload a checkpoint, reducing frustration and keeping the gaming momentum going.

Disappointingly, The old blood is incredibly short taking just under 6 hours on the second hardest difficulty. But even more disappointing is that the game offers even LESS incentive than W:TNO for players to replay through the story mode more than twice or on harder difficulties. W:TNO had enigma codes to unlock special game modes, various useful collectables and 2 different timelines to play through. This game sadly offers none of this. A redeeming feature over the main game are the secret "nightmare" levels that award players a chance to play through the original Wolfenstein 3D. It's a nice touch that will play to fans nostalgia or at the very least, a neat historical artefact on how far the wolfenstein series or even FPS games have developed over the decades. But otherwise there's little incentive to explore looking for gold to unlock the tasteless gold plated lugers and the skill tree challenges to unlock perks is considerably shorter and easier to complete compared to W:TNO.

Outside the main game, challenge mode is a welcome distraction to quickly relive the more lively combat set pieces for their own blood thirsty amusement whilst earning a high score. Getting a gold medal is extremely tricky, demanding players to make perfect headshots every time whilst chaining the longest killing spree to get a decent score. But again, beyond achievements and points, there is very little reason to try that hard.

Overall ,Wolfenstein: The old blood is an enjoyably solid FPS game even if it doesn't do or offer anything significantly new or improving on the main game itself. More importantly, The old blood succeeds in capturing the entertaining action whilst adding some much needed variety and contrast to the main game. Although the game isn't essential, fans of The New Order itching for more content but getting tired of seeing metal might want to pick this up. At £15 The old Blood is a bit a steep considering how short the game. It's recommended to buy it during a steam sale when its considerably cheaper and more value for money. Newcomers, should consider getting The New Order first before deciding on The Old blood as its longer and more interesting.

7/10
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
Tue 15/12/15 at 17:25
Regular
"eat toast!"
Posts: 1,466
Those who played Wolfenstein the New Order may remember that the game takes place in an alternate future where the Nazis won the war. They may also remember that the game began in 1946 and came with some nice various weapons and enemies for that era. If like me, you would have felt that it was a bit of a waste that the assets were never seen again after the first chapter. Well, unsurprisingly, it appears that those art assets were being put to use for Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, but is it any good?

The old blood is the stand-alone expansion pack to the main game Wolfenstein: the new order. All American hero B.J Blazkowicz has been tasked to infiltrate castle Wolfenstein, steal a file locating Deathhead's compound and triggering events leading to the main game. But things quickly get out of hand and half of the game is spent trying escape from castle Wolfenstein and the other half trying to steal the folder whilst thwarting the Nazi's current evil scheme along the way.

Whereas the main game was the wild child of the series, The Old Blood is more reserved. W:TNO favoured adrenaline pumping heavy metal and pitted players against the might of the robot Nazi war machine using fantastical weapons under the sea and in space. The old Blood prefers ambient orchestral music and drawing on its Occult heritage for inspiration. Old castles, European medieval villages and catacombs (complete with monsters) are offered to players .

Those familiar with Wolfenstein: the New Order will know exactly what to expect from the Old Blood; a solid linear shooter that leads players through a satisfyingly action packed story that offers enough flexibility for both stealthy and combative play styles. Stealth is still however occasionally hapahazard at times. Guards ignore dead comrades when patrolling or those eating a bullet in the face provided it kills them in one shot. Other times guards are almost telepathic. Kill a guard just as he registers the player presence but not quick enough to cry out a warning or kill an armoured guard with 2 quick headshots and all the guards become alerted. It's not helped that after sneaking through to an objective like activating a button and all (surviving) guards become alerted anyway with enemies immediately spawning into the area.

Luckily, The Old Blood is definitely at its best when the game drops all pretences for subtly and resolves problems with violence. In fact, the game actively encourages it. Rarely does messing up a stealthy ambush result in an immediate quick load to try again. Instead players could go for broke killing the officers ,eliminate all the enemies in the vicinity or going out in style. Who knows? Play your cards right and players may even walk out of a scrap intact thanks to the overcharge ability for health and armour that activates by over collecting the numerous health and armour pickups where are absolutely everywhere in this game. In fact, it's not unusual to see values pushed beyond 200%, so players can have fun and go wild charging around shredding soldiers dual welding shotguns or assault rifles. Even if engagements don't work out, additional large health and armour pickups are never far away and health regenerates. So there's little reason to reload a checkpoint, reducing frustration and keeping the gaming momentum going.

Disappointingly, The old blood is incredibly short taking just under 6 hours on the second hardest difficulty. But even more disappointing is that the game offers even LESS incentive than W:TNO for players to replay through the story mode more than twice or on harder difficulties. W:TNO had enigma codes to unlock special game modes, various useful collectables and 2 different timelines to play through. This game sadly offers none of this. A redeeming feature over the main game are the secret "nightmare" levels that award players a chance to play through the original Wolfenstein 3D. It's a nice touch that will play to fans nostalgia or at the very least, a neat historical artefact on how far the wolfenstein series or even FPS games have developed over the decades. But otherwise there's little incentive to explore looking for gold to unlock the tasteless gold plated lugers and the skill tree challenges to unlock perks is considerably shorter and easier to complete compared to W:TNO.

Outside the main game, challenge mode is a welcome distraction to quickly relive the more lively combat set pieces for their own blood thirsty amusement whilst earning a high score. Getting a gold medal is extremely tricky, demanding players to make perfect headshots every time whilst chaining the longest killing spree to get a decent score. But again, beyond achievements and points, there is very little reason to try that hard.

Overall ,Wolfenstein: The old blood is an enjoyably solid FPS game even if it doesn't do or offer anything significantly new or improving on the main game itself. More importantly, The old blood succeeds in capturing the entertaining action whilst adding some much needed variety and contrast to the main game. Although the game isn't essential, fans of The New Order itching for more content but getting tired of seeing metal might want to pick this up. At £15 The old Blood is a bit a steep considering how short the game. It's recommended to buy it during a steam sale when its considerably cheaper and more value for money. Newcomers, should consider getting The New Order first before deciding on The Old blood as its longer and more interesting.

7/10

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