Also for: Windows, Xbox One
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is the budget-prized, standalone expansion and prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order. Released just one year after the original, it came out of the blue, and tells of the events that precede the opening of The New Order.
The Old Blood has garnered a somewhat dubious reputation over the years, mostly due to a lacklustre story and repetitive settings. Although I agree this makes the game slightly worse by comparison, I cannot share the disdain, because I don't play first-person shooters for story, and I think the setting is one of its strengths. Games of this genre revel in immersive mayhem, and in the areas that matter, The Old Blood truly delivers.
Once again you control the square-jawed American spy B.J. Blazkowitz on a mission behind enemy lines, this time in 1946. He infiltrates the centuries-old Castle Wolfenstein to obtain the location of the highest ranking SS officer, Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse, who's later to become the main antagonist of Wolfenstein: The New Order.
Because of the setting, his adventure is basically a revisionist corridor shooter, with its roots set in the original Wolfenstein 3D (in fact, in a few optional dream sequences you revisit the 1992 classic). You have little room to maneuver, few places to hide, and mistakes are deadly.
The first part of the Old Blood usually plays out like this: You enter a new location, jam-packed with enemies, and immediately pick up the radio signals from a couple of Nazi commanders. You equip your silenced handgun or knife, and sneak about the area, while trying to silently take the commanders out. Once you do, the rest can no longer call for reinforcements, and you can relax a little whilst taking out the grunts. Later on, the game transitions into upfront action, with hordes of enemies literally crawling out of the walls.
Your guns pack a deadly punch, and the creators, Machinegames, are good at designing levels that bring out their special traits every now and again. Since the enemy share the same weaponry, you'd do wise to get behind cover once you run out of armor. With the series' nods towards campy science fiction, you have to face some towering mechanical units, which won't go down without some cunning and quick-thinking.
Machinegames utilizes an unlockable perk system to assist the player, but the bars are too high for them to make a difference. When you finally kill 50 enemies with your sniper rifle, for instance, you are likely close to the end, and the rewards are too insignificant to make it worthwhile.
Wolfenstein veterans will rejoice in the fact that a lot of mechanics are recycled directly from The New Order. The most apparent difference comes with the new pacing. Whereas the original was structured like the season of a TV-series, The Old Blood is more like a movie-spinoff. It delivers escalating suspense from its prologue to the climactic end boss. Thankfully, the length is much shorter. You should be able to finish the campaign in 6-8 hours.
I didn't particularly care about the story details, but whatever it's about, the staging and direction is brilliant. In a few tense scenes, it wrests control out of player's hands to deliver a heart-stopping cutscene in first person-perspective. In a mood-setting interactive sequence, doubling as a mission briefing, you get to witness first hand B.J:s first impression of Castle Wolfestein, and you know by heart this mission is impossible.
The castle looms on a mountainside, overlooking a quaint Alp village. You can only reach it by cable car, which later turns into the game's greatest set piece, and old war movies like Where Eagles Dare comes to mind. As majestic as it is downright oppressive and scary, it feels like running into the wolf's maw. The Old Blood perfectly captures the vulnerability of the situation. You are a stranger in a strange land, surrounded by enemies. By staying out of sight, you might listen in to some fishy and hilarious conversations and even glean some info on upcoming boss battles.
The cold, stone-paved rooms and hallways are stuffed with unique paintings, suits of armor, tapestries, books, furniture - whatever fits the occasion - that you keep rushing by or blow up. This is priceless work. Although you don't consciously notice it, your subconsciousness revels in the fact these areas actually seem inhabited. If you invest the time to catch up on diaries and audiotapes, you get to know the real, fragile human beings cowering behind the Nazi facade. Machinegames keep spoiling us in that regard, with great level design offset by frantic action that distracts you from noticing the details.
As the story eventually ventures into the occult, the titular Old Blood comes into play, and the gameplay seems like a reckoning with all the dark elements that should have run out of fashion - things like Nazism and outdated FPS design standards come to mind. The final boss is an abominable visage. Kind of like Nazism, the only fun thing about it is taking it down.
By all accounts, The Third Reich were fascinated with ancient mythology, and the events that unfold wouldn't seem out of place in an Indiana Jones-adventure. The Old Blood pokes fun at the Nazis, but also celebrates the tropes surrounding their portrayal in popular fiction. And like in real life, they just won't seem to stay dead.
It might come across as B-movie material, but Wolfenstein: The Old Blood embraces its ridiculousness without remorse. The silent takedowns that aren't particularly silent, the unreal boss fights, the silly overheard conversations between guards - they are all delivered with full conviction. In those moments I embrace them, too. I admire games that are aware of their own qualities and use their weak spots to somehow facilitate the total experience.
The Old Blood has garnered a somewhat dubious reputation over the years, mostly due to a lacklustre story and repetitive settings. Although I agree this makes the game slightly worse by comparison, I cannot share the disdain, because I don't play first-person shooters for story, and I think the setting is one of its strengths. Games of this genre revel in immersive mayhem, and in the areas that matter, The Old Blood truly delivers.
Once again you control the square-jawed American spy B.J. Blazkowitz on a mission behind enemy lines, this time in 1946. He infiltrates the centuries-old Castle Wolfenstein to obtain the location of the highest ranking SS officer, Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse, who's later to become the main antagonist of Wolfenstein: The New Order.
Because of the setting, his adventure is basically a revisionist corridor shooter, with its roots set in the original Wolfenstein 3D (in fact, in a few optional dream sequences you revisit the 1992 classic). You have little room to maneuver, few places to hide, and mistakes are deadly.
The first part of the Old Blood usually plays out like this: You enter a new location, jam-packed with enemies, and immediately pick up the radio signals from a couple of Nazi commanders. You equip your silenced handgun or knife, and sneak about the area, while trying to silently take the commanders out. Once you do, the rest can no longer call for reinforcements, and you can relax a little whilst taking out the grunts. Later on, the game transitions into upfront action, with hordes of enemies literally crawling out of the walls.
Your guns pack a deadly punch, and the creators, Machinegames, are good at designing levels that bring out their special traits every now and again. Since the enemy share the same weaponry, you'd do wise to get behind cover once you run out of armor. With the series' nods towards campy science fiction, you have to face some towering mechanical units, which won't go down without some cunning and quick-thinking.
Machinegames utilizes an unlockable perk system to assist the player, but the bars are too high for them to make a difference. When you finally kill 50 enemies with your sniper rifle, for instance, you are likely close to the end, and the rewards are too insignificant to make it worthwhile.
Wolfenstein veterans will rejoice in the fact that a lot of mechanics are recycled directly from The New Order. The most apparent difference comes with the new pacing. Whereas the original was structured like the season of a TV-series, The Old Blood is more like a movie-spinoff. It delivers escalating suspense from its prologue to the climactic end boss. Thankfully, the length is much shorter. You should be able to finish the campaign in 6-8 hours.
I didn't particularly care about the story details, but whatever it's about, the staging and direction is brilliant. In a few tense scenes, it wrests control out of player's hands to deliver a heart-stopping cutscene in first person-perspective. In a mood-setting interactive sequence, doubling as a mission briefing, you get to witness first hand B.J:s first impression of Castle Wolfestein, and you know by heart this mission is impossible.
The castle looms on a mountainside, overlooking a quaint Alp village. You can only reach it by cable car, which later turns into the game's greatest set piece, and old war movies like Where Eagles Dare comes to mind. As majestic as it is downright oppressive and scary, it feels like running into the wolf's maw. The Old Blood perfectly captures the vulnerability of the situation. You are a stranger in a strange land, surrounded by enemies. By staying out of sight, you might listen in to some fishy and hilarious conversations and even glean some info on upcoming boss battles.
The cold, stone-paved rooms and hallways are stuffed with unique paintings, suits of armor, tapestries, books, furniture - whatever fits the occasion - that you keep rushing by or blow up. This is priceless work. Although you don't consciously notice it, your subconsciousness revels in the fact these areas actually seem inhabited. If you invest the time to catch up on diaries and audiotapes, you get to know the real, fragile human beings cowering behind the Nazi facade. Machinegames keep spoiling us in that regard, with great level design offset by frantic action that distracts you from noticing the details.
As the story eventually ventures into the occult, the titular Old Blood comes into play, and the gameplay seems like a reckoning with all the dark elements that should have run out of fashion - things like Nazism and outdated FPS design standards come to mind. The final boss is an abominable visage. Kind of like Nazism, the only fun thing about it is taking it down.
By all accounts, The Third Reich were fascinated with ancient mythology, and the events that unfold wouldn't seem out of place in an Indiana Jones-adventure. The Old Blood pokes fun at the Nazis, but also celebrates the tropes surrounding their portrayal in popular fiction. And like in real life, they just won't seem to stay dead.
It might come across as B-movie material, but Wolfenstein: The Old Blood embraces its ridiculousness without remorse. The silent takedowns that aren't particularly silent, the unreal boss fights, the silly overheard conversations between guards - they are all delivered with full conviction. In those moments I embrace them, too. I admire games that are aware of their own qualities and use their weak spots to somehow facilitate the total experience.
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