Wolfenstein: The New Order Launches 167
Back in 1992, Wolfenstein 3D helped kick off the fledgling FPS genre. Today, the saga continues with Wolfenstein: the New Order. It's set in an alternate-history world where the Nazis won WW2, with hero B.J. Blazkowicz setting out to join resistance fighters. Unusually for a modern FPS, the game has no multiplayer element — it's single-player only. Early reviews for the game are generally positive. Polygon's says, "First, stealth is a valid option for extended portions of the game, with silent melee takedowns and a brutally effective suppressed pistol. There's also a form of progression in Wolfenstein: The New Order's perk system. Performing certain actions in combat unlocks new abilities and upgrades over time, which can make a significant difference in the way you can tackle firefights. You can also find weapon upgrades that further escalate the raw, over-the-top violence on display. This combination of old ideas and new hooks seems mismatched, but I was taken aback by how well it all worked together."
Eurogamer had some criticism: "Less impressive are the plot and the characters, which often feel like they exist only to amplify the opportunities for violence and sensationalism. ... I wouldn't say it's offensive, but Wolfenstein: The New Order isn't a very tactful game, even though it's often trying to be. ... This is a game that does everything it needs to to earn an 18 certificate but rarely manages to achieve a sense of either gravity or maturity." The game is out for the PS3/4, Xbox 360/One, and Windows. It's build on the id Tech 5 engine, and that's causing some graphics issues on the PC, much like RAGE did when it launched in 2011. The game's massive size (~50GB) is causing problems for PS4 owners as well.
Eurogamer had some criticism: "Less impressive are the plot and the characters, which often feel like they exist only to amplify the opportunities for violence and sensationalism. ... I wouldn't say it's offensive, but Wolfenstein: The New Order isn't a very tactful game, even though it's often trying to be. ... This is a game that does everything it needs to to earn an 18 certificate but rarely manages to achieve a sense of either gravity or maturity." The game is out for the PS3/4, Xbox 360/One, and Windows. It's build on the id Tech 5 engine, and that's causing some graphics issues on the PC, much like RAGE did when it launched in 2011. The game's massive size (~50GB) is causing problems for PS4 owners as well.
creepy (Score:2)
An Id tech game without carmack?
Re:creepy (Score:4, Informative)
Even if Carmack were still at id (and he was for the vast majority of this game's development cycle, remember), he probably would've had little involvement. Not that I feel like it matters, though. Carmack is an amazing programmer and engine developer, but he's not very good at designing games from that tech (as can be seen by the fairly middling output id has had since shortly after its early days).
Re: (Score:2)
Now I'm not sure if you're how to take the rest of your post.
For a 20 year old game what was wrong with Syndicate?
Re: (Score:3)
You're confusing the 1993 game by Bullfrog [wikipedia.org] with the 2012 remake by Starbreeze [wikipedia.org].
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Syndicate the FPS was a decent enough game, but it didn't have much of anything to do with the old Bullfrog Syndicate games, so the neckbeards got all huffy and started whining. Had it had a generic cyberpunk setting, they would have gobbled it up and loved it.
Re: (Score:2)
There have been like 100 id tech games without Carmack. What the hell do you think they were licensing for almost 20 years?
Re: (Score:2)
Honestly the best id tech games *have* been without Carmack. Return to Castle Wolfenstein (the best in the series, especially the multiplayer) had little to do with id other than the engine...
Re: (Score:2)
I still rock Enemy Territory to this day.
F|A servers!
Re: (Score:2)
ET was the MP from RTCW, which he mentioned.
Re: (Score:2)
Wolfenstein 2009 is a much much better singleplayer game than RTCW, especially with the Retrostein mod, which reduces the consolitis and ups the challenge a bit.
Re: (Score:2)
Carmack is not that good at making games, he doesn't even enjoy the "game" part of programing that much.
What he is is an outstanding programmer, and he happens to enjoy the technical aspects of game engines.
I believe that once the engine is done, Carmack's contribution to the game is minimal.
Re:creepy (Score:5, Funny)
""mein laven!" [sic]
When I was a kid, I thought they were saying "My name is...." and then trailing off in death.
I always thought that was neat, that it humanized them in some way, that they weren't "faceless nazis" but ordinary people, with kids, families, names... i had to kill them, but it was not as morally unambiguouous as simply I'm the good guy killing the bad guy.
Later on I found it was "mein leben"... or "my life" in german; and that was the end of that.
Clean Shavin' (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
From when i played it as a new release I always thought they were saying "My Mavis".
Dragged my copy out a couple of weeks ago and it still sounds like that to me.
Re: (Score:2)
You idiots; the Wolfenstien quote to reference no Caramack would be "Eva Auf Wiedersehen"
I'm curious what a FPS with "Maturity" is (Score:5, Interesting)
Eurogamer's criticism seems legit, but begs the question, what constitutes a "mature" plot for a FPS? An 18 certificate doesn't imply a promise of maturity, does it?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Obligatory: http://begthequestion.info/ [begthequestion.info]
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks!
Re: (Score:1)
the word "let" originally meant "hinder, obstruct, or delay". Do you also throw a pissy fit whenever somebody uses it to mean "permit or allow"? If you don't you're a hypocrite and a troll.
Re: (Score:2)
I think it's important to keep the original meaning of "beg the question" because there's no (AFAIK) other, simple way to say what it describes. Also, there's a difference between "originally meant" and "currently means, but is often misused".
Re: (Score:2)
I think the original latin name and it's english translation are a lot simpler and logically clear. Petitio Principii translates as "Assuming the Premise/Initial Point" which is exactly what kind of circular reasoning fallacy is being committed.
Re: (Score:2)
The original name is Greek. Petitio principii is a translation of the Greek into medieval Latin; given that most of the few people who learn Latin today learn the classical form, its use is an invitation to misunderstand. The English phrase circular reasoning, which you also use, avoids that problem.
Re: (Score:2)
"currently means, but is often misused".
Which begs the question, if it is misused more commonly by a larger variety of the population in text, wouldn't that imply the original meaning is now the misuse?
That's the problem with a fluid language like English where words like LOL can end up in the dictionary simply because people frequently use them. If you wan't to try and tell someone that the most common use of a term is incorrect then I suggest moving to France where that kind of language police exist.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Except it's not Newspeak when the vast majority of the population uses it. It is what we call language.
Shouting at the top of the hill a different meaning for the phrase begs the question will fall on deaf ears. You may as well say that gay doesn't mean homosexual because it used to have a very different meaning in popular use, or that the word LOL doesn't exist despite what the Oxford dictionary will tell you.
The English language is fluid and ever changing. Some languages don't have this characteristic and
Re: (Score:3)
"The English language is fluid and ever changing."
Stop and ask yourself why that is? IT's because there was little communication, no standards, libraries where not widely available or well stocked.
So changes happened.
We are no longer isolated. We have the internet. SO there is no need for language to change due to ignorance.
"who are you or I to say that it is wrong?"
smart people who don't want ignorance to dictate how we speak.
Re: (Score:2)
I feel no pressing need to preserve a language as complicated as English in its current state. Ignorance has nothing to do with it, though that is ONE of the ways that this language changes.
More importantly if you can understand me then what is the problem? Are you emotionally tied to the beauty of the language? It can't be the meaning since .... well we can still understand each other can't we?
Re: (Score:3)
Throughout history, in many cultures the language of the masses differed from the language of the learned. Yet it is the language of the learned, despite being outnumbered, that always goes down in history as canon. It still is so today that we have these split languages in the US, although the languages of the masses are very much regional here.
Re: (Score:2)
Very true and my point exactly. Languages evolve, and I struggle to make sense of anything Shakespeare wrote. Does that mean the entire english speaking world is now wrong? No. It just means that what once was a popular interpretation has moved on.
Re: (Score:3)
no. It's not the stupid ages when each city and community had little communication with each other, so changes happened.
We live in the age of the internet. Their is no longer a reason to let ignorance dictate changes in meaning.
Re:I'm curious what a FPS with "Maturity" is (Score:4, Funny)
Which begs the question, why should I care about your opinion?
Your statement is like rain on your wedding day.
Re: (Score:3)
Obligatory: http://begthequestion.info/ [begthequestion.info]
This post makes me feel gay.
Re:I'm curious what a FPS with "Maturity" is (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I happen to have that on Steam, and I will do so. Thanks.
Re: (Score:2)
I played it and thought the story was actually pretty crap. Farcry 3 did a far better job of the whole insanity thing.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
That is easy you have 2 options:
1. Cutting enemies to pieces and drinking their blood. Shooting people in the face so hard the brain matter hits their grand kids and gibs them. Skinning people and wearing their skin to prom. Worshiping Satan while beating nuns to death with a rake. Running Noble laureates through a meat grinder before urinating and defecating on their grieving widows.
Now if you cannot incorporate 100% of those things into your game but you are doing a US release, there is option 2.
2. Do a g
Re: (Score:1)
Humble bundle had a bundle with Tower of Guns (http://store.steampowered.com/app/266110/) and that is a game where you travel .. a gun tower? with a somewhat random selection of gun + skill to begin with and then some randomness in extra abilities to your gun, level design and enemies and go shooting guns.
Now the guns could probably had been anything and the game is likely about how you move and shoot possibly considering the option in hand.
There's likely no pissing on hoes or weirdly proportioned nude fema
Pay up! (Score:1)
Unusually for a modern FPS, the game has no multiplayer element... included with the initial purchase.
Oh, sorry; did you think you were getting that part for free? We'll release that for separate purchase soon. Welcome to 2014.
Re:Pay up! (Score:4, Insightful)
I managed to get Left For Dead 2 on Steam the day it was available for free.... the first new game I had played in a few years (I am rather beyond the typical game-buying demographic, most likely).
Due to a dated PC I tend to prefer playing single-player, but it has a few glaring problems when used that way. It is obvious that they intended it to be played by four people cooperating, and many situations involve coordination that bots can't or will not do. You almost need to resort to using cheat codes to get through many stages, as the bots are often more hindrance than help. And while there is a "last man on earth" variation to play, it doesn't present you with the usual assortment of enemies to fight.
Re: (Score:1)
Good points.
L4D is a great example of something that is just not as good single player. Period. It's a social game and playing it with a headset is amazing if you have a good crew.
Re: (Score:2)
Saying 'period' in no way strengthen's your point.
I'm glad you like it more as a social game, but you don't speak for everyone.
Now, if I had said period after my sentence, would that have changed you mind? made me right?
stop doing it, it's condescending and makes you look like a non-thinking ass.
Re: (Score:2)
Saying 'period' in no way strengthen's your point.
Indeed, he should have written Full stop :)
Re:Pay up! (Score:4)
Considering all the hours I got out of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory for YEARS... for completely FREE... That's no big deal to me.
But, honestly, I don't care about multiplayer Wolfenstein, my copy of The New Order comes in tomorrow and I hope they really focused on a great single player experience because not many FPS games do nowadays.
Game of the year (Score:1)
I've never gotten the point of tacking on multiplayer. If you want that it's better to buy games with large communities and a strong focus on MP. Similarly the CoD games have tacked on single player that is so bad it's painful to play. Utter tosh and a waste of effort for the devs.
I'm having a great time with the Wolfenstein TNO. The A.I. could be better, but on the upside there's no re-spawning enemies or monster closets. More importantly the game is never boring. There's no hub world or driving sections,
Re: (Score:3)
Unusually for a modern FPS, the game has no multiplayer element... included with the initial purchase.
Oh, sorry; did you think you were getting that part for free? We'll release that for separate purchase soon. Welcome to 2014.
It forces them to focus on better single player experience when they are not including multiplayer at all.
Come here! (Score:1)
Still my favorite version.
50 GB?? (Score:3)
Re:50 GB?? (Score:5, Interesting)
Back in the day, I recall a number of pirate copies of games that compressed audio/video assets because bits were still costly and slow.
*shrug*
Re: (Score:2)
I remember quite a few pirated games that simply stripped out assets to save space, anything from videos to foreign languages, to also reducing texture sizes. It was funny to read and see the difference in some of the old nfo's, where a game would be say 1GB, and some group would release a rip where the game was squished down to 120MB.
Re: (Score:2)
Back in the day, I recall a number of pirate copies of games that compressed audio/video assets because bits were still costly and slow.
You're thinking of "gamerips" or "repacks"
I just checked the torrent sites and there's already several repacks out.
Sometimes they strip game assets, other times they just compress the hell out of everything.
You'll only know if the NFO specifically says X% Audio Y% Video.
Re: (Score:2)
I know what they were called :)
And to be fair, the only way to really know was to get to the obscure point in the game that needed one of those files and find it missing. :/
Re:50 GB?? (Score:4, Informative)
check out a video demo the ID Tech 5 engine. The whole concept uses a metric-assload of high detail texture data. tiles it and streams it to the GPU. You get awesome texture detail. at the cost of space...
-S
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
It's awesome until you get up close. Then it's a washed out 2d mess.
Re: (Score:1)
It's better if you have an SSD.
Re: (Score:2)
It penalizes those who buy digital copy like Steam
Re: (Score:1)
How?
Re: (Score:1)
Battlefield 4 is 35 GB, and it was nice but the previews of Wolfenstein look a lot better.
Still, the PS4 has about 400 GB available for game data, so it's not too much of a problem like it would have been on the PS3
I wonder about the quality of the game on xbox one with its memory/bus bottlenecks.
Re:50 GB?? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
THIS! One of my biggest gripes with Steam and similar services is that I can't dedicated different game folders to different games. I have the choice of having my Steam catalogue on my SSD or on my spinney disc. The loading times of many modern games drives me mental.
Re: (Score:2)
Uh... On Steam, you can set up more than one Steam folder in the options menu. From then on, when you go to install one, it'll ask you which one you want to install to.
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you! I remember looking into this last year when I got my SSD and the only method I found involved really nasty hacks which then broke my game folder.
My underlying message is the same. There's nothing more annoying than finally having fast storage only to be unable to use it due to excessively large game sizes.
Re: (Score:2)
The exception to this is if you install when you are running in "Big Picture" mode. In that case, the game always gets installed in the default Steam library.
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently audio decoding power is not quite cheap and plentiful enough:
http://www.eurogamer.net/artic... [eurogamer.net]
Re: (Score:2)
Alas no new game content (including TNWO) for me until I get around to shuffling hard drives and putting in something bigger for my game data as I've only got 20Gig free on my Steam data drive.
C'mon, the interesting question about the game (Score:2)
How're they going to butcher it this time to make it "agreeable" with the various censoring bureaus in Europe. Since it's a game with Nazis, I'll be especially delighted with the German version, usually it's funny as hell.
The kicker is that none of those censoring happens because the countries say that the studios have to, it all happens in proactive submission by the studios themselves.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
It's: ... set in an alternate-history world where the Nazis won WW2, with hero B.J. Blazkowicz setting out to join resistance fighters.
But I want to play ... set in an alternate-history world where Great Germany won WW2, with hero SS-Scharfuehrer H.J. Deutschmann setting out to eradicate the last of the "resistance" terrorists.
Why can't we fight for Germany ??
Re: (Score:1)
Because that would be some other game and not a Wolfenstein game?
It's not like there aren't any games where you can play as Nazi Germany. Company of Heroes springs to mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Supposedly in the German version they completely changed the plot so it's about a mad cult instead of Nazis. I can't verify this for myself.
Not all games need a good story (Score:3, Informative)
I haven't played the game yet but I find it funny that there is the criticism of the story and characters. I know these things are expected of modern games but, given the heritage of this game, I would never expect a good story but i would expect some fun shooter action. Wolfenstein comes from a time when, "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important."
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, did you know doom had a story? Even was going to have male and female selectable player characters, with different stats.
Quake was going to be the first FPS MMO based loosely on the dice and paper RPGs the guys liked to play. The Kill Cube would fly over Quakes head (the player character); I think that spinning cube graphic is the spawn cube the boss at the end of Doom2 uses.
Now, You, Carmack or anyone can arbitrarily make up shit after the fact based on shit they cut from the game -- But there were
Re: (Score:2)
Having no story is fine; having a lot of bad story is not. Especially if you've been talking up how you'd humanise the lead of a franchise that frankly didn't need it.
Re: (Score:2)
I haven't played the game yet but I find it funny that there is the criticism of the story and characters. I know these things are expected of modern games but, given the heritage of this game, I would never expect a good story but i would expect some fun shooter action. Wolfenstein comes from a time when, "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important."
I think Eurogamer were just trying to find criticism for criticism's sake.
I fully expect the story to be cringeworthy, but I'm not buying the game for the story. I view games like Wolfenstein like action movies, a game where I can turn my brain off and enjoy it. Enough story to make the movie make sense, but not so much story that I need to bother keeping up with it.
So I expect it to be standard action movie fare, kill the bad guys, get the prize, fade to some classic rock or 80's jazz.
I think it's
first FPS (Score:3, Interesting)
The first FPS is Wolfenstein, around 1981 on the Apple II.
It was very good at that time.
How times have changed, and how they haven't.
Re: (Score:2)
Same here. Even 2D version!
FYI, Wolf3D is in this game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com] from http://www.dorkly.com/post/632... [dorkly.com] ...
Re: (Score:2)
Umm, no. F in FPS is "first person", i.e. looking through the eyes of the player one is controlling.
Wolfenstein has a mostly top down perspective.
Wizardry is arguably a first person, turn based, D&D game.
Re: (Score:2)
Admittedly, the gun always aimed. You just had to fire at the right time. And in some cases have the correct weapon
An easter egg based on Wolf3D! (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com] from http://www.dorkly.com/post/632... [dorkly.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Haha, same here. Why aren't the whole Wolf3D game in this Wolfenstein? What about Spear of Density? "Mein Leben!"
I must be getting old... (Score:3)
I watched the trailer. It looks like it's designed for 13 year old boys who wouldn't know a believable premise or nuance if it struck them in the head. It seems to be edited by the same Hollywood effects people that do action movies. I sense that this cacophony of fast moving images is supposed to quickly overload your brain and make you feel like what you're watching is more exciting than it is, but reality is it's just a crutch to fall back on when there's little to scrutinize beyond the special effects.
Beyond that, it appears to be the same old regurgitated storyline (stolen from Rambo and used on practically every FPS since 1992): It's you versus an army of cliched enemies (i.e. aliens, robots, robots created by aliens, nazis or some other 'evil' country that the US fought in the 20th century). The voice acting is full of nondescript caricature-like accents. The up-close textures look like they're from some generic game circa 2005, but other effects/shadows mask it fairly well.
Maybe there are some unique elements to the gameplay, but I'm having trouble getting excited about it. Hasn't this run-and-gun FPS genre been played out enough already? I mean, even Carmack went to go do something more useful with his time...
Re: (Score:3)
And I've been getting increasingly nostalgic over WW1&2 shooters (Codename Eagle, BF1942, ET, the original CoD), over the current crop of modern warfare clones. This game might be right up my alley.
Don't have too much time to game these days, but if TF2 or PlanetSide 2 isn't hitting the spot, I might give the new Wolfenstein a try.
Re: (Score:3)
And I've been getting increasingly nostalgic over WW1&2 shooters (Codename Eagle, BF1942, ET, the original CoD), over the current crop of modern warfare clones. This game might be right up my alley.
Don't have too much time to game these days, but if TF2 or PlanetSide 2 isn't hitting the spot, I might give the new Wolfenstein a try.
Ever try Red Orchestra 2?
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks for adding to the list of " stuff to look into".
Re: (Score:2)
because the storyline in Wolfenstein was shakespearean, right?
Re: (Score:2)
No, but the original knew what it was. This one apparently wants to fool you into thinking it's something that it's not: realistic.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I enjoyed it. Though so did my dad. I ended up getting kicked off my own pc by him when he decided he wanted to play.
The only time he took no for an answer was when any time I was doing homework Any other time he didn't care what I was doing, he wanted to have a go.
And to those wondering, I may have only been fourteen at the time, but I saved up and _I_ bought the computer myself. That took a bloody long time.
Re: (Score:2)
Still more useful than building yet another FPS in this day and age...
Castle wolfenstein was first (Score:2, Informative)
"Back in 1981, Castle Wolfenstein by Muse software kicked off the Wolfenstein saga" -- There I fixed your error..
As usual (Score:2)
First of all, thank you for saying "Windows" instead of "PC".
Second, why is it available for old Sony and Microsoft consoles but not for Wii U, Macs or Linux?
Re: (Score:3)
Second, why is it available for old Sony and Microsoft consoles but not for Wii U, Macs or Linux?
The PS3 and XB360 are bigger and more lucrative platforms.
Germans not Nazis (Score:2)
WW2 was started by Germans, not by Nazis from space.
Re: (Score:2)
WW2 was started by Germans, not by Nazis from space.
FYI, the formal declaration of war was issued by the British, by Neville "I have a piece of paper" Chamberlain's government no less.
Historically, the declaration by the British on the 3rd of September 1939 was considered the start of WW2.
Re: (Score:2)
Nonsense, the German invasion of Poland is widely recognised as the start of the war because you don't require a declaration to start a war - an act of war is enough, and the Germans very clearly committed one by invading Poland.
The British declaration of war came two days after that along with the same by the French, by New Zealand, and by Australia. Pretending the British somehow started it shows an inherent bias as by the metric of formal declaration of war you might as well just argue the French started
Insignias (Score:2)
Re: Not news for nerds; Where is the Linux build? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)