Going in guns-a-blazin' provides for some of the tightest action and shooting seen in a Wolfenstein game, and I think that speaks highly for a series that already struck a golden gameplay standard with the New Order and further polished in Old Blood. And that goes to say that some of these individual set pieces are just as, if not more, breathtaking than what was seen in previous games. The tools and setup were all here to make for a truly excellent Wolfenstein experience, but there was definitely a level of misuse in these factors that led me to feeling far less satisfied than I did with New Order.
Stealth has practically been neutered to hell in this game. I played on the "Do or die" difficulty and I never felt like I could get any good stealth kill streaks in. Sometimes the linearity and cramped nature of the maps kept you way too close to the enemy to reliably sneak around and I swear guards randomly noticed me at some points when they really shouldn't have. Chock this up to me being bad at stealth if you will, but I never had this issue with New Order or Old Blood and I kind of miss being able to reliably swap sneaky vs ultra-aggressive playstyles without one being heavily favored over the other.
The gadgets were more wasted potential if anything. I was actually very exciting when I got to choose one out of three options as it felt like a decision that could carry some weight and really change how my campaign would play out. There's definitely unique uses for each one, but nearly every time there was a roadblock that required a gadget, there would be others to accommodate the others nearby. So in the end, they all took you to the same place; it's what you used to get there that's different.
Neither of these flaws would be damning to a truly amazing game in my opinion but I think the biggest ball dropped here is with its story. Taking the already loveable cast from the New Order and continuing the story from that game's ending was a no brainer. And for the most part, the characters still have that level of charm to them. The actual plot however feels rushed in areas and never feels like it uses its concepts to their fullest potential. So many plot threads like (minor spoilers?) Wyatt taking psychedelics and BJ's tragic childhood feel like they're brought up either for gags in Wyatt's case or sympathy in BJ's case and then just dropped where they really could have been tied up better. It feels like they cut out a couple chapters in the late game and thus is paced very weirdly, almost like they had to glue it together and jump to the climax without clear buildup. I can't help but feel hollow inside when I game only begins to captivate me with its story right as it ends without much of a rhyme or reason.
As stated before, I really enjoyed the moment-to-moment shooting mechanics and feel this is a game with great aspects and mechanics behind it, but I find it hard to ignore how rushed it felt in some areas and how weak of a note the story ended on (albeit the main villain's death was fairly satisfying for what little buildup there was).
Stealth has practically been neutered to hell in this game. I played on the "Do or die" difficulty and I never felt like I could get any good stealth kill streaks in. Sometimes the linearity and cramped nature of the maps kept you way too close to the enemy to reliably sneak around and I swear guards randomly noticed me at some points when they really shouldn't have. Chock this up to me being bad at stealth if you will, but I never had this issue with New Order or Old Blood and I kind of miss being able to reliably swap sneaky vs ultra-aggressive playstyles without one being heavily favored over the other.
The gadgets were more wasted potential if anything. I was actually very exciting when I got to choose one out of three options as it felt like a decision that could carry some weight and really change how my campaign would play out. There's definitely unique uses for each one, but nearly every time there was a roadblock that required a gadget, there would be others to accommodate the others nearby. So in the end, they all took you to the same place; it's what you used to get there that's different.
Neither of these flaws would be damning to a truly amazing game in my opinion but I think the biggest ball dropped here is with its story. Taking the already loveable cast from the New Order and continuing the story from that game's ending was a no brainer. And for the most part, the characters still have that level of charm to them. The actual plot however feels rushed in areas and never feels like it uses its concepts to their fullest potential. So many plot threads like (minor spoilers?) Wyatt taking psychedelics and BJ's tragic childhood feel like they're brought up either for gags in Wyatt's case or sympathy in BJ's case and then just dropped where they really could have been tied up better. It feels like they cut out a couple chapters in the late game and thus is paced very weirdly, almost like they had to glue it together and jump to the climax without clear buildup. I can't help but feel hollow inside when I game only begins to captivate me with its story right as it ends without much of a rhyme or reason.
As stated before, I really enjoyed the moment-to-moment shooting mechanics and feel this is a game with great aspects and mechanics behind it, but I find it hard to ignore how rushed it felt in some areas and how weak of a note the story ended on (albeit the main villain's death was fairly satisfying for what little buildup there was).