Wolfenstein: The New Order

     Hey, everyone. I have been doing an inordinate amount of gaming lately on P.C. and it is fun to play a variety of titles. My latest binge has been Wolfenstein: The New Order. Since I added RAM to my P.C. and turned down the graphic demands on the options page, the game plays well. Glad I didn't turn in a bad review on this game because it wouldn't have been fair.
      Firstly, let me say that the storyline is quite compelling. Imagine if Hitler had won World War 2 and took control of the planet? History would have been so radically changed as to be unrecognizable. Well, that is the premise of this game. By the way, don't you think that the German people would like to see the end of movies, games and books that bring up this era? If it was me, I'd say, "Please, enough." I know that there are similar things in most countries' history, certainly America's. With us, things like slavery and the way we treated the Indians would be an example.
     The game starts with B.J. Blaskowitz, your character, on an allied plane approaching Germany over the Baltic coast. The German troops have wild new weapons and are winning the war, here in !946. Your plane is shot down and your sergeant has you jump onto the wing of a neighboring plane and you are pulled to safety(?). Then you must escape that plane and swim underwater to another plane and use the turret gun to kill several giant, mechanical dogs. Yes, you heard correctly. They are vicious brutes, as one might expect. This was a real sticking point for me because I was having a terrible time getting out of the plane past one of the robot dogs. Come to find out, I was supposed to run and slide under a metal brace, right under the dog! I had to do it fast before the brace crumpled. I would hate to admit how many times it took me to succeed. Really, the game starts to get truly playable, and enjoyable, after this.
    The Nazis have a fortified base where B.J. and his mates go ashore. And the German engineers have some miraculous inventions waiting for them. For instance, giant Walkers, that shoot lasers and would scare even Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.

    I fought my way through underground bunkers and took control of an enemy gun battery and killed the last of these monstrosities. Heck, if the robot dogs bother you, the enemy has a number of real, attack dogs which they have put armor on. Do you think any army has ever put armor on their dogs? I do know that the American Indians, when moving their villages from one locale to another, would load their dogs down with gear.

    The fort has some interesting rooms. It was manifest that the officers had drastically different accommodations from the regular soldiers, like any army. There were chandeliers and art work, champagne, wine and the like, rather than the squalor of the trenches on the beach. I found a chandelier smashed onto an elegantly appointed dining room. There was a hidden area behind a big portrait of a General. This could only be accessed by pulling on a sword. The portrait swings out and you enter a corridor. Then you come upon an intelligence officer, talking to the Deathshead General. More on him later. The general was manifestly threatening this guy's family if he failed in his mission. I kindly took that worry off his slender shoulders by shooting him. Did he thank me? Nooooo.

      Before I forget, while climbing up the castle wall, there is a plane crash directly above you. It is fierce and like most of the game is graphically impressive, even with the options toned down. Also, pick up gold stuff, like a chalice. You can trade them for stuff later, I guess. There is info on Enigma coding machines that you should collect as well. Pick up helmets because these improve your overall armor. It is not like you are carrying 30 helmets around in a big duffle bag. It is a gamer thing. Check all wooden crates for hidden goodies like ammo and health kits. I just shoot them but you can check them with your knife. Stuff you need to deal with lights up, by way of a clue. It is also good to pick up letters. I got one off a soldier's bunk. It was laying beside an open copy of Playboy, or its German equivalent, Das Goot. Ha, ha. Hey, its a soldier thing. Insecurity and fear effects the sex drive, you know?
     This General called Deathshead? As I suspected, his Mother did not name him that. His name is William Strasse and he is a freaky dude. I wish that I had a picture of his lab. He had our guys on weird racks and was doing ghastly experiments on them. My lads and I were locked in the place and the guy turned on flaming jets of gas to turn us to ashes. I took a metal rod and smashed the jets. after obtaining relative, and short, freedom. Then came a real moral choice. The evil deathshead forced me to choose which of my friends he killed and which he saved to experiment on. (By the way, you are correct. Parents should consider whether to allow youngsters to play this game.) But, Deathshead really made my **** list by this cruelty.

   It is doubtful that we can reconcile. Blaskowitz wakes up at an asylum in the country. He has a pretty nurse, which is good. He has been a vegetable for 14 years, which is bad. He wakes up to see Nazis killing other patients and dragging his pretty nurse out the door. I regret to say that I was trying to take a picture at the time and failed to act on the prompt to hit the E key. So, I am bummed out that I might have been able to save her from whatever happened to her after they took her away. Really, this bugged me. I did, however, manage to save her later. I took revenge on the interlopers and found the lady on the lawn outside. She was unconscious with a bloody nose. I killed 3 Flying Bots that may have escaped from Bioshock and then I fled the scene with the nurse.
    We made it to her grandparents and found sanctuary. Her relatives had a deep and abiding hatred for Nazis. How did I discern this? We had a captive officer in the trunk of the car and when I dragged him forth for questioning, the elderly lady started beating the crappola out of him. This is certainly understandable. When she tired, I tied him to a chair in the root cellar. I went upstairs and chatted with the oldsters and the nurse, finding out that it was 1960 and Hitler had won the war. This was a surprise. I thought, wow. No mini-skirts and ponchos and hitching around? The sixties could really **** in this alternate reality! So, I promptly went downstairs and talked the captive into telling me where I might find any of the resistance. A side note here. You might want to have your kid skip this 'chainsaw interrogation'.
      After that, the oldsters and the nurse accompany me to the area where my friends might be. I hate to tell you that this lengthy narrative of mine only is the start of the tale. I hope to tell you some more as I progress. I must say that I have probably gotten my money's worth out of this game. It is certainly a compelling story. And, a sobering one. When I saw the sweet little granny kicking and slapping the guy, it really hit me just how serious it is to be the pawn of a totalitarian regime. To build up that kind of frustration and hate takes a dedicated effort and is certainly no joking matter. To see friends and family abused, carried away to God knows what; it puts things like mercy and kindness, forgiveness, in perspective. We adapt to situations. Sometimes we have to become hardened. In this, perhaps, we do a disservice when we water down entertainment to meet a PG rating standard. Hopefully we don't expect too much chivalry and dignity in the next war. It would take some time to gear up to the treachery and cruelty exhibited by many.
   I'm CE Wills.