Why are the Nazis bad?: A Wolfenstein story
Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014)
“You know, Tom, nazis aren’t so bad…”
“…”
“You can kill them in fun ways and nobody bats an eye.”
“Jill, sometimes I worry about you…”
“Look, Tom, I chop them with a chainsaw :)”
The joy of killing nazis, what a good world. Jill is smiling, Tom is looking over her shoulder to see what exactly did she discover on the internet. It’s just a game.
“It’s just a game,” Tom says.
“Just a game? Hello! I’m sorry you don’t notice but this is my life you’re talking about. Once I save the world, I’m going to… fuck?”
Jill jumps to cover the screen and pushes Tom away. Tom sidesteps her attempt and scratches his head.
“They are… doing it? Looks really… hard…”
Tom: Blink. Blink.
Jill: Blink.
“Okay,” Jill sighs blushing, “It’s over now! Back to killing nazis. Dual wield, baby! Yeah!”
Tom is slowly backing off.
Later that week…
“So, how was the game, Jill?”
“Well, you should play it. The joy of killing nazis doesn’t fade but the story goes through its ups and downs. As you saw, there’s everything for everyone, but that doesn’t make it a family-friendly game.”
Tom rolls his eyes. “Obviously.”
“So, this guy, William B.J. Blazkowicz is some kind of a badass fighting in Europe in World War 2 against the nazis but somehow he lost a battle and then got into a long vegetative state, and when he wakes up the nazis have won the war and they occupied the whole world.”
“Horrible,” Tom shivers.
“Yeah, I know. But this guy only has one thing in his mind. Fighting! So he starts fighting and joins the resistance… and well, a lot of things happen, as you saw the other day.”
“Yeah, I saw…”
Silence.
“So anyways,” says Jill.
“Anyways,” Tom agrees.
“Anyways, the story is nice. Kinda like a good B movie with lots of violence and sex. But it has very high-quality production values. And some characters grow on you even though there’s not so much character development, you know? And, check this out. You have to play the game twice because one choice at the beginning changes the whole game. Like you have a totally different friend the second time around.”
“And did you play it twice?”
“Neah, it doesn’t change SO much and you know, I’m not a fan of shooting games. I just want to watch the story… and shoot some nazis. There are already a few sequels released. You know, I’m a late gamer.”
Tom laughs. “Will you play the next one?”
“Neah, probably not, it’s not really my kind of game. Some really frustrating game design in it. Don’t get me wrong, the shooting in this game feels powerful and responsive but some boss battle, oh good lord. There’s just spray and pray. More praying than spraying, let me tell you. I can’t imagine playing on the highest difficulty. There’s simply no strategy in later parts of the game. You either have enough ammo and get lucky or you don’t and you die.”
“Sounds like the real war,” says Tom.
“Yeah, it does. But IT’S JUST A GAME, Tom!”
“Is it now?”
“Yup,” Jill flicks her long hair and turns around, walking to the door.
“On to another game?”
“Yup.”
Recommended for: Fans of the series (Wolfenstein), lovers of games with a cinematic experience.
Similar games I’ve played: Singularity (2010)
