Stealth in stealth games: You were seen? Go run and hide and wait until the guards say "must've been the wind". Or fight back. The important thing is, you have freedom

Stealth missions in non-stealth games: Hide behind everything on the path or else. If anyone sees you it ends instantly. No you can't tell why they can see you across the map sometimes but not others. You just can't

Summary: When CJ Crashburg is knocked into a coma during a last ditch effort to stop the Nazis, he awakes 14 years later to find the war is over and the Nazis have won. Not one to take things sitting down, AJ Boomcroft sets off to raise up the resistance and squash some Nazi scum.

Overall: For the $10 I spent this game was well worth the price tag. It’s a solid shooter with plenty of room for improvement in the future, and that future is soon. If the sequel is catching your eye, I think it’s worth going back and giving the original adventures of OJ Smackoff a go.

Story: I don’t really understand the praise. It’s not like the story is terrible or anything, but people liked these characters? JJ Explosenstein is your typical military action hero complete with a gruff voice and buzz cut. He and his nurse buddy who presumably spent 14 years spoon feeding him and wiping his ass have lots of sex for some reason. You may also notice that I haven’t once said RDJ Smashopoulos’s name the same way. That’s because I’m convinced he is the second coming of Benadryl Cucumber Smash and you’d be able to tell who I’m talking about anyways.

The villain is a one note Nazi scientist with a silly name who pretty much disappears for the better half of the game while the sequels villain is set up. You go through a lot of cool locations from a Nazi Moonbase to a Submarine as you prepare for your return to the evil Nazi castle which I’m not sure but just might be the series namesake. The alternate history take is interesting and the fictional tech and its reason for existing is just silly enough to work, but in terms of characters I really care about, this game didn’t really give me anything. I did dig the credits song though.

Gunplay: Wolfenstein is one of the original shooter franchises, and this reboot is all about shooting that Nazi scum. When single weapon wielding you can aim down sights or scope with L2 while firing with R2. Holding L1 while moving the Left stick allows for ducking and looking over cover and peeking around corners. Think Dishonored 1 and 2 with a full 360 degrees of peeking. R1 is a grenade if tapped quickly, but holding down will pop up a weapon wheel that I personally feel is a bit too packed. You are selecting weapons by holding the analog stick in the right direction and due to the density of weapons, a slight swivel will result in you hopping to the wrong weapon by mistake. Every weapon bar knives has an unlockable alternate fire mode, and every weapon bar the overpowered Laserkraftwerk can be dual wielded at the cost of aiming down sights.

Now let’s talk about actually combat. Outside the sometimes uneasy weapon wheel, the game’s biggest issue is enemy spawns and the Laserkraftwerk in the late game. Numerous times in the game, particularly the latter half, I had enemies spawn in on top of me. I actually saw one pop into existence at the end of a hallway. Due to map design the halls these guys show up in are short dead ends and generally are good hiding spots with an occasional bit of health or ammo. On harder difficulties these make nice cover spots, but every now and then the game will spawn someone on top of you. Now I don’t want to make a bigger deal of this than it is. I only had this issue maybe 5 times, most of which being the game’s final mission, but it’s still an issue.

And now onto the Laserkraftwerk halfway through the bridge the game becomes broken. As long as a charge station is in the area the game becomes a joke. This weapon has a scope upgrade that when charged up will use the full clip to take out all but the strongest robots with a single blow. Simply fire, runaway, recharge, and repeat. The game’s final battle before the final boss was literally me hiding in the room prior, charging up this bad boy, and then releasing this bad boy on all of those who stood in my way. This weapon needs to either be toned down or removed in the sequel. It is way too powerful and made all but one encounter after it is unlocked feel ridiculously easy, and I was playing on the highest base difficulty.

Mission Design: So mission design. This game is a shooter so it’s mostly about environments with lots of cover and weapons to kill waves of Nazis. That being said there are breaks in that monotony. Stealth is an option, though not always easy. Your pistol can be silenced and you can throw knifes. Killing Nazi officers before engaging in all out combat will prevent reinforcements, and performing a stealth takedown on a Nazi officers will make the games collectibles pop up on the games map.

Speaking of collectibles, they’re there. Enigma Codes will allow you to unlock some insane difficulty modes. Depending on who you saved at the start of the game, you’ll be able to find health or armor upgrades, and then there are letters, records, and Nazi gold to find as well. While many of these are out in the open, some will take you off the beaten path and require some parkour skills, but that’s definitely the minority.

Lastly there is a level that almost entirely consists of water puzzles. It’s not fun, and up until the very end there is no combat whatsoever. It’s not very good. At least the ones at resistance headquarters push the story forwards. This one feels like it was designed as a breather that wasn’t really needed.