--Rip Blazkowics, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
In the rebooted Wolfenstein universe, the Third Reich never died. The United States surrendered to Nazi Germany after Hitler's regime used an atomic bomb on the mainland. Nazis have occupied America ever since, and the Ku Klux Klan holds great power in the South. Racism against blacks thrives in America and racism against whites thrives in hypocritical responses. The setting is rather grim at the beginning of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. This actually makes it all the more relevant a game for a society whose predominant and fallacy-riddled political factions regularly accuse each other of being like Nazis--a charge that is often pathetic no matter which party is making the claim. The thematic importance, the characterization of the game's protagonist William Blazkovics, and the shooter elements are what catapult The New Colossus to a status of excellence no matter how conservatives and liberals might be separately offended by its worldbuilding.
In the rebooted Wolfenstein universe, the Third Reich never died. The United States surrendered to Nazi Germany after Hitler's regime used an atomic bomb on the mainland. Nazis have occupied America ever since, and the Ku Klux Klan holds great power in the South. Racism against blacks thrives in America and racism against whites thrives in hypocritical responses. The setting is rather grim at the beginning of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. This actually makes it all the more relevant a game for a society whose predominant and fallacy-riddled political factions regularly accuse each other of being like Nazis--a charge that is often pathetic no matter which party is making the claim. The thematic importance, the characterization of the game's protagonist William Blazkovics, and the shooter elements are what catapult The New Colossus to a status of excellence no matter how conservatives and liberals might be separately offended by its worldbuilding.
Production Values
The Switch port of The New Colossus does have some of the graphical deficiencies of other Bethesda games brought to the platform, just like with the Switch port of Doom (2016) and Wolfenstein: Youngblood. More specifically, the blurriness, especially when there is quick motion in the game, can make the graphics very fuzzy. It is still impressive that a game like this can even be played on a handheld system like the Switch or Switch Lite. For series fans, the portability might seem a worthy tradeoff. One thing that thankfully did not need to be toned down is the voice acting. Very passionate vocal performances cement the brutal post-WWII world, made all the more fitting because different characters have their own very distinct personalities or personal struggles that the dialogue does a great job of highlighting. The music--which called to my mind the appropriate intensity of tracks from Doom, the other mainstream first-person shooter series from Bethesda to be rebooted in recent years--is also very fitting due to its intensity.
Gameplay
As is typical of Wolfenstein and Doom games, armor pieces can be picked up alongside health kits throughout levels that are filled with enemies. These enemies are sometimes humans and robots in other cases, reflecting the Nazi's genuine technological advancements that unfortunately were used for malicious purposes instead of constructive or philosophically valid ones. Close to the end of the game, you even can ride and dismount from a hacked machine resembling a giant mechanical dog with a flamethrower in its mouth! The alternate universe of Wolfenstein provides plenty of different weapons to slaughter Nazis with. An extremely powerful gun found near the end is so destructive that it is practically the Wolfenstein equivalent of the BFG from the Doom series, but silent throwing hatchet attacks, melee kills, and small firearms with suppressors are effective options in some circumstances.
Beyond the different weapons and attacks, there are perks that have a favorable impact on fights. They grant passive bonuses that are unlocked by completing specific actions a certain number of times. One example is how killing specified numbers of enemies with heavy weapons temporarily picked up after special enemies drop them permanently expands how much ammunition for that weapon class can be carried. Killing enemies while dual-wielding two guns, either two of the same firearms or combinations like a shotgun with a machine gun, also eventually unlocks a perk. As you near the finale of the story and even beat the game, there are also two very unique body upgrades to potentially find that can, to give just one example, let William charge into enemies with such force he knocks most units over or outright kills them. Up until the end, The New Colossus introduces diverse ways to win combat encounters.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
William "B.J." Blaskovitch is rescued by fellow resistance members while suffering from major wounds. He wakes up in 1961 on a captured U-Boat in the Atlantic, and his lover Anya Oliwa is pregnant with the twin daughters who are the playable characters of Wolfenstein: Youngblood [1]. Thinking he is dying, William refuses to remove a power suit he put on to survive an encounter with General Engel and her Nazi, and he leaves to obtain anti-gravity technology at Roswell shortly after. William stops at his old family home on the way back--and gets captured by the Nazi regime. As the German-occupied United States radiates with excitement, Engel prepares to execute him publicly, spurring on an attempt to rescue him.
Intellectual Content
Lest some people think that the thorough emphasis on discrimination is an out-of-place yield to contemporary culture, The New Colossus is literally about alternate history Nazis who despise Jews, blacks, and physical disabilities, yet it shows black characters make racist statements about whites only to be corrected by the story in some way. It even has a very prominent, cruel women as its main antagonists: Irene Engel. Anyone who plays the game and actually thinks it is not about standing up to oppression and racism no matter the skin color or gender of the people they are directed towards is delusional! Multiple flashbacks to William's childhood show that he was friends with a black girl, something that enraged his racist father, and the two children share the racist ideas they were told about each other's skin colors by their parents. The stupidity of racism and collectivist stereotypes are quickly shrugged off by the two as they bond as individual kids with no true discriminatory leanings against each other.
There is no apparent rationalism in either young William's worldview or that of his black friend, but they both still can see that their immediate experiences as friends are not consistent with the fallacious slander spread by their parents. William's abusive father is even stupid enough to even say that the Nazis' white supremacy reflects Christian values. Of course, he had either never truly read the Bible for himself or he did not care about the obvious lies in his beliefs! Whichever is the case, he is an example of someone whose likely preexisting racism against blacks and disgust with Jews were only given societal "legitimacy" by the new regime. At no point do the characters like him ever even pause to seriously contemplate the assumptions and errors inherent in any kind of discrimination against people for the color of their skin or their ancestral lineage.
Conclusion
Youngblood being the exception due to its more lighthearted atmosphere, the rebooted Wolfenstein games have succeeded in making the atrocities of an even more powerful version of the Third Reich the backdrop for a fairly personal story about William Blazkovics. The New Colossus includes some of the now-standard Bethesda shooter mechanics, like the familiar weapon wheel popularized by the 2016 Doom, but breaks away from something like Doom with its dual weapon system, central themes about issues of great philosophical importance, and greater reliance on dialogue. Whenever it might eventually come out, Wolfenstein III has a lot of ground it could cover based on where The New Colossus ends with the start of the Second American Revolution. The latter has done a great service for its franchise in not sacrificing solemn storytelling for cheap shots at humor like Youngblood.
Content:
1. Violence: Blood is spilled and electrical systems are dismembered as William shoots the human and robotic enemies--or tears them apart with a hatchet. Limbs can sometimes be torn off in direct view of the camera.
2. Profanity: "Damn," "shit," "bastard," "bitch," "nigger," and "fuck" are all used at least a handful of times.
3. Nudity: Anya's breasts seen from the side in one cinematic and from the front in a much later video, both times in nonsexual contexts.
4. Sexuality: A man and woman are shown having sex in a submarine while clothed. When they "break up," the woman tells the man she will masturbate while thinking of his body regardless of whether he wants to (masturbating to someone who does not want to be masturbated too is not abusive, but verbally celebrating it in front of them can be very degrading depending on the intent).
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