Right in the feels

Most games that you see on the shelves of your local retailer are pretty much “you get what you see” type of experiences. Call of Duty and Battlefield will have mildly interesting stories, but most people are there for the multiplayer. Assassin’s Creed is going to have some fun characters, but you won’t have a clue what is actually happening. Need for Speed will have fast cars, Madden and FIFA will have the same sports with slightly better looking characters, and so on. The cycle is seemingly endless. However, sometimes a game breaks the mold. Sometimes what you see and what you get are vastly different. Sometimes that ends up being bad, but sometimes it ends up being incredible.

This is one of those times.

Obligatory hero shot.

Wolfenstein: The New Order seems like another fancy first-person shooter to dip into during the summer. Explosions, soldiers with giant weapons, and Nazis; par for the course in this age of gaming. So you pick it up thinking, “This’ll tide me over until Destiny comes out.” As you begin playing, you realize that this is a totally different experience altogether. This is more than just a historical fiction tale. This matters.

Wolfenstein has characters with depth, emotion, and growth. Some of the pacing is off, but that’s a minor complaint when dealing with the scope of the storyline. You are saving the world from Nazis after all. Characters are killed in ways that hurt; ways that matter. With some characters, the main storyline is different depending on who lives and who dies. Choices are made that ripple through the rest of the game. When was the last time you truly mulled over a decision in a shooter? Spec Ops: The Line?

BJ facing a difficult decision.

Perhaps the best part of this title is that, much like any war, it’s not a happy endeavor. There is no rousing patriotic theme as you destroy the evil masterminds and save the world. There is no lingering kiss with the love interest as the rubble of the Nazi empire stands behind them. All the generic tropes that this game could’ve fallen into are skipped in lieu of meaningful plot.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is more than just another generic shooter. It’s important. Wolfenstein elevates storytelling in shooters to a new level, much like Spec Ops: The Line, The Last of Us, and Red Dead Redemption did before it. We need more games like this in the world.

Are there any games that you’ve picked up that ended up being more emotional than you thought they’d be? What were they? How did they impact you?

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