Releasing a standalone expansion almost a year after a game’s initial release may seem like an odd thing to do, but the Wolfenstein franchise has never been one to simply follow suit. In fact, the series is typically the one to start the trend, paving the way for other first-person games like Battlefield, Halo, and Call of Duty.
These days, as the franchises that Wolfenstein helped inspire are all shifting gears towards futuristic warfare, MachineGames and Bethesda are sticking to their roots. This can be both good and bad as The New Order was a solid installment that fans of the franchise would undoubtedly appreciate, but it brought very little to the table in terms of groundbreaking material. It was a good, solid game that harkened back to the roots of the first-person shooter genre; simple as that. It’s standalone expansion, The Old Blood, doesn’t stray far from that approach which, again, can be both a good and bad thing.
Like The New Order, The Old Blood is set in an alternate universe in which the Nazis’ control of advanced weaponry and high-tech gadgetry have led to dominance in World War II. The Old Blood is technically a prequel to The New Order, telling the story of how B.J. Blazkowicz began his fateful journey that you play through in the full game. As such, it’s pretty cool to see some of the deadlier, advanced units you encountered in The New Order in their beginning stages, as the Nazis continue to experiment on advanced weaponry.
Not only does it offer a different perspective on this alternate universe we were first introduced to last year, but it also allows for some change in gameplay. For example, the super soldiers you encountered in The New Order are still in their prototype stage, requiring them to be hooked to power lines on a set track. This essentially allows for you to choose your strategy: you can opt for a stealthy approach in which you sneak around and disable them by cutting their connection to the line, or facing them head-on in a full-on shootout.
Again, like The New Order, The Old Blood often gives you the choice on how to approach the situation, but I found it heavily encourages you to opt for the stealth route which I was a bit disappointed with. As a first-person shooter with roots more than a decade old, you expect some difficulty; but, taking on waves of enemy soldiers when you accidentally trip an alarm proved incredibly difficult — almost to the point of frustratingly unfair. I found myself lowering the difficulty during certain parts just so I wouldn’t throw my controller at the screen. For those of you who embrace a good challenge, though, you’ll probably love it.
While the action is there, The Old Blood is sorely lacking the emotional connection established by the characters in The New Order. There simply isn’t much more to the game than a few cinematic scenes followed by lengthy shooting segments. A lot of what made The New Order stand out to me was its wonderful character relationships and non-combat areas filled with interesting detail. Sure, The Old Blood will take you to all sorts of diverse locations, but it’s merely a backdrop for the action.
That being said, the locations from a design perspective work well with the action. Though at times, it felt a bit difficult to completely navigate in stealth — almost as if the levels were designed to have you eventually engage in a firefight. Or maybe I’m just impatient; I’ve never been one for stealth gameplay.
Perhaps the most jarring experience with The Old Blood comes about two-thirds of the way through when the thone shifts from Nazi-killing espionage to zombie apocalypse. From a mere gameplay standpoint, the zombies offer little more than tankier versions of regular enemies. It doesn't make for any more interesting gameplay and completely detracts from what makes the first portion of the game interesting.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood certainly doesn't lack action, but the more subtle moments that made The New Order stand out are sorely lacking. Gameplay is fun, if not a bit frustrating at times, but fans of old-school shooters will surely enjoy the strategic aspect to gunplay.
