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9 months ago
Feature: The worthiest reticules of all time
The best shooters endure. While other genres warp beyond recognition, there is something solid about the first-person shooter that makes it as dependable as a nice big AK-47. Maybe it’s the gung-ho simplicity - look down a barrel and pull the trigger. It's as fun to fire a double-barrelled shotgun from an early 90s FPS as the slick shotties of today. For that reason, this…
2 years ago
Feature: The worthiest reticules of all time
The best shooters endure. While the state of the art moves on in other genres and leaves old designs in the dust, it's as fun to fire a well-made shotgun from an early 90s FPS as from one released today. For that reason, this list runs the gamut from genre classics to those released in the last year. There's bound to be something for you…
Feature: Canonically Jewish
B.J. Blazkowicz and the need for more diverse Jewish characters
For a series built around the deconstruction of Aryan bodies, it’s taken a long time for players to take the hint that Wolfenstein’s ubermensch William Blazkowicz is Jewish.That hesitation betrays our definitions of Jewish identity as old-fashioned, and also reflects that the few prominent Jewish characters in games play into and reinforce stereotypes. While Blazkowicz is the most high profile character to break the mold,…
3 years ago
Feature: Tool of destruction
How Wolfenstein: The New Colossus takes the white dudebro hero apart
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a shooter that often feels at odds with its own protagonist, the worn-out vanilla action hero who is somehow the heart of a neurodiverse, multi-ethnic cast of socialist firebrands, civil rights campaigners, pacifists, lapsed jazz maestros and rabid UFO chasers. At first glance, it has a lot to say in spite of BJ Blazkowicz rather than through him, its…
Feature: Absolute discretion
It's taking me a long, long time to play through Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. The reason for that is because I'm playing it as a stealth game - a claim about a Wolfenstein game that would have sounded absurd a couple of years ago, but is now taken for granted as a result of 2014's The New Order offering a limited sneaky-stabby path. Both…
Feature: Footage from and thoughts about The New Order sequel
Cool coats, comedy copulation and cyber-cats – Wolfenstein: The New Colossus wants to do everything
In the surprisingly, refreshingly excellent 2014 shooter reboot-o-sequel Wolfenstein: The New Order, it was the eyes that captivated me. The sad, aged eyes of BJ Blazkowicz, a war-weary he-man forced to take up arms yet again - tirelessly heroic, sure, but those windows to his haunted soul revealed his longing for an end to all this suffering. I could not look away from those eyes,…
Feature: A world worth fighting for
The early stages of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus [official site] show the same blood, guts and heart that were key to the first game's success. Described by Bethesda's Pete Hines as “fucking bananas”, it's a game of extremes, but it's the care that it shows for its characters and setting that stand out as unique in the field of alt-history Nazi war-shooters. Alongside the…
Feature: "War is a fun hell"
“Those who do not learn from from history, are doomed to make another World War II videogame.” A famous saying, and one we all know well. So when Activision hosted a live presentation for the reveal trailer of their latest shooter, Call of Duty: WWII [official site], I watched and felt nothing but a tired wave of low-burning resentment for everyone involved. During this presentation…
4 years ago
Feature:
Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.We're all doing Macauley Culkin faces about how good DOOM turned out to be despite high suspicion to the contrary, but let's not forget that, under Bethesda's stewardship, olden id games had already been treated surprisingly well. Wolfenstein: The New Order [official site] was…
5 years ago
Feature: Dishonorable Dining
Hey, good to see ya, how ya doin'? Take a seat anyplace you like - we got window seats, we got booths, we got stools over here at the counter. I'd keep shy of the table just at the back there - it's reserved, on a strictly unofficial basis, and the guy who plants hisself there most days ain't exactly particular about whose keister he…
Feature: In my defence...
The Advertising Standards Agency publishes rulings every Wednesday on everything from psychic hotlines to videogames. I'm incredibly fond of their rulings. I think it's mostly because of the language the companies use to defend themselves, breaking videogame concepts down and presenting them in what's intended to be a neutral manner. The upheld complaints are generally less entertaining for obvious reasons – the concerns have been,…
Feature: Games for new and lapsed gamers.
One day I'll write a Desert Island Discs about the games I'd keep with me until the end of days, given a choice of ten. It'll no doubt be a Desert Island Digital Downloads given the absence of physical media in my life. I live with the ghosts of entertainment.Rather than compiling the list of games I'd take to the Vault with me though, today…
Feature: Goddamn Moon Nazis
Fail Forward is a series of videos all about the bits of games which don’t quite work and why. In this episode, Marsh Davies discusses Wolfenstein: The New Order [official site], its robot dogs and limpid eyes.
Feature: Carry on my saleward son.
What are the best Steam Summer Sale deals? Each day for the duration of the sale, we'll be offering our picks - based on price, what we like, and what we think more people should play. Read on for the five best deals from day two of the sale and how to play the monster summer sale game.
6 years ago
Feature: Big Not Empty
'FPS' can mean an awful lot of things, but for this award we're narrowing it down to 'singleplayer, lots and lots of bullets, moving primarily forwards.' Does that cover our backs sufficiently? Excellent. In which case, Wolfenstein: The New Order is our Bestest Best FPS of 2014.Warning - some spoilers.Alec: Here's a true story: someone from 2082 with long-harboured regrets about the premature death of…
Feature: Old Wolf, New Tricks
Update: This article has been updated to reflect the following factual corrections: your co-pilot is called Fergus, not Rufus; the cover system is still present in the game; a painting on the wall was of Deathshed, not the Fuhrer."In my dream, I smell the barbecue. I hear children. A dog. I think I see someone. Someone I love. These things are not for me. I…
7 years ago
Feature: Slight Return
Huh, the spellcheck on here knows the word 'Wolfenstein'. Good job, dictionary attendants. Anyway, the reason I've had cause to use that peculiar faux-Teutonic title today is that I played an early press build of the latest game in the series, Wolfenstein: The New Order, at Gamescom. It was a strange experience, not least because it seemed so desperate to remind me that Nazis are…
Feature: A Chilling Experiment
Last week, RPS sent Brendan to preview MachineGames' Wolfenstein: The New Order. In a noble experiment in objective journalism, the preview you're about to read has been written by veteran RPS contributor Quintin Smith, based on nothing but the two pages of notes Brendan took during the presentation. He hasn't even seen a screenshot. Good luck, Quinns! Everyone else should sit back, and enjoy the…
