Wolfenstein: The Old Blood Reviews
MachineGames are still masters of first-person violence, but this return to Castle Wolfenstein doesn't give them anything new to work with.
If all that is expected of an expansion or spin-off is to deliver more of the same, then The Old Blood goes above and beyond its obligations. The decision to downplay the story elements does sometimes leave it feeling a bit overwhelming and stodgy - the textures and rhythms that made its predecessor such a sleeper hit simply aren't here - but as a lovingly crafted continuation of a game that was already pretty bloody great, there's little here worth complaining about.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood doubles down on blood and guts, but in doing so sacrifices some of its heart.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is very much an expansion of its fun, entertaining predecessor, but doesn't quite pack the same emotional clout. Still, a great FPS worthy of your attention.
A great follow-up to The New Order, which cleverly reuses all of its best features and yet still finds time to add plenty of new elements of its own.
With myriad nods to Wolfenstein's past, The Old Blood captures the essence of the series, but does less than The New Order to advance it
The Old Blood's madcap attitude shines throughout its campaign, but the game fumbles when it strays from its Nazi-filled levels.
The Old Blood mostly nailed the components that made New Order good, but it doesn't quite manage to capture what made it great.
A tiresome throwback to Wolfenstein's more forgettable days.
Smaller in scale than last year's epic adventure, The Old Blood treads familiar, blood-soaked ground and doesn't offer much in the way of new ideas. However, it's very well produced, has some great moments of dialog, and offers a load of Nazi-slaughtering action that's somewhat relentless, but still plenty entertaining.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood should have more alternate paths and secret areas to uncover. However, both the stealth action and shooting gameplay are top-notch and the levels are fun to explore. With so many modern shooters available, now is a good time for game developers to reintroduce familiar conflicts of the past.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood operates just like an old school PC expansion should, and if you liked New Order, this is a no-brainer. In fact, due to the pulp feel of the second half I even slightly prefer it to the original, and the two interconnected plots are incredibly easy to swallow in an afternoon.
The biggest element that feels missing is the incredible character interaction from New Order. There are some memorable people in Old Blood, but no strong attachments, despite the game clearly attempting to toy with our emotions. The pace of the adventure grows too fast to develop the type of relationships we remember from New Order, but when the whole thing is over it's clear that's not the point. This is constructed as a fun trip through the best parts of prior Wolfenstein games, and it mostly succeeds in that mission. We wish it had crazier weapons and more complex personalities but it's still fun.
In Sum: If you liked The New Order, you'll like The Old Blood. If you haven't played either, both are more than worth your time and money. I give the game a BUY on my Buy/Hold/Sell rating scale.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood doesn't bring a lot of new tricks to the table, but rather adds more of the New Blood flavor introduced last year. Also, zombies.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood pays homage to Return to Castle Wolfenstein in some really neat ways that fans of the long-running franchise will appreciate. Machine Games does it while keeping their own additions to the series front and center.
If The New Order was up your alley, The Old Blood will be, too. But here, it's all about murdering nazis and zombie nazis, with less of the reflection.
Shorter, more tonally cohesive, and outright better than its predecessor.
It's pretty simple: If you enjoyed Wolfenstein: The New Order you'll like Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, too. And the same goes for people who like shooting Nazis in the face from the first-person perspective or just first-person shooters. With the exception of that stealth part that goes on too long, it's an engaging action-packed shooter that not only gives you options when it comes to taking out your enemies but also gives your enemies the same options when it comes to taking you out as well. That it's yet another chance to shoot Nazis, and their stupid dogs, is just the icing on the, well, dog food.