An excerpt of Tycho rambling about Wolfenstein II
Okay so for the past couple weeks, I’ve been playing through all of the new generation Wolfenstein games from Bethesda and Machine Games, having platinumed both Old Blood and New Order. I’m currently one trophy away from platinuming New Colossus(take a wild guess as to what trophy it is), and I was discussing some of the games themes with two friends of mine over Telegram.
This isn’t going to be me doing a proper review or evaluation of the game, this is just a sampling from that conversation, keep in mind one of my friends chose to omit their contributions so the context is a little skewed.
Hope you enjoy my inflammatory ramblings, I’m half tempted to muster a proper critique of New Colossus because I’ve been spending so much time with it, but I’m really lazy so here’s my off the cuff ranting.
Me: New Colossus is fucking nuts man. I’ve made it halfway through the game thinking “I wonder how BJ is gonna get the outfit he’s wearing on the cover?” and then they answered that question in the most what the fuck manner possible.
My Friend(who shall be referred to as “E”): I heard it was nuts. The one clip I saw was so nuts that I decided to not buy the game lol Eh, maybe I'm just being a picky asshole again lol.
Me: It's worth picking up, I love any game that takes the risk of mixing disturbing subject material with absurdist comical elements. Having played both back to back, I can say there was a definite retooling and redesigning of a lot of stuff between New Order and New Colossus, and I think NC is the superior game overall as a result.
Me: is that an unpopular one? I knew some douchebags were butthurt about the marketing campaigns, but I dont think anyones gonna throw a fit over me saying its better than New Order.
Me: I mean, I'm not saying I dont fancy the position of unpopularity, it seems to me a lot of negative attention towards New Colossus is from people who're either A. racist scumbags in their own right who dont appreciate a video game portraying people who share their ideologies(Nazi's, the Klan)as the bad/incompetent guys. Or B. standard run of the mill privileged white male gamers who just dont get the humoristic overtones and satire that the narrative is presenting.
Me: The ignorance part is true, but I'm of the opinion that ignorance is held and espoused by that particular subset, hence why the biggest "criticism" of the game I've seen goes along the lines of accusing the story and narrative of being "SJW, liberal pandering power fantasies" because the main cast consists of Jewish characters, many black character who're also members of the Black Revolutionary Front(1960's civil rights group), neurodivergent characters, gay characters basically all the groups of people the Nazi's tried to exterminate. The main character, however, William Joseph Blazkowicz, is a stereotypical all American square jawed Aryan white male soldier that comprises a vast majority of video game protagonists because again, game companies are encouraged to appeal to that repeating demographic(hence why Booker DeWitt is on the cover of Bioshock Infinite, and Elizabeth is not). And William’s features and status as that stereotype are brought up frequently over the course of both games, its a plot point, when this white westerner warrior is forced to confront the reality that before the Nazi's took over in this fictional world, minority groups were already being oppressed by the American government and people, not just the Germans.(In the words of J, "Before Hitler, before the Germans, YOU were the Nazi's.") and the second revelation: while the war was going on, there were plenty of Americans back home saying they should just let Germany win and take over the world, that America and Germany should fight together to ensure the white mans superiority, hence why when America surrendered to the Nazi's their transition of power went so smoothly(For real life historical context, 50,000 American Nazi's gathered in Madison Square Garden in New York to express their support for Hitler and the Third Reich in 1940, so American Neo-Nazi's isnt an outlandish concept.) These shocking realizations are shocking to William and most likely to the white members of the audience base, who have been told their entire lives that all Americans are and were totally opposed to Nazism, because America is always the hero and never to the antagonist. While William grapples with this internal and external conflict, the brainless saps who lob accusations of pandering and SJW agendas get pissed, because their natural knee jerk defensive reaction whenever these subjects are brought up is to shout it down and decry it as attempts to exploit "white guilt". So yes, Wolfenstein is a power fantasy game, but it includes themes and ideas that spoil the already existing fantasies of pasty, privileged white gamers who've grown used to getting exactly the message they want out of their consumed media, and throw a hissy fit whenever elements they dont approve of are included in a mainstream product.
.
Me: Exactly, BJ is a great character because he's a stereotype, but the creators are self aware enough to understand that he's a stereotype and that lets them invert a lot of things to make him interesting and engaging rather than a milquetoast slab of boring white bread. Also as an aside, this really tripped me out because at one point BJ goes back to his childhood home in Mesquite Texas, which is where I grew up to.
Me: Also, didnt include this in my massive paragraph, but I wanted to mention how at the beginning of the game William is wheelchair bound because he was blown up by a grenade at the end of New Order. You get a suit of powered armor that lets you walk again, but your health is halved and they make it a point to say that his legs wont work again and he is now impotent. So again, you have this character who's an embodiment of white American masculinity not only physically disabled, but his dick doesnt work. Two themes that likely interfere with the power fantasy the aforementioned pissed off douches were trying to have, rather than appreciating the game as a parody of power fantasies, again people missing the entire point.
E: Also, I watched a clip of the game and it was stupid ridiculous and over the top that it just shattered my suspension of disbelief for the game.
Like how do the nazis take over if they're so incompetent that 20 of them and their 2 war machines can be murdered by one pregnant woman?
And how does the rebellion still talking like they're taking risks when the one dude they send out comes back with a billion nazi scalps?
But like I said, stingy asshole. Maybe I'll pick it up when it goes on sale for cheap.
Plus I could also be just mad at Bethesda.
But then again I did really like Prey.
Also, I heard the game was short.
Like shorter then New Order.
Me: Like I said, I think it's worth buying, and I got it cheap at 30 bucks. As for the realism factor, it's an Id game, gritty STALKER esque accuracy and believability isn't what I expect from them. Short? Not that I've experienced, it's structured and progresses differently but I'd say both games are of comparable length and content.
