02. Wolfenstein: Mediocre No More

The Wolfenstein franchise has had its ups and downs through the years. When we think of Wolfenstein we think of war and shooting Nazis. We don’t remember what each game’s story was about. We just knew there were Nazis, and it was time to shoot. Did you remember the story of Wolfenstein 3D? Or Return the Castle Wolfenstein? Yeah you probably knew that you were shooting Nazis (I’m guessing the swastikas gave it away and probably the German talk). Wolfenstein 3D was a hit and is praised for popularizing the first-person shooter genre. In the early 2000’s the rights to the franchise then went to Activision and the company published; Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001), Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (2003) and Wolfenstein (2009). The reception to these games were mostly average to good. Averaging a 7-8 out of 10 in its reviews from news sites like G4, GameSpot, IGN, GameTrailers and GamesRadar. These might sound like good scores from sites, but these companies that review games aren’t the be all and end all of the games reception and popularity. Just think of Wolfenstein as a video game series in your head (I’ll give you a moment…). Now if I say that Wolfenstein is one of the best video game series of all time, I’ll bet that there aren’t many people who would agree.

After a couple of Wolfenstein games, Wolfenstein has been a series that had just been around for a long time, with a great game like Wolfenstein 3D and mediocre ones like the early 2000s games. Wolfenstein hasn’t been relevant and popular to a large audience as it was since the Wolfenstein 3D days. That is, until Bethesda and MachineGames released Wolfenstein: The New Order.

MachineGames focused on a single-player only Wolfenstein game. In an interview with Newshub in 2013, Andreas Ojerfors (Senior gameplay designer) stated that “if we could take every bit of energy and sweat the studio has and pour all that into the single-player campaign, it gives us the resources to make something very, very cool, compared to if we would also have to divert some of our resources to making multiplayer.” In previous games William “B.J.” Blazkowicz (the main character) was, as Pete Hines from Bethesda Softworks put it, “just the guy that you play”. MachineGames were interested in exploring his story, which is what they later invested in. The story was mesmerizing and mattered in The New Order, it focused on an alternate history which the Nazis won World War II, and it also focused on William “B.J.” Blazkowicz’s story and experiences through the years fighting the Nazis. Colin Moriarty formerly of IGN, considered the narrative and characters one of the best features, stating that it’s where the game really shines.

Wolfenstein: The New Order received multiple nominations and awards from gaming publications. The game won Game of the Year from Classic Game Room, and received multiple nominations from the Golden Joystick Awards, Good Game, IGN Australia, and a ton more. Awards were close by when you mentioned Wolfenstein: The New Order. The game also sold well and a year later a standalone expansion set before the events of The New Order released called Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. With rumblings of a new Wolfenstein game by MachineGames releasing in the coming years, there’s no doubt that Wolfenstein is back on top and mediocre no more.

References

Bramwell T. 2001, Return the Castle Wolfenstein, Eurogamer, viewed 23 February 2017, <http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_rtcw>.

Goldfarb A. 2013, The Potential of Wolfenstein: The New Order, IGN, viewed 24 February 2017, <http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/06/25/the-potential-of-wolfenstein-the-new-order>.

Moriarty C. 2014, Wolfenstein: The New Order Review, IGN, viewed 24 February 2017, <http://au.ign.com/articles/2014/05/20/wolfenstein-the-new-order-review>.

Newshub 2013, Wolfenstein: The New Order QuakeCon interview with Andreas Ojerfors, viewed 24 February 2017, <http://www.newshub.co.nz/entertainment/wolfenstein-the-new-order-quakecon-interview-with-andreas-ojerfors-2013081612>.

01. History of Video Games Pre 2K & Focus on DMA Design’s Grand Theft Auto

It is an industry built on a wartime era. Before this video game culture and phenomenon we all know today, governments were making games to predict the outcomes of war. Countries competed against each other, looking for the best technology to get ahead of one another. As technology advanced, these simulation games did the same. Soon after, video games as we know them today starting becoming available to the masses. There had been a game called ‘Tennis for Two’ which was exactly what the title suggests; two players, one ball, a simulation if you will, of the sport called Tennis. The Developer Atari, took elements from Tennis for Two and made their own game that was (and you may argue, still is) a global hit, a game called PONG. Fast forwarding through the years, Arcades started popping up around the world with games like Space Invaders, Tetris, and PacMan. People could now go to a local arcade, pop in a quarter and start playing games. Then came a game changer (pardon the pun), when games came to the living room. Consoles started to rule the Video Game industry.  And then, arguably the worst game of all time had released; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the 2600, and then the Great Crash, where video games were not the ‘thing’ anymore. But let’s fast forward yet again, when the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) releases in America, video games become popular again. But in my opinion, the best decade of games pre-2000 were in the 90’s. That’s where shit gets real. Games like; Mortal Kombat, Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, Tomb Raider, Duke Nukem 3D, Crash Bandicoot, Grand Theft Auto and a ton more came to our Consoles and PCs.

A game that I thought was fun and different in this Pre-2k era, was DMA Design’s (now Rockstar North's) Grand Theft Auto. Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an open world action-adventure game released in 1997 in Europe, and 1998 in North America for the PlayStation. The story follows a group of criminals in fictionalised versions of American cities as they commit crimes in the world. The Game is played in a top-down view. Grand Theft Auto was going to be called Race’n’Chase originally and the idea for it was “to produce a fun, addictive, fast-paced multiplayer car racing and crashing game”. It was a cops and robbers game, but that evolved, because “nobody wanted to be the cop, it’s more fun to be bad”. That idea evolved into the Grand Theft Auto we all know it to be today. The game was wrapped up in controversy from the very start. Law suits and banning’s of future GTA titles in certain countries arose.

Grand Theft Auto was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its “extreme violence”, and Brazil banned it outright. I mean, come on, just look at that picture above this paragraph, after seeing some 16-bit blood sprites and what you can do in the game makes countries ban what is essentially art. They should be praising DMA Design for making a game that had never been seen before and done before. But that one CD of GTA was enough for governments formed of non-gamers, wanting to bash something they didn’t understand, blame real world problems on video games. I’ll give them credit on one thing, every game must now go through classification. But even then, after having the MA15+ and the R18+ ratings in Australia, games that are classified ‘too much for us Australians to handle’ never release in Australia. In recent years, this video game violence issue has cooled down a little, but is still there. Just image how it was in the 90’s when games like Grand Theft Auto or Doom starting showing up.

Besides all that, Grand Theft Auto was pure fun. It focused on freedom of going anywhere you wanted in that world. You also had a score, and to increase it you had to complete missions, get a wanted level, or blow up vehicles. And no, after playing GTA I didn’t want to go kill people or go on a rampage in real life. I turned out fine (I think). The game was a best-seller in the UK, and was a commercial success. Grand Theft Auto (1997) became successful and DMA Design released a Mission Pack for the PlayStation called Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and then the sequel to the original game released soon after. After multiple games over the years, the GTA series still sticks to its roots from the first game. Grand Theft Auto’s winning formula spawned an enormous franchise. Which in my opinion, will be talked about as one of the best and controversial franchises in video game history.

References
grandtheftwiki 2012, Race’n’Chase, viewed 16 February 2017, <http://www.grandtheftwiki.com/Race%27n%27Chase>.

Gullup 1998, UK PlayStation sales chart, Official UK PlayStation Magazine issue 32.

Orr L. 2015, Grand Theft Auto 1997: ‘Sick, deluded and beneath contempt’, The Register, viewed 17 February 2017, <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/14/antique_code_show_grand_theft_auto_1997/>.