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A (condensed) history of Wolfenstein

Fellow gamers, if I may confide in you all. I was positively THROBBING when news came out of this game series was returning. Though my interest in the Wolfenstein series has cooled over the years, due in part to not being able to play the XBLA version of Wolfenstein 3D out of motion sickness and not being completely wooed by the hub world offered in 2009’s Wolfenstein, my love for killing Nazis has never faded despite the offerings from other game developers that try a more “realistic” approach to the FPS genre. Ever since the days of my youth when I watched my first Indiana Jones movie to when I faced off with mecha Hitler in the original Wolfenstein 3D, I’ve been fascinated by the Third Reich. Not only did I grow up in the generation where we saw the Nazis as the worst of the worst of bad guys in media but I read my history on this organization like any wannabe historian would. History has always been a passion for me and learning the complexities of World War II and the rise of the Nazi party has always been a fascination. Call me morbid or call me unhinged but there was something about them that made me wonder what made them tick, what made them what they were and how did that justify their thoughts in performing the actions that they did during their time. I can even recall meeting a kindred spirit back in high school that shared the same fascination over them. We would spend hours and hours talking over all that we knew, from the hard facts to the conspiracy theory revolving around the nazi cause. Now mind you this was during a time when you could openly speak of such things and not be considered a nazi yourself. But then again it would seem rather odd for a tanned skinned Native American guy and a naturally permed dark haired pale skinned gal if they wanted to be.

Why do I speak of this? Well one of the topics we talked about, as many alternate historians do, was the “what if” scenarios that usually come into being that has now been done in movies, TV shows and books: What if Hitler won World War II. The reasons were plentiful. What if Hitler got the A bomb first, what if Hitler never recalled his panzer units from Africa, what if D-Day was a complete failure, what if the Battle of Britain or the Battle of the Bulge was successful, what if Hitler’s advanced weapons were developed and deployed sooner in the war. My friend and I would go over these scenarios for hours, even weaving in some of the conspiracy ideas to the mix from nazi UFO’s to Hitler’s interest in the occult. As you can see I was well prepared to fully enjoy the likes of what the Wolfenstein series had to offer. In not just the fun factor of killing Nazis as a VR Sociopath but just the world it tried to weave where the likes of the SS Paranormal Division and other “what if” scenarios were played out.

And thru it all I had a blast. Though I missed out plenty given I wasn’t a PC gamer at the time, I was able to enjoy the likes of Wolfenstein 3D, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein on their respective console releases.  Not only was my appetite for wanton killing fulfilled as a VR Sociopath with these titles but they also added a bit of intelligence with their narrative and story focus as you play as OSA Agent William “B.J.” Blazkowicz. Sure they can’t compare to Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan but they fit the bill nicely in comparison to Indiana Jones, Hellsing Ultimate or even to a degree, Iron Sky.

Yet despite it all the intellectual side of me was left lacking. Yes as a VR Sociopath I had all I ever wanted when it came to killing one of the top three things I like to kill on my list. But at the same time I wanted more of the world that these games had to offer. I yearned for a truly unique spin on this series. It gave us the silliness of fighting a Mecha Hitler in Wolfenstein 3D, it gave us the Indiana Jone-ish/conspiracy theory styling’s of Return to Castle Wolfenstein and it gave us the “epic summer movie” feel with the more modern FPS mechanics that was Wolfenstein. And though they all gave me a taste of what I’d come to expect for the genre, the sophisticated, alternate historian side of me that dived into the history of The Third Reich was left lacking.

Wolfenstein: The New Order was inevitable given the ground that the series has explored. It might seem odd to think such was the case, be it by the creator’s own design or just by happenstance, Wolfenstein had the potential to be more than just a means to kill Nazis either in a single player setting or a multiplayer mode. There is more to a game than just killing Nazis and as much as the VR Sociopath would want to disagree on that, I can’t help but look back on the three prior games to The New Order if only to show the progressing the series has gone through to reach this moment.

This of course was of no fault to the makers of Wolfenstein. What started out as a re-imagining of Wolfenstein from adventure game to FPS probably didn’t have much in mind when it came to a driving story narrative. It was one of the first FPS’s to define the genre so you really didn’t need more than “player kills Nazis” to set the background of the series. Plus many FPS’s at the time were not generally known to have a major story element to them. At the time it was enough to know that in Wolfenstein 3D, BJ was trying to escape Castle Wolfenstein, learned along the way of Hitler’s plans to use deep science and occult mysticism to create weapons that would help him win the war. What starts out as a simple escape scenario ends up becoming a battle with not just the Nazis but with fake Hitlers, zombie mutant monsters and subordinates protecting religious artifacts and chemical weapons labs. Factoring in the prequel levels and the final boss battle with Mecha Hitler it’s no wonder most focused more on the FPS gameplay than the story itself.

Plus it didn’t hurt that you got to kill lots of Nazis.

In Return to Castle Wolfenstein the game did add more to the series by having a heavier emphasis of the occult by bring forth the idea of the SS Paranormal/Special Projects Division, overseen by Heinrich Himmler himself and lead by Helga von Bulow/Wilhelm Strasse respectively. This is when the game started to flesh out the world where there was more of a “secret war” being fought during the main World War itself. The concept was still the same where we got to kill Nazis but more depth was added to the overall plot with more fantastical ideas of archeology, occult rituals, black magic and the mixing of technology with medievalism. Not only did you have to pick up health and ammo along the way, you also had the option to find top secret documents that further allowed the player to be more invested in the series. It did what a proper sequel (yet in actuality was a reboot) should in any game series: it built on the core mechanic of the original and fleshed out the world to make it more believable. Return to Castle Wolfenstein gave us a plot to care for and made Blazkowicz more than just a static image on our information HUD but into a possible three dimensional character, who had to face off with a resurrected Heinrich I and the original Ubersoldaten program.

Plus it didn’t hurt you that got to kill lots of Nazis.

2009’s Wolfenstein was in my humble opinion the apex of what the genre could come up with. It still kept the trappings of the SS Paranormal Division by adding the secret society the Golden Dawn but also adding supernatural elements to the series by the means of the Thule Medallion, thus not only continuing the supernatural aspect of the series but also adding the element of the conspiracy theory as well. Instead of just using the usual weapons of killing that is a given in a Wolfenstein game, we had the chance to use supernatural powers of our own with the Thule medallion which ranged from entering the alternate world of the Black Sun with “the veil” to find secrets, to using Black Sun powers like shielding physical attacks, increasing the attack power of your weapons and slowing down time with “bullet time” effects. The story this time around build from the last game by adding more of what we got. More secret documents to read, a hub world that broke up the story into chapters which plays out in cinematic cutscenes openers that shows the struggle that both Blazkowicz and the resistance cell, the Kreisau Circle, as they try to stop the return of the main antagonist from using the power of the Black Sun to once again win the war. The story this time around tried to be more character focused with the situations that Blazkowicz and Kreisau Circle leader Caroline Becker, Golden Dawn scholars and Black Market goods runners, go through as the game unfolds in before and after missions. The overall theme of the world at large is lessen by having the hub town but is made up for by having a heavier focus on the Thule Medallion’s powers and the Black Sun Dimension.

Plus it didn’t hurt you that got to kill lots of Nazis.

Though I’m sure many would consider the story evolution in Wolfenstein to be primitive by today’s standards of media, they still share the similar ideas in other media that have Hitler searching for holy artifacts, creating vampire armies, dabbling in fringe science or colonizing the moon. And through it all I’ve enjoyed killing the nazi menace at every turn. So while the series as a whole has been able to satisfy my kill crazy urges as a VR sociopath, the themes and general world setting have slowly wetted my appetite for bigger and grander things to come. So as you can see I was quite prepared for what was to come in Wolfenstein: The New Order. Finally I was to think that this game would merge my love of Alternative History with my love for killing Nazis in droves. But would one be overshadowed by the other? Could I have my cake and eat it too with both killing of the Nazis and an intelligent creation of the game’s setting? Or would I have to be content with having one over the other?

The trailers showed for the game seemed to confirm my wild machinations, yet the pushback of the original release date of this game gave me pause. But I have been burned before in the past with the likes of Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. So in part 2 of a VR Sociopath’s take on Wolfenstein: The New Order, I’ll actually talk about the game in question. Does it get the theme right or is it just another dumb excuse to kill Nazis in various forms of dispatch? Either way I’ll be getting into graphic detail so be forewarned, what comes next is not for the faint of heart.

Ta-ta

“N”