Reviews

Wolfenstein: The Youngblood is not the worst game of 2019. In fact, I found myself having fun playing it. But it is a giant misstep for this franchise after the forward momentum of the past 3 games that Machine Games has released in their Wolfenstein series. The Youngblood jumps forward almost 20 years to 1980. The United States of America has been liberated from its Nazi occupiers in the Second American Revolution, seen during and at the end of The New Colossus. The Third Reich is on its last legs. Europe is still in the thralls of the Nazi rule, but resistance is spreading throughout the world. BJ Blazkowicz has vanished, no one knows where he ran off to. But his daughters, Jessie and Zofia, leap into actions and go to Neu-Paris where their father was last seen. The game is a co-op game which I have nothing against, and I found myself killing some time in between waiting for the next big game release by playing this game with my friends. Most of the gunplay and mechanics are the same as The New Colossus though the maps are much larger and are kind of free-roam like (think Destiny) where you have a giant area and various missions and side missions that take place within these mission areas. The designs have changed slightly to reflect the 1980s setting and some of the technology has advanced as well. But the AI can be very bad, both in regards to enemies and the AI that takes over your sister if you are playing alone. The story is very predictable and bare bones, but the set pieces and action make up for it somewhat. I found myself wanting to know more about this gap between the New Colossus and The Youngblood. Very important plot points have transpired setting up the third and possibly final entry in Machine Games’ Wolfenstein series. But we only get to hear about what is going on in the world presently and brief references to what has occurred in the past that we don’t see. The game tends to wear out its welcome after a while and becomes rather boring, dull and surface level. There are challenges and numerous things that attempt to entice you to keep coming back for more, but it just doesn’t work. I think this was probably an idea or a response to fans, to create an “online Wolfenstein experience”. But it just doesn’t cut the mustard. If you like killing Nazis, go for it. But if you are looking for a very solid entry into the Wolfenstein series, you might want to look elsewhere.

Rating: 3.5/5

When I was younger, I really enjoyed playing the Call of Duty series. The franchise has its fair share of solid entries (World at War, Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops) but as the franchise continued to truck along, it lost a lot of its charm and attention to detail. Sure the stories sometimes reeked of exaggerated macho-man moments and implausible scenarios, but it was good gameplay and pure fun. The series had its ups and downs in the past several years as it dabbled in science fiction (Advanced and Infinite Warfare, and Black Ops 3), ludicrous political scenarios (Call of Duty Ghosts) and ultimately just gave up and presented a full on Battle Royale multiplayer game (Black Ops 4). Even Call of Duty World War II, didn’t really leave a good impression on me. But here with Modern Warfare there was a chance to return the franchise to something familiar. Did they succeed? Kind of. Going in to Modern Warfare, you know the gameplay and you know how the game feels. That’s fine, Call of Duty games are real accessible when it comes to the over all experience and settling in to play the game. But I think the stressing of “real world” scenarios and “real world” setting and combat situations weakened this game for me. Modern Warfare is a reboot of the original Modern Warfare sub-series . The story centers on various armed forces reacting to “real world” conflicts and concerns regarding chemical warfare, international terrorism, and civil wars. The graphics are really good and the sound is probably a bit too good as the multiplayer sound has the unintended result of making things hard to hear. Familiar faces return to the series such as a recast version of Captain Price. Other figures from the previous Modern Warfare games are mentioned in name only which almost makes these shoutouts feel like something out of a Marvel or big tentpole franchise film that is littered with easter eggs and references. The story seems to set itself up for a sequel, or sequels, but if this is going to be the norm for this sub-series, I don’t know how long I’ll manage to stay onboard for the ride. This game likes to champion itself as tackling “real world” conflict situations. But it doesn’t really. Yes, you have some tense moments and amazing setpieces, but at the end of the day it all seems to be rather cheap for several reasons. 1. A Middle Eastern country that is clearly supposed to be Syria was renamed and is a fictional setting……that cheapens the game immensely and doesn’t allow for people to actually see what is or could be going on in that setting. 2. There is a scene where you have to shoot suicide bombers in the head so that they won’t detonate. This is kind of disturbing because now you are taking a terror tactic, used in the real world, and turning it into an arcade mechanic? I actually laughed when this happened because it reminded me of a mission in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus in which you have to kill these chickens to get a key from a ghost who wants to make some gumbo from the chickens you kill. As you whack at these chickens, periodically roosters will charge at you holding bombs attempting to blow you up. The fact that I laughed at the suicide bombers in this game and that a video game aimed at younger gamers first came to mind while experiencing it, should be a clear sign of failure. Again, there are some tense moments, in the game. But the game does not go very far with them and it doesn’t change the fact that the game is still, for the most part, the same old annual installment Michael Bay-like video game that delivers the action and a very good multiplayer. Is Modern Warfare bad? No. I enjoyed it and it brought back a classic Call of Duty feel to the franchise. But that does not absolve it of the many places where it went wrong.

Rating: 4/5