Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.2 Update

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a 2017 action-adventure and first-person shooter game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda Softworks. The eighth main entry in the Wolfenstein series and the sequel to 2014’s Wolfenstein: The New Order, the game is set in an alternate history that takes place in 1961, following the Nazi victory in the Second World War. The story follows war veteran William “B.J.” Blazkowicz and his efforts to fight against the Nazi regime in the United States. Gameplay mechanics are largely similar to those of The New Order, though the team introduced improvements such as allowing players to dual-wield any combination of weapons in the game. A binary choice in the prologue alters the game’s entire storyline; some characters and small plot points are replaced throughout the timelines.

GAMEPLAY

Like its predecessor, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a first-person shooter. Once again, the player assumes control of the series protagonist, William “B.J.” Blazkowicz, who must venture into a Nazi-occupied America to ignite a revolution against the Nazi regime. Blazkowicz has a large arsenal of gadgets and weapons, such as shotguns, submachine guns, pistols, and assault rifles, as well as grenades to fight against his enemies. Players can freely mix weapons for dual-wielding, giving them an advantage over enemies by dealing twice as much damage. At the beginning of the game, the player needs to choose between two timelines involving two characters named Fergus and Wyatt. This decision will result in alterations to the game’s story and cutscenes. Choosing Fergus allows players to access the “LaserKraftWerk”, an energy weapon that can be used to disintegrate enemies and obstacles while choosing Wyatt grants players the “DieselKraftWerk”, which acts similarly to a grenade launcher.

These weapons run on fuel or electricity, which can be refilled in dispensers found throughout a level. Also running on fuel and electricity are heavy weapons, which are typically looted from fallen soldiers. These weapons, while being immensely powerful, slow down the player’s movement and attract hostile attention. Both stealth and confrontation are viable combat tactics in the game. Players can lean around, over, and under cover, which can be used as a tactical advantage during shootouts and stealth levels. Blazkowicz is equipped with a hatchet that allows him to perform melee attacks. He can use it to silently take down enemies without being detected or execute an enemy up close during combat. The hatchet can also be thrown at distant enemies. Some areas in the game are patrolled by Nazi commanders, who may call in reinforcements if Blazkowicz’s presence is alerted.  Midway through the game, players can also choose from one of three “contraptions”.

The “Constrictor Harness” compresses Blazkowicz’s torso and allows him to squeeze into narrow areas; the “Ram Shackles” allow Blazkowicz to break down doors and obstacles, and tackle enemies when he sprints; and the “Battle Walkers”, which are a pair of stilts, allow him to reach high areas that are otherwise inaccessible. The game utilizes a health system in which players’ health is divided into separate sections that regenerate; if an entire section is lost, players must use a health pack to replenish the missing health. Blazkowicz can consume more health packs than is necessary, entering an “overcharged” state, though his health will eventually drop to that of his maximum health. Players can also collect armor by defeating armored enemies or collecting helmets and vests scattered in a level. Armor will not regenerate and functions as a shield that reduces the amount of damage received. Depending on the player’s playstyle, they will earn Perks that are divided into three categories: Stealth, Mayhem, and Tactical, once they have completed certain objectives and challenges, granting them further combat advantages.

A German U-boat named Eva’s Hammer served as the game’s hub area, where players could talk to other non-playable characters and complete side missions. A fully playable version of Wolfenstein 3D can also be found inside the submarine. Through exploring each level, players may collect weapon upgrade kits, allowing them to modify and upgrade their weapons to suit their playstyle. For instance, a pistol can be customized with a suppressor, letting players eliminate enemies from afar without drawing any hostile attention. Players will also find various collectibles, such as star cards, gold, and concept art, scattered throughout a level. Defeated enemy commanders drop enigma codes, which can be decoded by accessing an enigma machine at Eva’s Hammer. Once decoded, the location of a high-ranking Nazi official (named Uberkommandant) will be revealed, and players will be tasked with revisiting previously explored levels to assassinate them. There are a total of 16 assassination missions players can complete. The game features six difficulty levels. After the player completes the main campaign, an extra hard level will be unlocked.

PLOT

During the final events of Wolfenstein: The New Order, the Kreisau Circle retrieves a critically injured William “B.J.” Blazkowicz from Deathshead’s fortress before destroying it with a nuclear cannon. With Deathhead’s death and the destruction of the compound, the entire research division of the Nazis is crippled, stagnating their technological advancement. Blazkowicz falls into a five-month-long coma. As he fades in and out of consciousness aboard the captured U-boat Eva’s Hammer, it is revealed that Anya, Blazkowicz’s love interest, is pregnant with twins. The U-boat is attacked by SS-Obergruppenführer Irene Engel, a sadistic Nazi commander who captures Caroline and Fergus or Wyatt (depending on who the player let Deathshead kill in a flashback). Blazkowicz devises a plan to get himself captured and taken to Engel’s airship, the Ausmerzer, which is suspending the U-boat above water. Engel tries to have her daughter Sigrun decapitate Caroline, but the former refuses, resulting in Engel killing Caroline herself. Irene then tries to kill the other captive, but Sigrun prevents it by tackling Engel, allowing Blazkowicz to use Caroline’s armor. Blazkowicz disconnects Eva’s Hammer from the Ausmerzer and flees back to the U-boat with Sigrun and Caroline’s body.

After Caroline’s funeral, the group decides to carry out what would have been the next step in her plan to end the Nazi regime: liberate America and use it as a central base from which to free the rest of the world. The group sets out to contact a resistance group hiding in the Empire State Building amid the ruins of Manhattan, which was destroyed by a Nazi atomic bomb. Blazkowicz finds and recruits Grace Walker, a passionate, scarred African-American, and Norman “Super Spesh” Caldwell, a lawyer-turned-conspiracy theorist. Grace informs the Circle of her plan to triple Nazi leadership in the US by destroying the Oberkommando in Roswell, New Mexico, near the site of an unearthed Da’at Yichud cache. Blazkowicz travels to Roswell with a portable nuclear warhead before heading to Super Spesh’s hideout. Spesh takes him to his bunker and to a tunnel that leads to the Oberkommando, where Blazkowicz deposits the bomb in the base’s reactor and detonates it.

After escaping Roswell, he takes a detour to Mesquite, his hometown, to recover an heirloom ring. Blazkowicz’s extremely abusive and racist father Rip (Glenn Morshower) appears and chastises him, justifying his abuse of Blazkowicz and his mother and allowing her to be taken by the Nazis because she was Jewish, and he intends to hand him over to the Nazis. Blazkowicz kills his father as Engel’s forces arrive, and he is captured once more while Engel keeps the ring for herself. Super Spesh later visits Blazkowicz under the guise of his lawyer, telling him of their plan to break him out. However, Engel kills Spesh, having known his ruse. After hallucinating a reunion with his mother, Blazkowicz is sentenced to death and beheaded at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in front of millions in a televised event. The Kreisau Circle recovers his head and Set surgically grafts it onto a bioengineered Nazi super-soldier body. Blazkowicz breaks into a Nazi bunker hidden under New York, stealing a file on New Orleans, which is revealed to be a large ghetto. Blazkowicz travels there to gather several freedom fighters under the command of communist Horton Boone. They break out of the ghetto and escape on Eva’s Hammer.  The Kreisau Circle considers capturing the Ausmerzer to prevent its use against the group’s planned revolution but realizes that it would be nearly impossible due to an automated defense system called ODIN.

The group plans to steal the codes to deactivate ODIN by traveling to Venus, where the codes are kept in a Nazi facility. Blazkowicz assumes the identity of an actor and is invited to Venus to participate in a propaganda film audition produced by Adolf Hitler, who is looking for a suitable actor to play Blazkowicz. Blazkowicz retrieves the ODIN codes and returns to Earth to decipher them. The Kreisau Circle mounts an assault on the Ausmerzer, where the resistance members disable ODIN and hijack its command systems. Blazkowicz and his team travel back to the ground, where Engel is on national television in California. Blazkowicz kills Engel, and the Kreisau Circle proclaims the start of a revolution to liberate America. To make sure Engel would not have a successor and the total collapse of the Nazis’ chain of command in the US, Grace orders BJ to kill all Ubercommanders that serve as Engel’s lieutenants. In a post-credits scene, Blazkowicz takes back his heirloom ring from Engel’s body and proposes to Anya. The revolution is depicted pictorially during the credits sequence.