It's available for preorder. I've been following it casually for awhile. I'm pretty excited about it, just because the previous games really captured me when I was younger. Few things are as satisfying as Nazi killing. Bethesda is a name that I trust to do a marvelous job, and the game looks pretty as hell. Here's a trailer:
I am not only excited about this, but the pre-order also gives you access to the new DOOM Beta, that I am excited for as well. Maybe I'll have to actually get this on the PC as opposed to my consoles.
Not so much that I am new the fact that a PC will always be superior, but new to actually having people to play with on PC. All my siblings play console so that is where my social gaming bug came in. I'm working on converting them like Don converted me, but they are all too cheap to invest in a decent PC. Unfortunately, it often leads to me buying the same game for 2 platforms.
So I just finished the New Order tonight (it took me awhile to get around to it). I figured I'd give all of you my two cents on the game: I absolutely loved this game. I haven't gotten so caught up in a game's story in quite some time. Overall, I find there few things as satisfying as killin me some Nazzees (as my good ole boy of a grandfather used to call them). From a gameplay standpoint, it's a very good shooter. Most of the maps are designed to give you several options as far as how you go about eliminating the opposition. In the end they boil down to the two big schools of thought you see in many shooters: stealth vs brutality. To be fair, there are some areas where stealth is going to be heavily encouraged, and others where it will hardly be viable, but it helps mix things up. The AI isn't the most amazingly intelligent I've ever played (especially when it comes to detecting stealth), but I maxed out the difficulty and I will say that there were quite a few places that I had to take a few cracks at before I got past it. The one thing that may be a turn off for some people is that the progression is rather linear. The areas themselves can be approached in a number of ways, but you will indeed be ushered along the intended avenue. Visually speaking it is a beautiful game. The gore is on point with what I'd expect out of this game, and the weapons and atmosphere are all rather striking. I don't have much to say beyond it being pretty as fuck. The most enjoyable aspect of this game for me, by far, was the story. They did a wonderful job developing this game. The ambiance they created of the 1960s Nazi empire is captivating (pun absofuckinglutely intended). It isn't any one thing that makes it so much as the whole collection of elements working together. The whispered conversation you hear from citizens as you're crawling through air shafts, the little clippings of newspaper summing up current events you find scattered about, and, of course, the very imposing Nazi iconography you see everywhere all help you dive into the setting. Atmosphere aside, there's a great deal of thought and effort put into the characters, which helps to contribute to the immersion factor. The voice acting is great, and the personalities are well written. It's clear that they aren't just used as half-assed afterthoughts to prod you along to the next killing field. It's not a quality you see in many shooters, but damn did I love it in this one. It's a shooter that plays out like a story rather than an arena, and it doesn't let you forget that. Nearly every chapter begins and ends with a cinematic, and they all seem to have at least a few brief cutscenes that happen during gameplay. The few downsides to the game I can bring up have already been mentioned to a degree: the AI not being incredibly aware of their surrounds, and what may seem to be a linear progression through the maps. I can't say that I personally minded it, but I can see how some might. In the end, I do highly recommend this game. I will add a little caveat to my seal of approval though: unless you are a multi-playthrough completionist that likes to get every last collectible and extra (I am not), your play time will be limited. I played on the Uber difficulty, and even still I only hit 14.5 hours on my first playthrough. I may play through once more (there are two "timelines" in the game, branching from a major decision you make early on), but I really don't see myself playing through it again for another year or so. I'll liken it to Bioshock Infinite in that regard: it's a great game, but, once you beat it, you won't really feel the need to play it again and again unless you do indeed like to go back and find every hidden collectible and secret item. That being said, I bought it during the summer sale, and I think it was well worth the $30 I got it for. I had a blast playing it. Looking back, I think I would have been happy with $40 even. However, due to the limited playability, I wouldn't pay more than $40 for it. As great as it is, I feel that most people just won't get the play time out of it to really justify a $50-60 price tag. My advice is to definitely pick it up, but wait until another big sale to do so.
I am really appreciative of this review Don. I was looking for a new game to play this weekend. Maybe I'll indulge. Amazon has it on sale for $40. Thank you again!
Much like the awesome TESO deal 2 days ago, you can pick up The New Order for $12 HERE with the GMGSUM-MERSAL-E20OFF voucher code. I can't say anything about it more eloquently than what Don wrote above, it's a great game!
Indeed. The New Order and The Old Blood both left really good taste in pretty much every way. Kinda rare for games nowadays. Heck, I replayed both happily several times. Only games that have managed to do the same in a while are DE: HR and Borderlands 2.
