Posted on: December 17, 2020
JGrayDingler
Games: 415 Reviews: 11
More Like a Pitch than a Finished Game
Honestly, all three Freedom Chronicle episodes feel so thin on content you're better of waiting for the season pass to go on sale and get them all cheaper than it would cost to buy any individual episode, but I figure people might appreciate separate reviews of each episode to get a better idea what they're buying. Wilkins' episode is probably the most traditional of the three Freedom Chronicles add-ons. You play as tough but not necessarily all that bright Nazi-killing enthusiast on a mission to stop a super weapon. There's storming heavily guarded forts, betrayal, and massive stakes... at least in theory. In practice, it's three levels compromised of mostly assets recycled from the base game with a few very thin cutscenes and readables filling in all these details. Which is a shame because this does SOUND like a fun Wolfenstein adventure. The "Sonnengewehr" is a kill sat the Nazis are preparing to use which is a great ticking clock to work against, fighting across the Alaskan wilderness sounds novel, and there's even a supporting cast. But it's ENTIRELY regulated to a few very short cutscenes of just voice over on concept art and some readables. All these things aren't reflected in the gameplay, which is more blasting Nazis mostly inside generic looking bases. This deflates the story and makes the gameplay segments feel detached from what's supposed to be happening. There is a bit of novelty with Wilkins' levels being designed around having the battle walker upgrade which gives you more of a chance to enjoy it, but even that doesn't do much to shore up otherwise bog standard levels that aren't as visually or mechanically interesting as the ones you get in the main game. All three Freedom Chronicles episodes suffer from an obvious low budget, but Wilkins' was the last one released and as such, seems to be the one where there was just no money left and as such, there's even less to make it stand out beyond what COULD have been as suggested in the cutscenes.
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