Wolfenstein: The Two Pack

Wolfenstein: Old Blood and New Order were the first Wolfenstein games I ever played and make an excellent introduction to both this new series and the franchise as a whole. I recommend playing Old Blood first, which is a prequel to New Order and throwback to older Wolfensteins. It has a lot more of what people probably think of when they think Wolfenstein, which is the slightly campy alt-history World War II with Nazis in mech suits, ancient ruins, and a hint of the supernatural. It also features the titular Castle Wolfenstein, one of only three games in the series I think that has that. Even though it was made later, the end of Old Blood transitions beautifully into the opening of New Order. It actually feels like you're playing the final level of Old Blood before getting by the harsh transition into New Order's alt-history 1960, where the Nazis have largely conquered the planet. The seemingly dated threat of the Third Reich is modernized and feels more imposing and terrifying as you see their horrible vision of the future become reality. Both games are great action romps with a nice balance of modern conventions and a few old-school touches that keep fights tense but fun, with a light touch of optional stealth for those inclined. Old Blood has a lot of cool little secrets that are reminiscent of 90's shooters while New Order has some terrific set pieces. I'm not a huge fan of competitive multilplayer so I really appreciate polished and ambitious single-player shooters like these. The storytelling is more grounded than one might expect from this franchise. There's a decent amount of camp with the design of the world but the characters themselves take the threat of Nazis very seriously. New Order in particular really showcases the absurd cruelty of the Third Reich. Their fun games but don't trivialize the threat of fascism, which gives the story real weight. Add in the memorable cast and you've got an unforgettable experience. Can't recommend highly enough. =)

I've played both of these games on PC, never really having played a modern first person shooter before. I usually just roll with RPG's (get it? Roll? RPG's? HA!) but I liked the games back in the day on my Commodore 64 (yep, I am that old) and figured I'd give 'em a try. First off, the story is really good. Coming into the game as an RPG player, things like "lore" mean a lot to me. I like learning little details about the world I'm playing in and if your willing to look around, this game actually has a good amount of lore in it. I really dug the alternate "what if?" history, it's almost like "The Man In The High Castle - The Game" The controls worked really well for me. Again, not really playing this kind of game before it did take me a minute but once I got the hang of it, I was getting headshots fairly regularly. So, good story and good controls. Give it a try :)

We all know how great The New Order was, but the standalone expansion, The Old Blood, may be even better. It's a shorter, more difficult game, and the arenas/corridors are far more creative. It doesn't have the story that The New Order has, which is a first-rate title, but The Old Blood makes up for it in sheer gameplay quality and unrelenting pace and difficult. So treat yourself after playing The New Order, because The Old Blood is basically dessert, the cherry on top, and all of that.

Great game, Good story and FUN bosses.