When the New Order came out back in 2014, it was a surprise hit. It was a return to form after the decent, but somewhat forgotten 2009 Wolfenstein game. New Order was a modern take on a linear single player shooter. There is no big open world with lots of collectibles and side-activities. It is very much an "old-school" game in a sense that it is focused on single player narrative, with carefully crafted levels and simple yet satisfying gameplay. The gunplay in this game is excellent - weapons look, sound and feel like powerful tools, and enemies react to it accordingly. Many also praise the story - its surprisingly well written and revolves around an interesting alternative history scenario. Old Blood shares most of New Order's strengths. It is a prequel to TNO, taking place in 1946 rather than 1960, so the war isn't over yet. Once again the gunplay is excellent, and I found the 1946 weapons feeling even better than their 1960 counterparts. There is not as much focus on the narrative as in the previous game, but it works out in this games favor as it is designed to have more uninterrupted action. The first half of the game is very reminiscent of the 2001 classic Return to Castle Wolfenstein - I think anyone who played that game will find in this one as well. Unfortunately, Old Blood suffers from a very, very rough start - the second level is practically a forced stealth section and its slow and boring. As soon as you get through it, it gets much better. Overall both games are great, and if you are a fan of single player shooter genre, this might be as good as it gets.
Soldier of Fortune is a great game, it is a cult classic when it comes to old-school shooters. Unfortunately, it wasn't available in digital markets for a long time - until now. The main feature that made this game so recognizable over the years was its gore system and a ridiculously powerful shotgun that makes the former feature VERY noticeable. Not that other weapons weren't fun to use - they all were, but the shotgun is definitely the highlight here. There is some story on offer here, about stolen nukes or something like that. Most likely you won't care about it, as the gunplay is so good it will carry you through start of the game to the end credits. Don't mistake it for a modern military shooter - it plays much closer to something like Doom and Quake rather than Call of Duty. Movement speed is very fast and you need to utilize that if you wish to survive on higher difficulties. Speaking of difficulty - this game can be very punishing. Thankfully, there is a nice system on offer here: it allows you to customize difficulty, in case you need it. You can, for example, have the AI on very hard but keep unlimited saves and carrying capacity. The graphics look like you'd expect from a game of that era. If you're used to other early 00s shooters then you shouldn't have problems with getting immersed. Environments are varied and don't look too bad. Character models are a different story, but you won't be seeing them for too long - as they will be turned into minced meat before you manage to say how ugly they look. ;) I could write a bit more but you get the idea. This game is brutal old-school shooting at its finest. If you're into that kind of stuff, its right up your alley.
