Fortress Wolfenstein

One week after the release of the game, more reviews have been posted about the game. The MetaCritic score has reached some very weak values of 71% on PC, 64% on PS4, 68% on XBox One and 65% on Nintendo Switch, and 67% for OpenCritic on all platforms. It’s even worse for Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, with a MetaCritic score of 54% on PC and 51% on PS4, and even 49% on OpenCritic, making it the worst Wolfenstein game ever released.

For instance, VCG notes that:

New Colossus fans will probably dislike its unfocused narrative and fussy levelling system, but Youngblood offers plenty of blood and thunder if you give it time.

Critical Hit is even more critical…

Wolfenstein Youngblood is a disappointingly bland shooter that fails to capture the intensity or passion of New Order and New Colossus, delivering a humdrum experience plagued by uninteresting design and grindy gameplay

But some sites like GameRant are more positive, and see the game as a nice way to try new gameplay ideas:

Wolfenstein: Youngblood offers a great gameplay loop that will likely keep FPS fans busy for a few dozen hours, even if it doesn’t quite deliver in terms of character and world-building. This first interation of a progression system feels like a success and hopefully it becomes a staple of the franchise moving forward.

Here is a good summary from Rock Paper Shotgun:

The games have been released last Thursday and Friday, and have been reviewed by most of the major videogames sites.

With a mean score of 72 % on PS4 and 76 % on PC on MetaCritic (with scores for other consoles pending), and 75% on OpenCritic, Wolfenstein: Youngblood has a smaller score than Wolfenstein 2, but it’s still good.

Here are some excerpts from some of these reviews:

PlayStation Universe praises the quality of the characters, especially the dialogs between the sisters and Abby:

This trio is by far the best part of the narrative side of Youngblood. Jess and Soph are delightfully quirky, behaving and making jokes exactly how siblings would. The banter between them is some of the best dialogue in a game this year and the Wolfenstein series overall. There are countless memorable moments between them, such as when they approach their first Nazi and realize just how woefully nervous and unprepared they are, leading to one of the multiple genuine laugh-out-loud moments throughout the game.

However, they’re less convinced by the quality of the storyline of the game. They love the action and the dynamics of the game too!

Multiple additions to the combat in Wolfenstein: Youngblood makes it the most dynamic and fun in the series.

… with new abilities – like the double jump – for the powersuit and some new weapons and ammunitions. They also like how the levels have been created, as they’re more open and vertical, and should be explored in order to get some useful loot.

I loved exploring every nook and cranny of the environments that Arkane had created, not only because they were interesting and varied across the five explorable districts of Paris, but gorgeous to look at as well.

Anyway, ScreenRant is quite disappointed by their lack of life and originality:

The length of the game wouldn’t be as much of an issue if it felt as if there was a lot of content, but Wolfenstein: Youngblood wastes its potential with its small scope. The streets of Paris are small and barren, with the same selection of enemies repeating over and over again, which is also true of the numerous facilities that the players need to explore in missions. The fact that Paris is abandoned (outside of a single mission hub) leaves the game world feeling empty and lifeless.

They have also some concerns with the AI of the game, especially when the other sister is played by the AI in solo, and doesn’t revive you properly during combat. They conclude that:

There was a lot of potential in the idea for Wolfenstein: Youngblood but itfeels more like a proof of concept for something bigger than a full-fledged experience.

Here is the video review of IGN:

 

Wolfenstein: CyberPilot VR was also released the same day, and the score are worse, with a mean score of 59 % on PS4 on MetaCritic, and a pending score around 57% on PC, and even 55% on OpenCritic, this is definitely the first big failure of MachineGames.

For instance, VRFocus complains about the lack of fun and immersion when the player is high above the enemies in the cockpit of a nazi machine:

Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot has some good ideas which would be great if the developers explored them more. The storyline kept things moving along nicely and the sections in between the main levels were pleasant enough, especially for a first time VR player. Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot could’ve been so much more, yet it’s short lifespan and lack of additional content will make it a play once and forget experience.

Destructoid adds that:

That’s really the crux of Cyberpilot‘s problems, as it’s just a few hours long. There’s four main missions, with the last being by far the most promising, allowing the player to swap (on cue) between all three machines. By the time the credits rolled I was ready to do that mission over again but there isn’t much else to do. Small diversions like minigames where you have to repair the mechs before missions seem cool at first, almost like the game is building toward some epic puzzles, but never go anywhere and end up feeling like busywork.

Here is the video review of PSVR: