During E3 2019 we had the opportunity to take a closer look Wolfenstein: Youngblood, temporal sequel to Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, which however puts us in the shoes of BJ Blazkowicz's daughters. We played the game for about an hour in co-op mode with another reporter, with whom we communicated often to be able to complete our missions.
As already mentioned, in Wolfenstein: Youngblood we will play the role of Jess and Soph, daughters of BJ which from an early age have been trained to be ready for combat. The first ten minutes of the demo showed us a cut-scene regarding this training where Jess and Soph are trained by mom and dad to fight and use weapons.
After the training of the two girls we learn the facts that we will have to face in Wolfenstein: Youngblood. We are in Paris, in 1980, about 20 years after the events of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and we are looking for our father, who was kidnapped during a mission against the Nazis in Paris. The choice of the sister to use also allows us to make a slight customization, based on the choice of the helmet, the color of the armor, the throwing weapon and some emotes that we can carry out at will.
Once the character has been created and the cut-scene completed, we finally get into action with our playmate. We are introduced to the standard mechanics of the game through a tutorial, which does not differ much from what we have seen in previous chapters. The only significant change is the possibility to double jump, which allows us to overcome certain obstacles and complete certain environmental paths, while the rest of the gameplay remains unchanged, always very fast and super dynamic.
We will have the classic available weapon wheel, which will allow us to choose the one that best suits the situation we are facing, in fact there will be some more or less useful weapons on some enemies, which now in addition to the life bar also show the level of a shield that must be destroyed in order to damage and therefore kill the various enemies. Each weapon can then be upgraded with gods modifiers, which will allow us, by spending silver coins, to improve the viewfinder, the charger and many other parameters. There is also a system of leveling of the character himself, which at each level will acquire points to spend in a skill tree composed of three macro categories: strength, energy and mind.
But the real novelty of Wolfenstein: Youngblood is there cooperation with our sister, a character that can be managed by an AI or by a friend of ours. The speech of the co-op, however, will not only concern the speech of killing the enemies, but will push the players to have perfect coordination due to, for example, some environmental puzzles. To open some doors, boxes or more simply to unlock the code of a door, cooperation between the two characters will be necessary, it will not be possible to continue beyond certain areas of the story without the other companion, who will be indispensable for example to open a door that is too heavy.
In the demo we tested we also faced a boss fight, which allowed us to evaluate the co-op component also in this juncture. Distracting the boss while his sister hits him with a heavy rifle, or cleaning up minor enemies to allow our partner to recover life are just some of the co-op aspects that you can experience in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, which seems to promise an even more experience. crazy and funny.
From a technical point of view we are always on the same level as the previous chapter, which as far as we are concerned is very pleasant, both from the graphic point of view and the fluidity of the action, a fundamental aspect in such a fast title. The audio sector is also of a level, both in terms of the cut scenes and the scenes played, where the environmental effects and the feed of the shots are excellent, as the Wolfenstein series has always accustomed us to.
In short, Wolfenstein: Youngblood is presented as a valid sequel / spin-off that introduces two of us characters and allows you to play the whole game in co-op or in single with the AI. As for the gameplay obviously everything works, it takes up what was introduced with Wolfenstein II: The New Order and improves it with the introduction of some new mechanics and above all better management of skills and weapon upgrades.
► Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a Shooter type game developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Google Stadia, the video game was released on 26/07/2019
Version for Google Stadia from 19/11/2019
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a beautiful game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 83%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Wolfenstein Review: Youngblood
