Review for Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot. Game for Oculus Rift (VR), PlayStation VR and Steam VR, the video game was released on 26/07/2019
Mein Kampf? No, in Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot is… Your Kampf. To paraphrase Charles Bukowki, for every Hitler there is a Joan of Arc perched on the other end of the swing. The old story of good and evil ...
A lot can be said about the Wolfenstein series, but regardless of the merits that are given to it and the failures that are saddled with it (cough, the tutorial phase of The New Order, cough), it cannot be denied that it knows how to give back to the player one of the most violently purifying sensations in the history of “active” entertainment offered by videogames: yes, we obviously refer to the Schadenfreude that one tries to riddle Nazis, soft automatism without the immediate backlash of morality.
There are many scenarios in which the MachineGames team could have "hit" out of the pot, especially in the latest iterations of the saga, but was instead able to transform a rather simple narrative plot in a revenge-story so refined in its excess that it is able to do justice even to übervillain par excellence, literally and to the sound of gunshots.
The last two chapters are no exception, and, against the background of Paris in 1980, they clearly try to take the franchise towards new and interesting horizons: if Youngblood allows us to wear the aggressive garments of the Blazkowicz twins (here our review), Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot abandons himself (and us) to the most complete destructive apotheosis, in VR.
Since the announcement at the last E3 2019 this Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot has been able to divide the audience between those who feared it was an all too predictable rail-shooter and those who were already delighted in the most honest vorfreude, already anticipating the disaster that would manifest itself on the screen.
So, to start, we want to reassure you: Cyberpilot is a fun, light-hearted, and in perennial overdrive of sounds, images and violence. In this Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot falls perfectly within the boundaries created and established by the now canonical reboot / reworking of the MachineGames guys, managing to take even a small step more.
Your alter-ego in Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot is an unnamed pilot who will find himself, from the very first moments of the game, at the center of the resistance forces against the Nazi occupation of Paris, now a faded shadow of the city it was, with its people rotting victim of the diabolical Germanic totalitarianism. Locked in a sort of chair-lift, you will move up and down along the 4 floors of an abandoned Nazi bunker which, hack after hack, will become the platform through which you can take the reins of 3 different Nazi war machines.
Before you can unleash your destructive fury, however, you will find yourself in front of a very short repair section of the war machine in question, in the first case a Punzerhund, then a Drone and, grand finale, a Zitadelle. Once you have identified the location of the behavioral memory card, all you have to do is hack it, reinsert it and voila: the beast is yours to tame…. remotely, of course, brilliant ploy to avoid our groundless death on the battlefield.
The differences in movement and attack capacity between Punzerhund, Zitadelle and Drone are immediately evident, characteristics that indirectly relegate the latter to more stealthy and circumspect activities, leaving the first two the bulk of the destructive work. We perceive the work done to uniquely define the strengths and weaknesses of each of the 3 vehicles, so much so that you will hardly find yourself preferring one to the other two, also considering that you will face a mission "by type". Only in the final the 3 Kriegsmaschinen can be used in (almost) total freedom. Yes, get ready for one adrenaline and pleasantly over the top sequence.
Getting familiar with the controls is very simple and immediate: a short tutorial before each level will introduce us to the movements and methods of attack of each of the 3 instruments of war, all made possible by 2 in-game knobs that essentially consolidate and justify the presence of the two Playstation Moves held in your hands in the real world.
Shoot, in Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, it feels as natural as jumping in Super Mario: by pressing the trigger you can unleash the attack, but there are also several essential functions placed in the structure of the chair that hosts you; if by placing the knob on the right sensor you are going to recharge the energy of your bestiality mechanics, pressing a side button (more than anything else you have to throw a punch) will instead activate a special defensive or offensive ability, depending on the vehicle on which you are traveling.
As incredibly hilarious as they are, the destructive sequences of Punzerhund and Zitadelle take a slight back seat to the more quiet but memorable stealth breaths of the levels faced with the Drone, with the corner of the eye pointed towards every corner and without the option of being able to face an enemy in a frontal attack.
MachineGames managed to create a Optimal UI, synthesis of the data essential for your survival and necessary consequence of the impossibility of filling the screen with LEDs or superimposed numbers, in full respect of the deeply analogical nature of Wolfenstein's dystopian world. Inside the cockpit, even just casually throwing your eye to one of the colored bars integrated into the metal of the casing that protects you, you will have quick access to your health level and the level of overheating of the weapon. Simplicity and functionality, in perfect harmony.
Sound and graphics are of a good standard, without rising beyond expected series standards: the melody is more dictated by explosions and flames than by notes or harmonies of any kind. A small but heartfelt applause goes to the possibility of interacting, in minimal form, with the game environments: if in one of the levels of the German base you might find yourself playing with Wolfenstein-themed action figures, on the stage of the city of Paris you can even knock down a Nazi airship with missiles.
MachineGames' title has only one major flaw: it's painfully short, and this will leave you with a deep sense of fernweh, eager to return to command of the Nazi machines of destruction and use them against them amidst explosions and burning bodies.
I virtual horizons by Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot again give us a way to metaphorically bring the authors of one of the most healed exterminations (n) you in our history, perpetrators of acts so bloody that even some officers within their own ranks are called atrocities; it seems impossible, in our semi-inability to make a shit of all the grass, but one of the loudest voices against these ignominies was even that of one of the highest able commanders who, from September 1939 to May 1940, sent several reports to the high command of the Wehrmacht, expressing his indignation and his soldiers, horrified at the actions of the SS. Johannes, this is his name, even forbade his troops to participate in this extermination, threatening them with court-martial, which made so much noise as to arouse the ire of the Führer himself, who transferred him to the Western front. He committed suicide shortly before the conclusion of his proceedings in the Nuremberg trials. Ah, before we put this little trivia in the "forgettable" drawer, we would like you to know his full name: Johannes albrecht blaskowitz. Because in the end now more than ever we must remember the adage with which this review began, or almost ... "For every Hitler, there is a Blaskowitz ready to stand up to him. "
Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot certainly does not change the rules and stylistic features of the VR landscape, but it is fun as few others have been able to do so far and it is a clear demonstration of the game design skills of the MachineGames team, regardless of the context (or limits) in which they operate. It is an absolutely memorable experience, an adrenaline-pumping adventure of a couple of hours that will leave you amazed and eager to have more.
► Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot is a FPS-type game developed by Arkane Studios Bethesda MachineGames and published by Bethesda for Oculus Rift (VR), PlayStation VR and Steam VR, the video game was released on 26/07/2019
