Wolfenstein: Youngblood is out now for PC and will soon release on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch on July 26th, 2019. However, reviews have hit the scene from eager gamers and fans alike to see what the FPS title has in store for Wolfenstein goers, only to find noteworthy issues.
Firstly, if you are looking for the same gameplay setup that Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus brought in 2017, then you will be disappointed to know that Youngblood strays from that formula and opts for a more looter-shooter mission structure. Think of Destiny or recent FPS triple-A RPGs.
The idea of this nu-RPG layout paves the way to player re-engagement with any title it’s associated with, leading to the likelihood of player spending or any other psychological games. According to I AKU!, a Steam user, the basic structure of Youngblood is explained:
“After three great games Bethesda bungled up Wolfenstein for this one by turning Youngblood into something Wolfenstein is not, a loot shooter-esque FPS where all the enemies have health bars. RPG elements in non AAA RPGs is becoming an annoying problem as of late for multiple reasons, two major ones being they unnecessarily pad the game and they make combat more of a slog because most of the time you’ll be chipping numbers away instead of feeling you’re actually attacking enemies. This is what killed Assassin’s Creed for me for good and this is the same problem Youngblood has. The RPG mechanics make stealth pretty much useless because you’re not guaranteed instant kill headshots too.”
A.I. is something that’s not worth writing home about in that it’s on par with Dean Takahashi trying to make short work of Cuphead’s tutorial. In other words, it’s not great as explained by a Steam user named Johhny Silverhand:
“Forcing co-op is ridiculous, the companion AI and the enemies AI is disaster, microtransactions ? In a ♥♥♥♥♥ single player game ? the story is boring so far, like you are watching a spy kids movie, and it’s terrible.”
Sharing the same sentiment as the above individual, a Reddit user by the name of LeChuck_ppat offers some light on the situation of the A.I. and how things in Youngblood can cause a headache:
“Ok, so i just completed my first mission and heres what ive experienced so far:
– AI is often nonresponsive
– Ai will often take very long to revive you
– Ai will not revive you at all many times
– Most of the time the Ai will already be injured/down before you so noone will revive you
– Reviving the AI is a huge pain and the 1. reason for your own death: Its mapped to the reload button, so if you misclick the very tiny hitbox to get the revive prompt you will reload your gun while your AI dies.
– If your Ai dies, so do you
– On many occasions I was able to watch the AI and other enemies simply stand there and stare at each other while I was down
… also i had to fight the boss of the first mission on the easiest setting possible due to the AI keeping me busy most of the time and then at some point the boss will just bug out and not become visible anymore so have fun searching the whole area with your gunshots. the boss was a HUGE bulletsponge even on easy.”
On the same thread as of LeChuck_ppat, Reddit user WildRoeDeer expresses the same frustration, except goes further than the OP of the post by bringing another issue into the light:
“I’ve been having very similar issues so far. Looks like the developers are expecting more people to play it in coop with another human so prioritised that aspect over solo play, but this all still stinks of a lack of polish which worries me.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the button to tag enemies is L1 (PS4), which is what you hold down to lean around corners. This means the only way to tag enemies is to walk around cover so you’re staring directly at the enemy, which usually causes them to see you and investigate. It’s unfair and definitely down to there being literally no buttons left on the controller to suitably map it to, which is super frustrating. It also gives me the impression that Wolfenstein probably shouldn’t be a multiplayer game.”
A Steam user by the name ACuteSadKitten explains how the A.I. is useless and how the story seems disconnected while the quality of the game is cut and stuffed with microtransactions:
“I can’t believe how bad they made it. I just die constantly now and the AI is useless. Also the story seems disconnected one moment BJ is there next moment we’re in France looking for him like what? I loved wolfenstein but I guess I don’t anymore. RIP another game cut in quality and stuffed with microtransactions.”
Now, I know you are about to say, “Ethan, you are just being hyperbolic and finding people that share the same sentiment as you, because you hate this game.” Fine, don’t take it from me or the aforesaid cases. Take it from a mainstream “games journalist” that happens to express the above:
So there you have it, Youngblood has A.I. that’s not the sharpest in the shed, microtransactions, unpolished features, and gameplay that plays out like a Destiny RPG looter-shooter-thing.
