9 Terrible Openings That Almost Killed Great Video Games

8. Wolfenstein: The New Order

wolfenstein the new order
Machine Games

Rebooting franchises is never easy, but Wolfenstein: The New Order's need to not only reintroduce players to the narrative of this first-person shooter series but move its characters from World War 2 to an alternate history 1960s setting must have been a particularly overwhelming task for the development team.

And while the studio was able to pull off this feat in the long run, the opening of The New Order definitely suffers from not only trying to cram all of this story information down players' throats, but by focusing on set-pieces that don't reflect the title's core gameplay.

Taking its time to even give you a weapon, once the game actually lets you loose to storm a Nazi headquarters you're funnelled down trenches and forced to stealth your way through corridors in highly scripted sequences that are a far cry away from the game's otherwise player-driven approach to action.

The New Order does slowly get better after this opening, but even the levels that come directly after it suffer from holding the player's hand just a bit too much.

Advertisement
In this post: 
Fallout 3
 
Posted On: 
Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.