#Pop off on jackboot jump

[joseph-plunkett]

A Lyrical breakdown of Hozier's Too Sweet

I'd rather take my whiskey neat

He likes whiskey

My coffee black

He likes black coffee

And my bed at three

He's a bit of a night owl

You're too sweet for me

She does not enjoy those things, so they do not ❌️ make a good partnership.

Woah, revolutionary! Call up the Nobel Prize committee! This man needs to go down in history for his lyrical genius on this specific song!

[no-her-o]

jackboot jump is my favourite hozier song I want to inject it into my veins there are so many amazing things about this song

as said above the jackboot, a military boot, being a metaphor for the government and the raising wave of fascists in positions of power

mentioning the different protests in Standing Rock (2016, against the Dakota Access Pipeline + other historical protests and battles), Moscow (2019, students protesting against Putin and they continue protesting still against the war in Ukraine) and Hong Kong (2019, against laws giving power to Mainland China + the umbrella revolution) this acknowledging people fighting against The Jackboot aka fascism

the fact that we only have a live version of the song and not a studio recording so that we can hear the people scream

"but the jackboot only jumps down on people standing up, so you know good things are happening when the jackboot needs to jump" and it still ends with a message of hope although people are protesting and everything seems bad and apocalyptic that that is a sign that people are taking action and that they care

people who think hozier only writes cute cottagecore love songs are missing out on a plethora of lyrically beautiful and deeply political songs, even the love songs are political

🙃 Regular reminder that while Hozier has amazing love songs, he is ALSO very outspoken about his leftist politics, specifically anti-fascism, anti-racism, reproductive rights, Palestinian rights and more.

Take Me To Church and Foreigner’s God are scathing critiques of organized religion, specifically the Catholic Church.

Moment’s Silence is about oral sex but it’s ALSO about how that specific sexual act is often distorted to a show of power rather than that of love.

Nina Cried Power is an homage to various civil rights activists from the US and Ireland and a call to follow their path.

Be specifically criticizes anti-migrant policies and Trump and his ilk.

Jackboot Jump is about the global wave of fascism.

Swan Upon Leda is about reproductive rights and the violent colonial oppression of Ireland and Palestine.

Eat Your Young is about the ruinous way the 1%/capitalism prioritizes short-term profit over everything else to the detriment of the youth/99%.

Butchered Tongue is about Irish and other indigenous languages being suppressed and erased by imperial powers.

If any of the above surprised you, please, please delve deeper into Hozier’s music, you’re missing such an important part of his work.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PRELIMINARY ROUND - DC COMICS

PROPAGANDA

Pantha

1.) Pantha was introduced in new titans #73 as one of the many experiments the wildebeest society was performing. She joined the titans basically right after being introduced.

With her personal subplot in the book having to do with figuring out who she is, both finding her past and building her future. sadly the former wasn't resolved before she left the titans and fell into obscurity (if that was the end I'd've been so happy)

until Geoff motherfucking Johns comes into the picture. In infinite crisis Superboy prime really wants to murder the current superboy. The only thing standing in the way of that are all the previous members of the titans. Pantha's the first one to jump in and within 2 panels of her showing up in the fucking event her head's been punched off. With more attention's given to how sad her murderer is about having to kill her. SBP goes on to kill 2 more titans including Pantha's son but that's not relevant to her mistreatment. and after 3 titans have been slayed it turns out that this was for nothing as Flash pops out of the speedforce and takes SBP away. later in the event Pantha's former team leader Dick Grayson calls her (along with the titans killed and maimed in the fight against SPB) ""titans no one will remember"".

And do you wanna know why Geoff Johns decided to kill of a titan of 3 years? To make the story of her boyfriend more interesting. First of all that's textbook fridging and I shouldn't need to tell you how bad that is and secondly the way he decided to make Leonid a more interesting character is to make him a depressed jackbooted militant Russian bootlicker.

After Pantha brutal fridging another writer decides to pick up her plot.

in Booster Gold #7 (yes. Booster Gold. you know that member of the JLI who's never interacted with any titans at any time before this. this'll become a theme in the short time she's here) we're introduced to an alternate timeline Pantha who's part of the freedom fighters.

when Booster asks what their deals are Pantha tries to explain why she wants to kill Maxwell Lord; a character she previously had zero connections to, before Green Arrow, Oliver fucking Queen interjects to tell her backstory for her. so not only was her backstory given to a Pantha who might have a completely different story to ours, given in a book she had zero connections to but fucking mansplained to us by a blonde bimbo who rightfully shouldn't fucking know who she is. Only to be fucking gunned down by a mind controlled Wild Dog not 11 pages later.

Her final appearance isn't much to note. her corpse is defiled and resurrected by a black lantern ring, she fights some of her old teammates (just not her boyfriend who was shown still being depressed at the start of blackest night: titans) only to be disintegrated by the original Dove coming down from the heavens to save the second one. I like Hawk and Dove but that's one final spit in the face for Pantha.

to explain why I've spent over 500 words trying to explain why Pantha's a victim of misogyny rather a character people'll know or like. Pantha's my favorite superhero of all time no ifs, ands or buts, hands down cards on the table favorite. Pantha's been dead for longer than I've been alive and every time she's brought back it isn't her and she's only there to die again.

in February 2021 a tie in to the event that went on at the time was released where superboy-prime was redeemed. SBP was redeemed before Pantha was allowed to see the panel again. And if that doesn't make your fucking blood boil then I've failed as a propagandist.

Starfire (CW: Sex Trafficking)

1.) Her original characterization was fairly decent, however it still had her stuck in relationships with men that weren't very good for her and had overtones of racism with how she was written. Post that her characterization was slowly chipped away at, some writers with harder sledgehammers than others, culminating in current writing where she's dismissed as "just a fling" to her original counterpart (Dick Grayson) to prop up a different ship (Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon) and frequently has been used as eye candy in other comics. Simply open the first comic of Red Hood and the Outlaws, which obliterated her personality to make her associate/be subservient to the Red Hood, and you'll find plenty of panels of her appearing simply for eye candy in the boobs and butt pose for absolutely no reason. This is not the only time she's been used to cater to the male gaze (I'd argue even in her original context that was part of her appeal) but in this comic she essentially has no personality beyond "i want sex" as her memory of all past events has been erased. She's essentially just a tool for her male counterparts in the comic to bounce off of, and eye candy to bring more male readers in. She does eventually get more storylines later on, but that doesn't excuse the bad writing she was put through. Her own solo series also cashes in on her sex appeal, by infantilizing at the same time as drawing her in skimpy outfits + more boobs and butt poses galore to go for the "born sexy yesterday" misogynistic trope.

2.) 2011 reboot, in RHATO she was turned into a walking fetish by retconning most parts of her character and erasing all personality displayed in the past 30 years of comics. in that iteration she is only interested in sex and is dehumanised and ‘exotic’. she ‘forgot’ all her past relationships because she doesn’t care about them only sex. her only purpose in that book is as a powerhouse and a sex/love interest for one of the male characters who view her as a trophy because she used to date someone he dislikes (in this continuity) let’s also not forget that she was first created just to be a love interest and although she did grow into a hood character at some point, she is treated horribly time and time again by writers because of conflicting ships. she’s written as a ‘vixen’ as opposed to another ‘good girl’ female character who is shipped with the same guy in canon

3.) Kory’s oversexualization and the dehumanization associated with it is especially egregious in the context of her backstory as a survivor of sexual trafficking AND her black/indigenous coding— both demographics who are at especially increased at risk for experiencing sexual abuse in real life. Especially when it’s done in service of the narrative of a white man (Jason Todd) and in parallel with the similar character assassination of a Navajo man (Roy Harper). It’s so fucking bad, free my girl.

[sharkinlovewithadolphin]

tag 9 people to learn more about their interests!

tagged by @sofiawylics - thank you! <3

MUSIC

fave genre? i don’t have any, but i usually do prefer pop

fave artist? Hayley Kiyoko, Hozier, Bleachers, the 1975s, Måneskin, Lil Nas X, Years & Years, Greyson Chance, and many, many more. fave song? none

most listened song recently? uhhh idk

song currently stuck in your head? “i ate you up the day we first spoke/love bites so deep, we got tiger teeth” (Walk The Moon - Tiger Teeth)

5 fave lyrics? The first that came to mind were: 1) “Like context in a modern debate, I just took it out.“ + “And I was 25 and afraid to go outside; A millennial that baby-boomers like.“ (The 1975 - Give Yourself A Try) 2) “We didn't start the fire; No, we didn't light it; But we tried to fight it.” (Billy Joel - We Didn’t Start The Fire) 3) “When my time comes; Forget the wrong that I've done; Help me leave behind some; Reasons to be missed.” (Linkin Park - Leave Out All The Rest) 4) “Because you cut me wide open; Left teardrops on all my white roses.” (Greyson Chance - White Roses) 5) “Remember me, love, when I'm reborn; As a shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn.“ (Hozier - Shrike) + “[...] So you know good things are happening; When the jackboot needs to jump.” (Hozier - Jackboot Jump)

radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or silent volume I slow or fast songs | music video or lyrics video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on

BOOKS 

fav book genre? YA, apocalypse vibes and fantasy

fav writer? Benjamin Alire Saenz 

fav book? Ari and Dante, TPOBAW, Dead Poets Society

fav book series? Simonverse (Simon vs + Leah on The Offbeat)

comfort book? Ari and Dante

perfect book to read on a rainy day? hmmmm. idk

fave characters? hmmm... *suddenly forgets every character* let’s go  with: Seth and Alice (Twilight), Dante (Ari and Dante), Nile (TOG comics)

5 quotes from your fave book that you know by heart? 1) “The summer sun was not meant for boys like me. Boys like me belonged to the rain.” (Ari and Dante) + "I love swimming and you." [...] “Swimming and you, Ari. Those are the things I love the most.” (Ari and Dante) ((gives me mad RH vibes)) 2) “We accept the love we think we deserve.” (TPOBAW) 3) “[...] That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” (Dead Poets Society)   4) “I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.” (The Song of Achilles)   5) “Someone will remember us I say; Even in another time.” (If Not, Winter)

hardcover or paperback | buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | reading at night or during the day | reading at home or in nature | listening to music while reading or reading in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first | reliable or unreliable narrator | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVS | judging by the covers or by the summary | rereading or reading just once

TV AND MOVIES (I won’t be counting anime and general animation into this, otherwise it would be far too long)

fave tv/movie genre? none

fave movie? The Old Guard, Deadpool 2, Love Simon, Venom, The Way He Looks, Fear Street, etc.

comfort movie? The Old Guard, Twilight, The Half Of It, DP 2, MIB, Detective Pikachu, etc.

movie you watch every year? Twilight, DP2, Venom, Mean Girls, The Grinch, Home Alone, etc.

fave tv show? uuuuuhhh right now it’s Andi Mack, Hannibal, Killing Eve, JATP, Gentleman Jack, Haunting of Bly Manor, Young Royals, etc.

comfort tv show? Andi Mack, JATP, Atypical

most rewatched tv show? I have no idea, but the quickest show I ever rewatched was JATP, which I rewatched the next day after finishing the last EP lol, and the recent one I rewatched was Young Royals  

ultimate otp? Tyrus and Joe x Nicky of these, i think

5 fave characters? Deadpool/Wade Wilson, Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Bella Swan, Cyrus Goodman, Casey Gardner

tv shows or movie | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or binging | one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | downloads or watches online Tagging: @dandelionmeadow @nenufair @hamykia @alona-marinelli @died-by-the-scimitar @elena-of-time @mehawiyu @milkymickeyway @spacewitchqueen

[killorbekillian]

@herrstirn tagged me to share 10 songs i’ve been listening to and then tag 10 people or however many people I want. I put this off because I pretty much make playlists with hundreds of songs and just hit shuffle, and that’s how I usually listen to music, BUT when someone actually asks me to talk about music, I’m gonna fuckin do it. so here we go!!

Jackboot Jump - Hozier

This song was stuck in my head this morning so I listened to it like 3x in a row

Up The Cuts - Against Me!

I only have the most recent two albums by AM! so I added a couple more to my spotify playlist ahead of seeing them. This is one of the ones that stuck out AND they played it at the show and I was like yes! I know this! I mean, I knew most of them, but this is one I started listening to recently.

INRIhab - Every Time I Die

I was going to say “map change” first, but after seeing these guys I just put The Big Dirty in my car’s CD player and listened to it straight through a couple times while running errands. This is one of my favorites off the album. At the show they were given an “ambassador” award from the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, and they talked about how Buffalo might seem like the city that loses everything from its economy to the superbowl, but it’s not about what you lose, it’s the fight to get it back. And then they played INRIhab.

The Blues Havin’ Blues - The Damned Things

Really I have been listening to both Damned Things albums, but this is one of my favorites. And I met half the band, did I mention that enough yet?

Bitch - Muddle

This is a local band. I saw them play again a couple nights ago. This song goes hard as fuck. There were like 20 people in the venue but I really thought a pit was going to open up. It was introduced as being “about when someone says you’re being a bitch and you’re definitely not.” 

Punks - Belaganas

idk it just gets stuck in my head a lot. 

Moto-Pop - Frank Iero and the Future Violents 

Been trying to figure out how to play this on drums

House of Wolves - My Chemical Romance

I’ve been listening to a lot of MCR since they came back. Not that I ever stopped, but just like... more? I’m actually listening to “thank you for the venom” right now, bc my music is on shuffle. But after the news broke that they were playing a show together again, I was listening to The Black Parade thru headphones while grocery shopping and I nearly went feral when this came one. Gerard Way said to let the spirit come on through ya and I nearly did.

Why? - The Homeless Gospel Choir

I saw this dude a couple times this year. Always a good show, always cool to talk to at the merch table. But he would always play this song and it wasn’t on any of the albums I had, so I went and scoured and found a live recording on his spotify.

Kill the Boy Band - She/Her/hers

I was telling my friend a couple days ago how this song makes me want to write something in between Jennifer’s Body and Green Room. (But apparently there is already a book by this name.) Plus just the fucking verse “So you started a band / Let me guess who’s in it / All straight, all white, able-bodied cis men / You say you don’t know many female musicians / Well why the fuck would they want to be a part of a scene with / People like you in it? / If you’re gonna start another all male punk band / You might as well play country”

okay i’m gonna tag @spook-queen @haleyocentrism @curbstompfetish @talkingtotheapples @sabcatt and anyone else who wants to do it, just say I tagged you.Having to pick 10 songs is hard enough I don’t want to have to pick 10 people. 

[therealsconeshady]

This is It

"The city's on fire." Marcus murmured across the cramped apartment, half-hidden in the shade, a crack of light illuminating a single eye. "What?" Bruce glanced up from his paper over the smoky room, the incredulous expression turning over a pretty clear indicator that he wasn't sure he heard that right. "The city's on fire." Marcus reiterated, louder, still staring, not moving an inch. "That's what I thought I heard. What do you mean the city's on fire?" Narrowed eyes and a quiet huff, paper down, the clearest indicator Bruce could think to give that he's paying attention. The gesture goes unnoticed by Marcus, he's still staring out the window. A louder huff follows to get that point across. Breaking off finally, Marcus locks onto Bruce's eyes, "You know the city? The city we live in? City Seventeen? It's on fire." The sass put forward doesn't match the flat face of exhaustion, or the deathly-serious glare, and his eyes go right back to the window. Sarcasm drips from Bruce's lips in turn, "Oh right. Thanks. You didn't say that before." Tipping forward, pushing up, stubbing out his cigar and discarding his paper for later. "Okay, but it's still on fire." "I heard you before, what do you mean it's on fire? How bad?" There was a little pause from Marcus, his eyes tracking something in the street. A muffled pop follows before he goes on, "Not small stuff this time, it's all on fire. This wasn't planned for, or expected. Something's different, something big is happening. Looks like everyone is jumping on the opportunity." "Something big?" Bruce rolled his stiffened shoulders, slipping through the room. That's about when the sirens started, the building shaking with each blare. More muffled pops, gunfire. Even a few blasts for good measure, far too close for any comfort. "Oh," Bruce ran a hand across his jaw, "Something big..." Moving over to peek out with Marcus he saw the scene outside. Smoke and fire was an accurate assessment. He'd neglected to mention the rapid mobilisation of jackboots down every street and alley, and the fair few flooding into this very apartment block. "They're trying to contain it, looks like, whatever the hell this is. Rounding us all up." A short nod, staring down to a pair of units pointing up to their window, "This is bad." Marcus observed, holding a revolver out to Bruce, "We aren't getting out of here." Taken loosely in his grasp Bruce turns down a nod, "You think this is It?" "This is It." It's their turn already. Three thumps on the door. "Civil Protection! Open up!" Chest tight, a heavy lump in his throat, and just his heartbeat in his eardrums. Bruce paces over, swallowing hard, thumb cocking back the action and raising it steady to the door. This is exactly what the last twelve years was for "Yeah, sure. Let me get that for you!" His voice is just a foggy echo in the back of his head. This is It.

[jamesvanriemsdyk]

11 and 18 for the asks please and thank you

YES THANK YOU

11. what unusual talent do you have?

so i can like. kill bugs in midair? it is gross but im very good at it

18. rant about your favorite musician

andrew john hozier-byrne is just so fucking talented it makes me cry. his fucking VOICE? HIS SONG WRITING? literally i will weep if i talk about this for too long but hes just SO FUCKING GOOD. i was feeling weird the other day and realized it was literally because i hadnt put my hozier playlist on shuffle in a while. like that was literally why i felt so fucking weird, because i hadnt listened to this beautiful man's beautiful voice in too long. like. the icon really jumped out. all of wasteland baby! is just bop after bop after bop. nina cried power? iconic! also, listen to jackboot jump bc all the royalties he gets from that are donated directly to a civil rights group (i forget which one im really sorry) AND the way he popped off on twitter the other day? KING. SHIT.

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Review

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/wolfenstein-youngblood-review/

Wolfenstein: Youngblood Review

Most parents hope that their kids will one day surpass them, but failing that we’ll settle for staying out of prison and not asking for money too often. So if I were in the shoes of legendary run-and-gun shooter protagonist William “BJ” Blazkowicz, I wouldn’t be mad about my twin daughters’ debut performance in Wolfenstein: Youngblood

, but I would be disappointed. The young Blazkowiczs’ approach to co-op is, on the whole, serviceable but does cramp the style of its inherited trust fund of combat and stealth gameplay. Without a similarly outlandish cast of characters to liven up the alternate-history setting in which Nazis won WWII with the help of fire-breathing robot dogs, it’s perfunctory compared to the extremely high standard set by Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus.Nearly everything about Youngblood feels like a step down from Wolfenstein 2’s distinctively zany plot and satisfyingly energetic Nazi-slaughter action. Outside of a single reveal, this story – the daughters’ search for an MIA BJ in Paris, which is still lousy with Nazis about 20 years later – has nothing surprising up its sleeve to add to the Machinegames Wolfenstein reboot series’ collection of WTF moments. That’s partially due to the minimal number of story cutscenes within the main missions, but really it’s because of a stark lack of interesting characters to fill the shoes of batshit insane companions like Super Spesh or Set, to name a few. Abby, the daughter of Wolfenstein 2’s Grace Walker, is about as bland a hacker helper character as you’ll ever find, and the monotonously cackling villain isn’t fit to shine Irene Engle’s jackboots. Admittedly, Wolfenstein 2 is a tough act to follow in those departments, but Youngblood barely seems to try.

BJ himself is among the weaker characters in the previous two games (aside from those flashbacks to his childhood), and in that respect his apples haven’t fallen far from the tree. Soph and Jess’ defining character trait is being snort-laughing dorks together, who would be at least a little adorable except for their constant use of fist-bumping and horrible ‘80s slang (read: “tubular!”) like gender-swapped frat bros. They’re not unlikeable when they’re chatting about memories of hunting with their dad or novelist aspirations in heavy Texan accents, but they’re not exactly breakout stars I want to see more of, either. They’re… fine.

The sisters, who have identical abilities thanks to their power armor suits, start with at least a few of the key moves BJ has to work for in Wolfenstein 2 – most notably the double-jump – and earn plenty of upgrades from there. To Youngblood’s credit, there are too many upgrades to get them all without playing exhaustively, so specialization does matter, though not to the extent where I see opportunities for a lot of synergy between abilities. You can focus on buffing up your health and armor maximums, intensify your melee damage, gain the ability to pick up and upgrade heavy weapons, and more. We also get pretty much all the same arsenal of pistols, shotguns, SMGs, rifles, etc. that the twins’ father wielded two decades earlier (though annoyingly, only pistols can be dual-wielded), and they can all be upgraded with modifiers like muzzles, sights, and stocks that increase their power as you go. It’s the most visible representation of progression because those changes are reflected on the gun models you’re holding. Seeing the stock SMG become a tricked-out version is a satisfying transformation.

The Blazkowicz twins aren’t exactly breakout stars I want to see more of. They’re… fine.

“

But the addition of a leveling system for both the girls and the Nazis they fight doesn’t do the combat any favors. For one thing, as a veteran of the first two games in this series it was jarring to see a name and number pop up over the head of an enemy when I aimed at them to indicate how their power level compared to mine. More importantly, it messed up the balance of about two thirds of the fights: when you’re going up against techno-fascists who are right at your level, combat feels just about how it should, but enemies that are beneath your level are mere fodder and those above are annoying bullet sponges that reward you with only a little more XP. When you’re dealing with heavily armored super-soldiers, that’s not much fun.

This leveling system clashes with Wolfenstein’s design: unlike in Fallout or Borderlands, there’s no loot to make the potential reward worth the risk of taking on a bad guy several levels out of your league. Seeing one just means you should turn around and come back later, and defeats the purpose of the non-linear structure of Youngblood’s missions. Sure, I can travel to zones in any order I want, but if they have a big burly bouncer at the door they can’t exactly be done in whatever order I choose anyway.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Those zones are adequate but similarly pale shadows of what’s come before. The best example is seeing vestiges of a parade that immediately reminded me of Wolfenstein 2’s Nazi parade scene in New Mexico – which has to be a deliberate callback – but without any of the liveliness. Beyond that it’s largely a collection of high-tech Nazi facilities and war-torn city blocks, distinguished mostly by good use of multi-story structures to double-jump around on and the lightest of Metroidvania design touches, asking you to use one of the three heavy weapons – a laser, an electric zapper, and a sticky grenade launcher – to blast open new areas.

No Quiet on the Western Front

Of course, shooting Nazis until their faces fall off is only two thirds of the magic of Wolfenstein’s previous success. The other is stabbing them repeatedly, occasionally while cupping a hand over their mouth and whispering “Ssssh, it’ll be over soon, you goose-stepping douche” into their ear – then doing the same to about a dozen of their friends before you get around to the shooting part. Naturally, Youngblood messes this up, too. Its level and enemy layouts simply aren’t designed with stealth in mind, and attempting to play it in the way I’d had success with previously almost always went poorly. Either you’re spotted by a flying drone or there’s no way to separate and pick off a group of enemies, forcing you into noisy combat.

Instead, you’re supposed to use the blatant design Band-Aid of the cloaking device, an ability so essential it’s one of two you choose from when initially creating a character (and quickly unlockable if you choose the Crash ramming ability instead). Even before you upgrade it to last longer and let you move faster, it lets you walk right up to an economically anxious German, step around him, and stealthily ventilate his spleen. It feels like a cheat, probably because it absolutely is a cheat. The designers cheated not only the game, but themselves. They didn’t grow. They didn’t improve. They took a shortcut and gained nothing. They experienced a hollow victory. Nothing was risked and nothing was gained.

The cloaking device feels like a cheat, probably because it absolutely is a cheat.

“

Co-op does get a fair amount right. From the start, it’s conveniently and seamlessly drop-in and drop-out because your sister is always with you, controlled by either a friend, an internet rando via quickmatch, or a mostly competent (because it cheats and warps around bigtime) AI when you’re playing solo. Youngblood also does a good job of letting you play with anybody you want regardless of your respective levels – when I was level 25 someone joined me with a brand-new character and was able to hold his own, just with fewer abilities unlocked. His character even got to carry their progress back to single-player, which is always appreciated. That said, I had more than once incident where my co-op partner would experience an annoying lag between when they pulled the trigger and when the enemy they shot would actually take damage – and this even happened on a LAN, so it’s unlikely to be connection-related.

The co-op-first nature of Youngblood’s design does take its toll on the single-player experience, as you’d expect. The first problem I noticed was that you can’t pause, even while playing by yourself. You can go to the menu screen, yes, but then you just get to listen as the Nazis and their suicide-bomber dogs (yes, those are a thing) murder you. Also, every level has annoyingly common doors that require both players to heave them open, no doubt intended to keep you from wandering too far from your partner.

But whether you play with a buddy or solo, death is a lot harder to come by in Youngblood than in previous Wolfensteins because, as is standard in the co-op shooter world, it has a down-but-not-out system where you can revive each other endlessly, as long as you get to the injured person within about a minute. This one is actually unusually generous, because even if you’re both downed you have a pool of up to three “shared lives” that let one of you self-revive to get back on your feet before it’s game over.

Once that generous system runs out, however, the consequences of death can be, as they say in Germany, uber stupid. For example, the final battle in the Brother 2 Tower mission (there are three of these that make up the bulk of the 15-ish hours of story) killed me several times – thanks for nothing, AI-controlled Jess. Each time, it booted me so far back that it took me about 15 minutes just to get back to the boss fight, including battling through or sprinting past several miniboss mechs and running through the longest jumping puzzle section in the entire campaign. Just as bad, Youngblood restarts you at the nearest checkpoint with the amount of ammo you died with, not what you had when you first reached it. And if you didn’t go down without a fight, that usually means your good stuff is depleted. That makes you spend a bunch of extra time scrounging for ammo, and it’s actually worse when the checkpoint starts you right in the thick of the action effectively unarmed – as it does in the tedious final boss battle.

There’s plenty to do in Youngblood beyond the story missions, including dynamic “actions” that pop up and invite you to plant bombs or listening devices or straight-up murder some dudes “when you have a moment” en route to your larger objective, and tons of side missions you can take on by talking to a handful of completely forgettable characters idoly standing around the hub area. That’s arguably the meat of Youngblood and could carry you forward for another dozen or so hours of cathartic, justifiable homicide, but frankly I’d rather spend that time replaying The New Order and The New Colossus.

Source : IGN