Control Review

A Tale of Two Dimensions

In a lot of ways, Control is about the struggle between good and evil or the contrast between light vs dark and there is no better analogy for the review than the actual overarching theme of the game itself. Control reaches for very high heights and in some cases achieves, but some negative aspects hold this game back from being something truly special.

Welcome to the FBC

Control feels like an episode of the X-Files or Fringe with its mind powers, secret government agencies and multi dimensional universe. It starts off on a very serious tone but by the time the credits roll, the game has experienced a few things that break the immersion. You play as Jesse Faden, a girl who has been looking for the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) her whole life and is clearly gifted beyond the universe we know. All we know is that Jesse is looking for her brother who was taken by the FBC when they were kids after an event. We don’t really find out just how our world crossed paths with these other worlds. Before anything further happens we are thrust into this world where there have been some tragic circumstances and through supernatural fate, you have become the new Director of the FBC. You are immediately tasked with keeping the FBC and the world safe from The Hiss, who are from another dimension and are trying to gain access to our world.

Considering this was someone who has spent her whole life trying to find the FBC and find her brother, she quickly puts that on the back burner to complete fairly menial tasks as part of her new role as Director. Immersion starts breaking when you are trying to play this serious game and it is asking you to complete challenges such as kill 3 snipers or use a certain gun form to kill 10 enemies. It might not have been so jarring if the challenge, or your current objective, wasn’t constantly on your screen in bright yellow. Finally, the game has a number of cut scenes that feature a mixed bag of facial animations but that’s not the major problem here. There major issue is at the end of every cutscene, the game soft freezes for around 8-10 seconds.

The House That Control Built

The main environment of Control is set in a place called the oldest house which serves as the office for the FBC. This building has the ability to transform as well as the ability to connect with other dimensions, but from the outside, it just looks like any other office building on the streets in New York.

The art design in Control is absolutely stunning. How the world evolves around you and how enemies burst into splashes of color is truly something beautiful. The only comparison I can draw, would be Christopher Nolans Inception. Even near the end of the game it features one of the best set pieces I have experienced in a while trying to traverse an old hotel.

The level design in Control has greater potential than it executes. Almost immediately you will notice that there are doors marked with security clearance levels all the way up to 6 but you are only level one. As well, there are a lot of documents you find early that have some information blacked out. This leads to the hope that this game will feature some exploration akin to Metroid or that the story will be enriched when you can fully understand and read the documents. However, repetitive environments that look similar by the end of the game and a story that doesn’t fully blossom lead you to quickly understand that this game and something like Metroid don't share any DNA

Having access to alternate dimensions, I was hoping that the level design would feel different at every chapter, but more often than not you find yourself in the oldest house with grey concrete walls. Upon closer inspection, the game does feature a lot of rough, polygonal edges, invisible walls and plenty of rendering that just can’t keep up and this really breaks the immersion.

Just Another Day Job

Very early on in the game you receive the service weapon. A weapon that will only work for the Director of the FBC but lucky for us it has bonded to Jesse and throughout the rest of the game this will be the one weapon that you use. The good news is that the weapon alters throughout the game as you find plans to construct new forms; provided you have the currency required. This sounds like a very interesting and original approach to the game, however all the forms that the service weapon takes are the typical ones you would expect to find. It starts out as a pistol and then evolves to shotgun, submachine gun, rocket launch, sniper and so on. Each form can be upgraded twice by using modifications to allow for three improvements on each form. I enjoyed this method as it allows you to experiment with each form first and then upgrade to your preference.

Although my personal combat preference wasn’t using the service weapon at all. Instead, it was using the mind power abilities. This is easily some of the best superhero gameplay out there without even having the benefit of having an actual superhero license. Every power feels unique and you upgrade them through an RPG like skill tree in whichever ways suits your style. You don’t start with any of the powers but over the course of the roughly 10-12 hour campaign you unlock new abilities. I enjoyed the way you earn new abilities but also at the same time made it a tutorial outside of the actual story without feeling like a slowdown. The abilities you unlock range from a quick teleport to a levitation, a shield and a launch to name the more popular ones. Sheild and launch are the best of the bunch by using the environment to grab concrete, boxes, or barrels to either form a shield or use as a projectile to hurl at enemies who explode into a burst of red colour. If there are no objects near you then you will grab concrete and start destructing the environments. These abilities also have a similar skill tree to the service weapon by allowing you to spend points by upgrading whichever skill you prefer.

The major issue here is that with the destruction of the environment, along with the enemies bursting into color and dropping orbs it becomes too much for the engine to handle. I am not Digital Foundry with frame rate counting but the combat areas in the game get some slowed down by everything on screen that it constantly affects how the game plays. To the point that you will most likely die due to an enemy firing at you or advancing your position before you know. By the time the engine catches up and you’ve figured it out, its too late. It’s worth mentioning that these combat scenes become a little repetitive by the time the game comes to an end with very little variation between most enemies. Strangley enough, some of the best combat sequences in the game that offer a real fun change of pace, in terms of both challenge and visuals are very easily missed side missions. I feel that these aspects of the game should have been incorporated into the main story line to make sure that everyone would experience them. Currently, based on the Playstation trophies, under 10 percent are experiencing some of the best this game has to offer.

Verdict

Although Control is most likely the best game that we have seen from Remedy up to now. The constant contrast between the good aspects of this game and the unfortunate aspects of this game ultimately hold it back from being outstanding. Similar to how the hiss and the Federal Bureau of Control are at odds with each other so are the games positive and negative qualities. If you are fan of what Remedy has done before then you will feel right at home with the creepy undertones and third person action this studio has become known for. Control is a game worth experiencing for some of the set pieces alone but too many inconsistencies leave more to be desired

Reviewed on PS4 Pro