Game Review - Control

Game Review: Control by Remedy Entertainment
Score: +5/-3

After a secretive agency in New York is invaded by an otherworldly threat, you become the new Director struggling to regain Control.

From developer Remedy Entertainment, this supernatural 3rd person action-adventure will challenge you to master the combination of supernatural abilities, modifiable loadouts and reactive environments while fighting through a deep and unpredictable world.

Control is Jesse Faden’s story and her personal search for answers as she grows into the role of the Director. The world of Control has its own story, as do the allies Jesse meets along the way. Jesse works with other Bureau agents and discovers strange experiments and secrets.

I got Control as a freebie from Epic Games. Just because something is free doesn't mean it isn't any good, and Control has some really really excellent points that make it worth a look.

+ The IP / world background is superb. The lore is very well put together and even aside from the main antagonist ("the Hiss"), it is interesting and intriguing. Sort of like X-Files plus Secret World put together but much better and much more defined.

++ The story -- and the storytelling -- is also superb. You are drawn in by the mystery and given just enough at each stage to want to push forward to uncover the next bit of information.

+ The combat feels exciting. Enemies are distinct from each other by their abilities and how they move in combat. You are typically never so strong as to feel invincible but the terrain has enough space and cover that if you move intelligently you can overcome.

- Unfortunately, character and gear development is very disappointing. You need to amass a lot of resources to unlock more gear and upgrades, but what you get (especially gear) is disappointing. It's either more of the same or, in the case of the various guns, something more specialized than the basic weapon you got that often it's less useful to actually use it. Your early abilities are so good and have so much utility that the upgrades don't feel worth it, especially with the grind.

- One result of not feeling character / gear development being interesting is the game then becoming a grind. You want to progress through the story, but now all the combat that used to be exciting starts to be come repetitive and tedious. It doesn't become fresh with feeling better or different. Or it could be different except what you earned is often more limiting than what you got right from the start.

+ Replayability is built in during and after the main story with small tasks and infrequent quests. So if you actually want to continue developing your character, your gun, and keep grinding away at combat, you can at any time. Or, if you feel stuck you can try to (very slowly) grind out some better gear to help you.

- The best and most dangerous opportunity quests providing the best materials also appears quite suddenly, and while you are pursuing the story it can be irritating. They are timed and whether you pursue them or not the timer starts ticking down immediately. So whatever you are doing, it throws you out of your immersion and focus -- or you could basically forfeit the opportunity. Which is not really a necessary penalty in a single-player game.