Riley Reviews
By Riley Fink
By Riley Fink
Remedy Entertainment’s Control definitely got the short end of the stick in 2019’s game releases, coming out in the middle of the year, a month after huge time sinks of games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses and the Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers expansion, and a few months before pretty popular games like The Outer Worlds and Untitled Goose Game. Although the game received pretty positive reviews when it released in Aug. 2019, the game’s poor timing and Remedy’s last two titles, Alan Wake and Quantum Break receiving very mixed reviews, led the general gaming populace to mainly forget about the title.
Jump forward to Feb. 2021, and the game has been rereleased on PC and next-gen consoles, under the name Control: Ultimate Edition, and since I got the game for free on PS5, I decided to give it a shot on a whim. To my suprise, I found an absolute gem of a third-person action shooter, with its main gameplay gimmick of telekinesis and destructible environments proving much more enjoyable than at first glance.
With the comparative failure of their last two titles, many forget that Remedy was once heralded for their work on the first two Max Payne games on the PS2, revolutionary arcadelike shooters with an engaging story told through comic book panels. Control feels like the combination of their decades of effort in the industry; the gunplay from Max Payne, the psychological thriller feel of Alan Wake, the focus on supernatural powers from Quantum Break, and Sam Lake’s great writing from each of them, all wrapped together in an extremely polished game with phenomenal acting and a vague, mysterious plot.
The game focuses on the Federal Bureau of Control, a government agency who focuses on studying interdimensional phenomena and keeping the general public unaware of its existence. You play as Jesse Faden, a normal civilian in the strange dystopian world the game takes place in, gaining powers under mysterious circumstances and tasked with defeating a possessing force known as the Hiss in the FBC’s main headquarters “The Oldest House,” while attempting to make any sense of what is going on, both as the player and as Jesse. If that sounds vague and confusing, it is. There are some interesting cinematic techniques used, especially the use of live action footage, and paired with the high quality of writing and acting, the cutscenes are still entertaining throughout, but the plot is mainly a backdrop for the otherworldly imagery and addictive gameplay loop.
The progression system of Control is similar to the genre players refer to as Metroidvania, or in English, find items and weapons that open locked areas earlier in the map, and most of the gameplay consists of combat and some simple exploration, with bosses and mission specific tasks to mix up the pace. In combat, you have a gun that reloads automatically when not in use, encouraging you to mix shooting with your melee attack and throwing objects at enemies. The telekinesis has much more interesting applications than I originally thought, stripping cover away from enemies and breaking enemy shields faster than bullets can. There are many more superpowers you unlock as the gameplay continues, but telekinesis remains the main focus, which is disappointing given that one of the later powers has much more potential than what is explored with it. This is paired with an again disappointing lack of enemy variety throughout, but both issues are pretty minor. The combat looks and sounds pretty basic, but in reality it’s deceivingly fun. Jesse goes down pretty quick early on, so some gunfights and bosses can feel pretty intense, and that feeling is really enhanced by the destructible environments, with colorful explosions, papers and various shrapnel flying everywhere, and Jesse running around shooting and throwing rubble at enemies, all running at a silky smooth 60fps on next gen systems and PC.
While the game looks simple and the story the exact opposite, Control is a criminally overlooked gem of a game and I urge everyone to give it a chance, or to retry it once next gen consoles become more readily available.
Control: Ultimate Edition is currently available on Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, with the lower performance standard edition playable on Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
Jump forward to Feb. 2021, and the game has been rereleased on PC and next-gen consoles, under the name Control: Ultimate Edition, and since I got the game for free on PS5, I decided to give it a shot on a whim. To my suprise, I found an absolute gem of a third-person action shooter, with its main gameplay gimmick of telekinesis and destructible environments proving much more enjoyable than at first glance.
With the comparative failure of their last two titles, many forget that Remedy was once heralded for their work on the first two Max Payne games on the PS2, revolutionary arcadelike shooters with an engaging story told through comic book panels. Control feels like the combination of their decades of effort in the industry; the gunplay from Max Payne, the psychological thriller feel of Alan Wake, the focus on supernatural powers from Quantum Break, and Sam Lake’s great writing from each of them, all wrapped together in an extremely polished game with phenomenal acting and a vague, mysterious plot.
The game focuses on the Federal Bureau of Control, a government agency who focuses on studying interdimensional phenomena and keeping the general public unaware of its existence. You play as Jesse Faden, a normal civilian in the strange dystopian world the game takes place in, gaining powers under mysterious circumstances and tasked with defeating a possessing force known as the Hiss in the FBC’s main headquarters “The Oldest House,” while attempting to make any sense of what is going on, both as the player and as Jesse. If that sounds vague and confusing, it is. There are some interesting cinematic techniques used, especially the use of live action footage, and paired with the high quality of writing and acting, the cutscenes are still entertaining throughout, but the plot is mainly a backdrop for the otherworldly imagery and addictive gameplay loop.
The progression system of Control is similar to the genre players refer to as Metroidvania, or in English, find items and weapons that open locked areas earlier in the map, and most of the gameplay consists of combat and some simple exploration, with bosses and mission specific tasks to mix up the pace. In combat, you have a gun that reloads automatically when not in use, encouraging you to mix shooting with your melee attack and throwing objects at enemies. The telekinesis has much more interesting applications than I originally thought, stripping cover away from enemies and breaking enemy shields faster than bullets can. There are many more superpowers you unlock as the gameplay continues, but telekinesis remains the main focus, which is disappointing given that one of the later powers has much more potential than what is explored with it. This is paired with an again disappointing lack of enemy variety throughout, but both issues are pretty minor. The combat looks and sounds pretty basic, but in reality it’s deceivingly fun. Jesse goes down pretty quick early on, so some gunfights and bosses can feel pretty intense, and that feeling is really enhanced by the destructible environments, with colorful explosions, papers and various shrapnel flying everywhere, and Jesse running around shooting and throwing rubble at enemies, all running at a silky smooth 60fps on next gen systems and PC.
While the game looks simple and the story the exact opposite, Control is a criminally overlooked gem of a game and I urge everyone to give it a chance, or to retry it once next gen consoles become more readily available.
Control: Ultimate Edition is currently available on Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, with the lower performance standard edition playable on Playstation 4 and Xbox One.