Control is a sort of big-budget take on an SCP game and has a few gameplay and story hooks just interesting enough to keep you going until the game abruptly ends.
The storytelling of Control is unconventional, and the tone of the world successfully sells itself, but I find it leaves a good chunk to be desired in substance - While some threats are totally alien or horrific, the vast majority of enemies are "Guy with gun, but red", and doesn't quite live up to what I would expect from a secret bureau that attempts to find and contain paranormal beings or objects that bend reality.
This is mostly fine, because the gameplay and powers of Control are quite satisfying to master and chain together combos with, provided the opportunity. Once again however, I find myself wishing that Control pushed this aspect of the game more extremely, as there often isn't much preventing me from sitting at the end of any given room taking potshots at enemies for the entire encounter. I know the fun is there to be had, but in a way I have to force myself to go out and have it by experimenting with different powers and weapons when there is seldom an incentive to. In that sense, the combat can feel dull or even dumb, which is a letdown.
The animations are just-Good. Not bad, but nothing groundbreaking. Visually where Control excels is in a solid art direction and an immersive-but-not-overbearing utilization of ray tracing technology. Control is a fun game, but even if it wasn't, it would be an excellent tech demo.
The game's story just sort of ends and feels incomplete, as if to say "Buy the DLC to see what happens next!", so in a similar fashion, I'm gonna end the review here without any sort of conclusion of substance.
The storytelling of Control is unconventional, and the tone of the world successfully sells itself, but I find it leaves a good chunk to be desired in substance - While some threats are totally alien or horrific, the vast majority of enemies are "Guy with gun, but red", and doesn't quite live up to what I would expect from a secret bureau that attempts to find and contain paranormal beings or objects that bend reality.
This is mostly fine, because the gameplay and powers of Control are quite satisfying to master and chain together combos with, provided the opportunity. Once again however, I find myself wishing that Control pushed this aspect of the game more extremely, as there often isn't much preventing me from sitting at the end of any given room taking potshots at enemies for the entire encounter. I know the fun is there to be had, but in a way I have to force myself to go out and have it by experimenting with different powers and weapons when there is seldom an incentive to. In that sense, the combat can feel dull or even dumb, which is a letdown.
The animations are just-Good. Not bad, but nothing groundbreaking. Visually where Control excels is in a solid art direction and an immersive-but-not-overbearing utilization of ray tracing technology. Control is a fun game, but even if it wasn't, it would be an excellent tech demo.
The game's story just sort of ends and feels incomplete, as if to say "Buy the DLC to see what happens next!", so in a similar fashion, I'm gonna end the review here without any sort of conclusion of substance.