The poster is a frequent image in Control. Both the plethora of posters strewn across the Federal Bureau of Control’s headquarters, along with the repeated metaphor of being stuck in a cell with a poster. Later it is found that the poster of this elongated metaphor hides no deeper meaning behind it, it is simply something for your eyes to be occupied with and once it is peeled back, there’s nothing.
This microcosm of a moment serves as a good example for discussing Control as a whole, an admittedly extremely interesting game that loses its substance once it plays its hand. The story of Jesse Faden, whose role as director of the FBC is suddenly thrust upon her, is one that starts with a lot of intrigue. The people she meets are enigmatic and sterile as are the environments of the Oldest House, the building in which much of the game is set. But the resolute arc of Jesse, learning to understand her role and accepting it, never feels as poignantly delivered as the game would expect. Perhaps its due to the sheer volume of supplementary material in this world. Memos, notes, recordings, and calls are fundamental to the exploration and explanation of the weird and unique phenomena that dot the setting. While I read these with an almost religious fervor at the beginning, I found that they ruined the pace (though I might come back and give these logs a second look). That unfortunately leaves the problem that I had no real idea about the nature of anything for much of the second half of the game, in a “I don’t understand what this thing’s purpose or form is meant to be” (obviously assessing these threats are simple, you simply have to shoot it), but as someone who is supposed to be leading these people, as DIRECTOR, I never felt that same sense of confidence that Jesse grows into.
Perhaps that's rather unimportant? After all, if the only way to interact with the enemies and the world around you is to shoot at them, then perhaps the director is not someone who needs to know the ins and outs of every little detail, perhaps all they need is a steady hand and quick reflexes. Unfortunately, this is an ethos that the game itself carries itself on, especially throughout its second half. The shooting feels good and the cycling between that and Jesse’s telekinesis leads to some cool firefights. The ways in which objects can interact and destroy cover is probably some of the most detailed I have ever seen in this type of game. Despite all the unique details that Remedy has placed in its combat system, I felt that as Jesse got more and more powerful, these details became more and more superfluous. The cycling between energy and bullets means little as you increase the respective energy levels and ammo capacity. Similarly, the cover being destroyed feels very unimportant when you eventually unlock the ability to create cover wherever you are. Instead of taking the hint, Remedy feels the need to further pepper the game with combat encounters and relies on bullet sponge enemies and large waves to create any sort of meaningful challenge near the end of the game. For the duration of the first half however, it is quite fun and slowly building an arsenal of telekinetic powers was extremely satisfying ( I ran into the dodge ability completely on accident, was probably the highlight of the game and I had hoped other abilities would be dealt in a similarly loose way).
This impression comes off as more negative than I probably feel, but for one, the merits of this game have been cited over and over so I felt no need to reiterate. Secondly, as I write this, hours after finishing the game, I can’t help but be disappointed by the ending of this game, there was a real chance to salvage both the (at this point) tiring gameplay and (suddenly very cinematically presented?) story. The game flubbed on both and left me extremely disappointed. Regardless, I am willing to play the dlcs, and just spend a little bit more time in this world.
This microcosm of a moment serves as a good example for discussing Control as a whole, an admittedly extremely interesting game that loses its substance once it plays its hand. The story of Jesse Faden, whose role as director of the FBC is suddenly thrust upon her, is one that starts with a lot of intrigue. The people she meets are enigmatic and sterile as are the environments of the Oldest House, the building in which much of the game is set. But the resolute arc of Jesse, learning to understand her role and accepting it, never feels as poignantly delivered as the game would expect. Perhaps its due to the sheer volume of supplementary material in this world. Memos, notes, recordings, and calls are fundamental to the exploration and explanation of the weird and unique phenomena that dot the setting. While I read these with an almost religious fervor at the beginning, I found that they ruined the pace (though I might come back and give these logs a second look). That unfortunately leaves the problem that I had no real idea about the nature of anything for much of the second half of the game, in a “I don’t understand what this thing’s purpose or form is meant to be” (obviously assessing these threats are simple, you simply have to shoot it), but as someone who is supposed to be leading these people, as DIRECTOR, I never felt that same sense of confidence that Jesse grows into.
Perhaps that's rather unimportant? After all, if the only way to interact with the enemies and the world around you is to shoot at them, then perhaps the director is not someone who needs to know the ins and outs of every little detail, perhaps all they need is a steady hand and quick reflexes. Unfortunately, this is an ethos that the game itself carries itself on, especially throughout its second half. The shooting feels good and the cycling between that and Jesse’s telekinesis leads to some cool firefights. The ways in which objects can interact and destroy cover is probably some of the most detailed I have ever seen in this type of game. Despite all the unique details that Remedy has placed in its combat system, I felt that as Jesse got more and more powerful, these details became more and more superfluous. The cycling between energy and bullets means little as you increase the respective energy levels and ammo capacity. Similarly, the cover being destroyed feels very unimportant when you eventually unlock the ability to create cover wherever you are. Instead of taking the hint, Remedy feels the need to further pepper the game with combat encounters and relies on bullet sponge enemies and large waves to create any sort of meaningful challenge near the end of the game. For the duration of the first half however, it is quite fun and slowly building an arsenal of telekinetic powers was extremely satisfying ( I ran into the dodge ability completely on accident, was probably the highlight of the game and I had hoped other abilities would be dealt in a similarly loose way).
This impression comes off as more negative than I probably feel, but for one, the merits of this game have been cited over and over so I felt no need to reiterate. Secondly, as I write this, hours after finishing the game, I can’t help but be disappointed by the ending of this game, there was a real chance to salvage both the (at this point) tiring gameplay and (suddenly very cinematically presented?) story. The game flubbed on both and left me extremely disappointed. Regardless, I am willing to play the dlcs, and just spend a little bit more time in this world.