Control

Ever since this game was announced over a year ago I've been waiting to get my hands on it, and it did not disappoint. Impossible architecture combines with mind bending physics and amazing powers as you traverse The Oldest House, a mysterious building that you won't find unless it wants to be found. This game delivers on every front, Remedy has done it once again.

Control is a great game to pick up and play in terms of giving you an hour or two of high octane enjoyment.

Combat is great, with a mixture of impactful gunplay and several "superpowers". The "Service Weapon", that can mould into several different types of gun, feels forceful. But the superpowers are the highlight. With effortless controls, Jesse can levitate, launch objects through the air, mind control enemies and create a shield of rock pulled from the floor. The graphics and sound design on all these powers are incredible.

The story is interesting, but is not told in the right way. Unless you collect all the collectibles, (files, tapes, etc.), of which there are over 200, you probably won't understand the story. Through normal gameplay and cutscenes it can become nonsensical.

The Foundation DLC was just okay but the AWE DLC was disappointing, with hardly any connection and tie in with Alan Wake whatsoever. It would've been nice to see a few different environments.

I'd definitely recommend Control from a gameplay perspective. The story and narrative could've been so much better.

Gameplay, graphics, physics, detail - this game stretches current-gen hardware as far as any effort I've seen. The environments are as pretty & polished as you could want, but they're also fully destructible - and not even in a "some objects will fall over then disappear" kind of way. Effort has been made to keep every detail looking & feeling as realistic as possible, even in the middle of all the superpowered skirmishes. This is the real centrepiece of the game - your character's powers, and how you use them for fun & fighting. Jesse Faden starts out as a normal woman drawn by some inexplicable force to The Oldest House, a shady government bureau where she procedes to obtain an arsenal of supernatural skills - allowing her to overcome the House's hazards and uncover its secrets in the most joyful, empowering & eyecatching ways. The storyline (one of pseudoscientific research & interdimensional espionage) provides a creatively grounded backdrop linking the action together, but it always felt to me as if this was a gameplay-led project; while Alan Wake had some cool & innovative gameplay, its remembered mostly for its dramatic story and themes, whereas Control feels more like a showcase of video games as a spectacle. I wouldn't be itching to tell people about the narrative, which suffers a lack of clarity at times - there's a lot going on in The Oldest House, and much of it is devoid of explanation (which is probably intentional) or an obvious point (which probably isn't). However I couldn't wait to show friends all the cool stuff you can do whenever you feel like it, and how good it always looks when you're doing it. Confronting a wretched, wailing group of interdimensionally-possessed former office-workers who have become twisted beyond human form, and defending yourself by telekinetically flinging a tray of photorealistic coffee cups at them - that's what this game is all about. And it's great.

The game has a great creepy atmosphere. but what i like most in this game is the detailed mess you can cause with your superpowers by flipping officetabels. I don't know any other game which is soo detailed.

Control is another good hit for PlayStation. It provides lots of opportunities for exploration and has a nice volume of side missions in addition to the 15+ hour story. It has just enough gun varients and abilities to keep combat fresh, but I wouldn't say the game is highly replayable. I also think it would have been good to explore the levetation ability sooner than the final act. The story starts out and continues to be very cryptic for the majority of the game, however one can gather more information by gather notes and scattered everywhere. My 2 complaints with Control are firstly, that the story can be too confusing sometimes, as this fictional "Federal Buerau of Control" building is lacking context it it's world. It uses visual storytelling much more than dialogue and it sometimes suffers by not being specific enough with things. That said I do enjoy it's surrealist style overall. Second is it's very frustrating navigation thanks to a cruddy slapped on map and lack any precice waypoint system. In a building where many areas look similar it is easy to get lost and acctualy led me to a couple angry google searches. Such a silly oversight. No other problems with is this game though. The fact that I can say even this game is better than almost every Xbox exclusive is kinda sad....