Remedy Entertainment has been making great games for years, classics like the Max Payne series, Alan Wake and Quantum Break. When Control was released I knew I had to play it, even before I knew much about it. I recently picked it up and could not wait to try it!
Something I tried in the last couple of years is Portuguese Custard Tarts. They are exactly what they sound like, sweet and tasty (unless you don't like custard). They are small yet so satisfying and filling. Playing Control I found myself was this the small perfect sized treat I needed?
Story
The game has you take control (no pun intended) of Jesse, a woman who has walked into the Federal Bureau of Control to find her brother Dylan. Strangely the building is oddly quiet and very quickly she goes from trespasser to Director of the Bureau! This happens all in the first fifteen minutes and it gets a lot crazier from there. The duty of the Bureau is making sure that certain powerful artifacts are kept under lock and key, sort of like the TV series Warehouse 13 but way more intense. That's all you are getting.
Overall the story is fantastic, with many twists and turns and would be very curious to see if Remedy will do a sequel or not.
Visuals
The visuals in Control are great...kind of. The world feels cold and dark and this is amplified being sent in an old building with old technology. The building is not always as seems and can shift, sometimes without warning. There is a sprinkling of art deco style visuals with some really cool supernatural backdrops. It is worth noting that I played this on the XBOX One, I found the frame rate and general refresh rate could be quite poor at times which was very jarring and pulled me out of what is generally quite an immersive world.
Overall the visuals were great but could have vastly been improved by increasing the frame and refresh rate. I am generally not overly picky about things like this but was bad enough that I had to mention it.
Music
There was no doubt at any point that I was playing a supernatural style game, especially when it came to the music. There are eerie and often unnerving tracks that helped put me on the edge of my seat. The soundtrack was composed by Finnish composer Petri Alanko (Alan Wake, Quantum Break) and Danish composer Martin Stig Anderson (Young Blood, Tomb Raider, Wolfenstein, Limbo).
There is over an hour of music, my favourite tracks included; 'counterfeit', 'portam ad inferno', 'voces ignotas', 'and soror et frater'. Overall it was a good soundtrack that helped create a creepy supernatural feel.
Gameplay
I have always enjoyed the gameplay in Remedy games but it feels like this time they really pulled out all the stops. Jesse uses a special gun that, through upgrading, can morph back and forth and you never need to collect ammunition, which is pretty handy. Each of them feels distinctly different and can be more or less effective against certain enemies. Each of them can be modded and upgraded quite easily using items you collect naturally through playing.
The weapons are good but the abilities are even better. My two favorites without a doubt were launch and levitate, they do exactly what they say on the tin. Combining these two abilities along gun variants is so much fun, there are also skill trees to help improve them further.
The enemies are varied which helps stop the game from feeling repetitive, some are a lot easier to kill than others. The difficulty never seemed unbalanced or unfair no matter what was being thrown at me.
The game map is quite large so making use of control points is key otherwise you will spend a lot of time running. The map can be a little awkward to work out at times but as a whole, it works.
There is not only the main story to focus on but a slew of side missions wish to offer a little break from the main dialogue with some great rewards.
Overall there is little to nothing to complain about in relation to the gameplay, I enjoyed myself and can see myself replaying Control in the future.
Final Thoughts
Well, after fifteen hours of playing how did I feel? Pretty damn good. The story was strong and interesting, the visuals were good but a little more of investment could have made them great. The music was exactly what it needed and the gameplay was fantastic. Overall this one gets a solid 4 out of 5
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