I finished Control last week, likely the best game to marry a creepy funhouse with a sprawling government office that you’ll ever play. I was up and down on this one for a few months. There’s a fun narrative and plenty of atmosphere, but I wasn’t always enjoying the gameplay.
I hadn’t played a Remedy game since Max Payne 2. The shift from comic book-style storytelling to something literally cinematic was a change for me, but I was still able to comfortably slip into the narrative right away. I particularly enjoyed what was going on with the meta-narrative. For example, I’d get so damn lost running around even with signs everywhere. Normally, the existence of the signs would feel like a change implemented after tester feedback, but then I would see stuff like “Janitor’s Office” and think there’s intentional thematic design at play. Constantly questioning that in various elements of the game was part of the fun.
Unfortunately, my tendency to get lost wore my patience thin eventually, and the new gameplay unlocks bored me. It was a blast at first–I haven’t had this much fun with telekinesis since Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy forever ago–and the gunplay felt solid. But then, as more of the weapon options showed up, I didn’t click with any of them and preferred chucking rocks. It’s also a great looking game at times. This is the first game where my system has been able to handle more than basic ray tracing, but I’d get a lot of blurry textures. I even had to rollback my video driver to resolve a problem with the cinematics. It’s weird to call a game where I’d get a solid 60 FPS a rough port, but I think this qualifies.
I picked up the game again last month and made some more progress until a certain late-game section completely stonewalled me. I simply didn’t have enough health (or damage output, or both) for the encounter, and the choice was to either grind for skill points/mods or start looking at difficulty options. I quickly found a switch to an “Easy” difficulty wasn’t possible but there was an Assist Mode. I started with reducing incoming damage, but after a couple more five-minute attempts I was frustrated enough to turn one-hit kills on. I couldn’t tell you the last time I did something like that to get through a game. It was either that or likely drop the game permanently (a shame being that close to the ending). Still, I’m glad I kept playing, even if I’m not entirely sure in the end Control kept its end of the bargain. I don’t think the story quite stuck the landing.
Any thoughts on Control? I seem to be down on it more than most. I imagine Remedy fans in particular got a kick out of it. Or on a game that pushed you into cheats or breaking another gameplay tradition you have?
I got it for free on Epic a year or two ago. I love everything about Control - and I can’t stand the game.
Never quite figured out why. I think part of it was the controls feeling a little too “arcadey” for me? I just don’t know. Great story that I couldn’t stay into. Great level design which I kept losing track of. Fun puzzles that got on my nerves.
I played most of the game in Assist mode because I don’t like hard action. I quickly got sick of dying. But that didn’t affect my love/hate of the game. Perhaps if it had the “magic action balance” where your’e constantly challenged but never seem to die… but perhaps not, too.
I think in part it got sorta tedius.
I haven’t played yet, and I’m worried I’ll have a similar reaction. I have had a lot of trouble getting into other popular games. For example, GTA V (finished out of spite), BioShock, Borderlands, RDR II (loved RDR1, only gave RDR II an hour, so probably deserves another shot), BotW, and several others. It seems that the more popular something is, the less I probably like it.
I do generally like popular AA and indie games though. I’ll give Control a try though, maybe it’ll surprise me.
I’m with you on RDR2. I can’t stand it. I don’t know why. Even BotW I get bored a lot. I really enjoyed Bioshock and Borderlands, though I’ve never finished either. ADHD is a hell of a thing, and only the games that should be the hardest to stick to (like JRPGS or Bethesda games) stick for me.
I’m pretty sure I don’t have ADHD, but who knows, I’ve never been tested for it. But yeah, some longer games work really well for me, and others really don’t.
RDR2, for example, just feels slower in every way vs RDR1, which is probably why I didn’t get sucked in.
Honestly, if you didn’t enjoy the first hour of RDR2, it might not be the game for you. I’m a strong believer that not every game should appeal to every player, and RDR2 really knows who it tries to sell itself to.
I’ll probably give in another couple hours. I didn’t actively dislike it, it just didn’t grip me, so it’s quite possible I didn’t get far enough for the story to really get interesting.
I had a similar problem with RDR1, but it was a bit faster pace so it didn’t take as long to get out of “tutorial island” and on to the main story line.