Este juego PODRÍA haber sido genial pero se queda a medio gas en prácticamente todo. Es como le llamó un amigo mío: Un juego pizarra. Intenta ser todo a la vez pero nada lo clava. Diseño a lo metroidvania repetitivo, cosas de shooter looter... porque sí, supongo, una ambientación paranormal desaprovechada y que sirve de capa de pintura para lo que es el 90% del tiempo un TPS más, un gameplay que a veces es frustrante y un sistema de hogueras a lo Dark Souls sin fuste.

Y sin embargo, a veces brilla en momentos como con los objetos alterados o el laberinto. Pero están entre mucha paja.

Remedy games have always had tight gunplay with some unique ideas but always faltered when it came to the level design. Games like Max Payne featured way too much repetition, mobs of enemies indiscriminately shoved into basic rooms for the length of a game. I figured Control would end up in the same situation but Remedy finally decided to focus on level design, forgoing their usual linear game design for a more Metroid like world that is filled with surprises.

The concept of Control is genius; it takes a genre I was not too familiar with, SCP fiction where a fake government agency deals with paranormal entities, and builds this detailed rich mythology that I feel could be a television show. You play as Jesse, a woman who was once the subject of an AWE, altered world event. For some unknown reason she is drawn to The Oldest House, a building in NYC that hides in plain sight and serves as the base of operation for the Federal Bureau of Control. She is a fish out of water and so is the player, the first hours will be confusing as hell as you are thrust right into this new world with no explanations. Personally I felt they could have done a better job with easing the player into the mythology, I was mostly confused and a little disinterested at first. Hours in it becomes clear and very compelling through some of the best world building I’ve seen in a game this gen. The story of the Federal Bureau of Control and their subjects gave me huge X-Files vibes with great characters and in a genius move a way to tie up all Remedy’s storylines into one shared universe.

Fast fluid combat is a staple of Remedy games ; they usually include a certain hook unique to each game, Control’s hook is telekinetic powers. Jesse is able to launch objects Jedi Knight style at enemies. With the flick of a button large objects can be hurdled at a target and later on multiple targets. This costs some energy that needs a few seconds to refill, during which you can use your specialized gun which morphs into different forms the usual pistol, shotgun, mini gun, sniper. These weapons use special ammo which also recharges after some time, combat becomes a balance between using powers and ammo, allowing one to recharge as you unload with the other. Only two weapon types can be switched on the fly which is rather limiting. You can still pause the game and switch the two presets in the menu but in the middle of a fight that’s not something most players will want to do.

On top of telekinesis Jesse can also conjure shields out of objects, can convert injured enemies into an ally, and at the mid game point get the biggest game altering skill, levitation. Once you can fly the games combat and exploration really takes off, no longer are you bound to hiding behind pillars for cover, just take flight, dodge in air, rain down debris on enemies from above. Enemies will be flying around as well creating these great ballets of distraction as office desks are being flung all over the room, energy beams are flashing, explosions all over, combat can be an absolute rush. All these skills and weapons can be upgraded as you explore and gain skill points to spend as you see fit. There are mod attachments for the weapons and Jesse that alter her offensive and defensive stats, its not as deep as an RPG but it does feel like Jesse is progressing and getting more powerful the more you look for hidden chests or complete side quests.

Control truly has something special with the combat mechanics but the encounter design is lacking which holds it back from really entering the pantheon of the greatest third person shooters. Most enemy encounters are actually randomly generated; because this is a metroid style game with lots of back and forth through a world enemies will randomly invade rooms to give the player something to do. This tells me one thing, the environments are not custom made for specific battles. Most rooms are essentially battle arenas with some verticality to create spaces where fun battles can happen but never reaches the highs of a game where the environment is tailor made for a specific combat situation. This leads to the feeling of repetition as the rooms begin to blend to together. The mix of enemies has no rhyme or reason, one time you will get some big brutes, other times annoying flying enemies, it’s all the same. Tactics don’t have to be altered, mostly fly around and launch objects while taking strategic shots to whittle down the enemy count. I found the combat to be engaging enough where I wasn’t ever bored but the game could have used more scripted action sequences and better enemy variety.

Forgoing the linear structure of most their games, Control takes on a more Metroid like design in a building with multiple floors and areas that slowly open as the game goes on. For the first six hours or so the game mostly pushes you to specific areas, with little else to do except the core missions. That changes as side quests and new challenges open up just at the right moment; this is where the game sunk its teeth in me. I like surprises, there is nothing more boring than a game where you know that no matter where you search you are simply going to find more of the same, it kills the drive for exploration. The moment a game throws a curveball at you that feeling changes, now I want to search every inch, do every side quest because I don’t know what to expect; that’s where Control excels, it has some devilishly clever side quests that gave me the surprises I desired. There are hidden puzzles and more importantly wild optional boss battles that can be completely missed. Once I got the first taste of how creative Control could be I made sure to do every quest and while they aren’t all winners the storylines tied to them all add to the already fantastic mythology and made the pursuit of them worth it. On top of well hidden secrets there are combat challenges to overcome and I love me a good challenge. Control crossed off all the ingredients needed to be a great action adventure game. When I wanted to jump back into the main quest it was easy to move right to where I wanted to be and continue. Whenever I had that itch to do my own thing there was usually a new side quest or challenge waiting for me.

I purposefully waited for the PS5 version because I knew this was a very demanding high end game. The graphics are stunning and include some of the best environmental destruction effects I have ever seen. Every thing reacts, shoot a desk and it splinters down into smaller and smaller pieces. Throw a desk in a room and watch papers and debris fill the room in spectacular fashion. I played the game mostly with ray tracing on, the lighting and reflections were some of the best I’ve seen, the lighting in particular used effectively as a gameplay mechanic as well. On underpowered consoles this game chugs but on the PS5 it was a smooth, extremely polished experience. The voice acting is mostly going for that x-files vibe of serious but not too serious, hell the best parts are when it sinks all in on the weird. There is a great performance by I believe the actor who played Alan Wake, who in this game does live action videos of a scientist you never meet in the game but the videos tell such a great story that he feels like one of the main stars. I loved everything about this story and the performances within.

Control is Remedy’s best game and it’s by a considerable amount. They have always been inventive with the combat and subject matter but never pulled it together with the level design until now. This is a big action game with over twenty hours of quality content, side stories and secrets galore. Some more care needs to be put into the combat scenarios as to not be as repetitive, that’s all that’s holding back Control from the elite in the genre. I believe Remedy has something special here with this concept, there is no reason this could not expand into movies or a tv show. Whatever the future plans are I want more of the adventures of Jesse and the FBC.

Overall Score: 8.9

Control really disappointed me. I love remedy’s other games but this just felt bloated and uninteresting. The concept of the setting is great, drawing inspiration from X files, Twin Peaks and lots of other great modern conspiracy thrillers, however it is rarely capitalised on to a sufficient extent. The game has a striking visual identity and aesthetic, yet at the same time it’s a thin veil over grey repetitive corridors and nebulous cosmic sections. In terms of gameplay the abilities are fun for a little while however they soon become repetitive and derivative as you fight wave after wave of enemies that vary very little. The shooting sucks, plain and simple. It’s floaty and doesn’t feel satisfying in the slightest. I gave up on the game midway through the Alan Wake DLC which is a good chunk in, because frankly I was bored oot ma tits. It takes a lot to make me give up on something but I just couldn’t care less about anything that was happening at that point. I really wish I loved control but I just couldn’t.

It's actually fairly challenging. I don't know if difficulty can be changed but I'm liking the controls and feel of the game more than I did before.

One thing I'm already disliking is how rewards are given in this game. You have three types of missions: main missions, side missions and timed random missions. The 1st week always give multiple talent points for leveling up and upgrade resources, the second is where you get most of your powers and the 3rd is for gathering XP and randomized weapon mods.

The randomized nature of weapon mods as a reward for these Quests or loot found in boxes leaves much to be desired since the player regularly finds mods significantly worse than what's in his inventory and the only other thing to do with them is to destroy mods for a very small amount of currency. Even the weapon mods aren't all that unique since they're mostly do 9% more damage or 7% higher fire rate. Worst of all is that in the upgrade menu of the hubs you can only buy mods through the same random process, you can't specify what you want.

I also think this game would've been a hell of a lot better if Jesse could use all her special weapon forms without having to only equip 2 in the pause menu.

So the foundation DLC is much better than the Alan wake DLC. I liked the new sticky grenade launcher far more than the mini rocket launcher.

Gameplay notes: As much as the combat controls were fun, other elements like really poor map design really scream at you. It's stupid when my biggest enemy was the layout instead of the boss.

Story: The Plot clearly has Remedy's DNA in it, with the whole AWE DLC falling back to Alan Wake's ideas, and albeit Control fulfilled a wish of taking inspiration from SCP content it was yet lacking. The hiss & the board lack depth & there were multiple missed opportunities during the main questline to serve that.

A small note is that the game has a PLETHORA of collectibles to sift through, after a while I saw that the majority of reading was flavor instead of world building, and after another while I stopped caring for it entirely. Even though I can call myself a codex freak.

The endgame gave me enough energy to try to get to the foundation DLC, but one more boring item hunt quest made me snap.

Control was not only one of the best games of 2019, but also the culmination of the writing, worldbuilding, and third-person shooter skills that Remedy had been cultivating since Max Payne. But its ambitions were too big for most of the systems it was on, which led to its embarrassing performance on anything that wasn’t a PC. Control: Ultimate Edition is the chance for the game to finally flourish on consoles that can better support its vision. And because of the power afforded to it by the PS5 and Xbox Series X, it’s finally able to live up to its potential.

Read the full review here:
https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/673225-control-ultimate-edition-review-ps5-xbox-series-x

He acabado un poco engollipado de Control, completando el juego original y sus dos DLCs seguidos. Es un juego muy interesante, no sé si a algo que salga de Remedy se le puede categorizar como sleeper, pero desde luego es uno de esos que le beneficia no tener puestas muchas expectativas encima.

Control me da y me quita, por cada momento psicotrópico de alto nivel me da diálogos pochos con animaciones acartonadas, por cada nivel y puzle bien planteado, me da un paseito farragoso en uno de los mapeados más confusos de los últimos años, por cada combate estimulante me da unos minutos looteando y mirando el menú a ver cuál de los mods aleatorios prácticamente idénticos me conviene más que los demás.

Control es inteligente y tonto al mismo tiempo, hay claramente mucho más mimo puesto en unos apartados que en otros. Lo de tener como cuatro coleccionables de lore por cada habitación random es muy chapa, y echan para atrás incluso a alguien como a mí, que soy un obsesionado de esas cosas. Y sí, lo del sistema de progresión con el looteito (aparte del árbol que está medio bien)... pues yo que sé, se queda en menos que anecdótico y no complementa como se merece sistema de combate que por lo demás está bien planteado.

Tras veinte horas he decidido que el tono de Control me gusta, pero tengo que poner bastante de mi parte para ello. Hacer la de Twin Peaks pocas veces sale bien, y les va a costar más aún si no va acompañado de unos personajes mínimamente memorables y una historia desde luego mucho menos embarullada que esta.

Control's combat is seriously fun but also flawed. Remedy has come a long way in creating a tight gameplay experience since Alan Wake and Quantum Break. My only complaint is that I hated having to rely on semi-random enemy drops in order to get a specific part needed to upgrade my weapon. Grip, Shatter, and Spin were the only forms that I found myself using and I wasn't able to upgrade Spin at all because I never could find the correct part.

I both love and hate Control's plot. I love almost every choice Remedy made in terms of style. Their choice to use live-action clips was brilliant and something I wish more games did. I also have great respect for the effort put into telling an interesting mystery. That being said, about halfway through I gave up on following the plot. I was religious on reading all the documents I picked up until I wasn't. I feel that if the story was a bit more developed and less convoluted/confusing, Control really could have been something special.

Last thought: That ashtray maze section was amazing and one of the best sections of a video game I have every played. I wish there would have been more of that.

Before diving into the world of Control, I tried to avoid reviews and comments on the game as much as possible. I knew Control had received a ton of accolades, and I was also aware of the broad strokes: a mash-up of Twin Peaks, Lost, and X-Files, wrapped around a third-person shooter/puzzler. My initial thought was, “sign me up.”

Sitting a couple hours deep, I began to feel my contrarian tendencies boiling up. The game felt sluggish to control, the visuals just felt a bit off, and I could really only describe my experience to that point as flat. Luckily, someone suggested that I switch my PS5 from the graphics mode to performance. Like a driver stepping out of an Audi A3 to get behind the wheel of an Audi RS3, I was reinvigorated. Changing to 60fps completely transformed the feel of the game. It’s the first time I’ve ever been aware of such a notable change in game-play and its effects on my enjoyment.

Refreshed and determined to see the mission through, I continued to push deeper into ‘The Oldest House’ to see whether there was actually a great game hidden hours in. By the time it was over, I could say that although it had grown on me, I was not left completely satisfied.

As you progress, you amass a wider range of powers. Each power unlocked makes the combat more varied and compelling, but unfortunately you won’t fully appreciate the mechanics of these battles until you are well into the final stretch of the game. Once the game resolves, you have finally seen the combat click into place in a satisfying way, but sadly at that point you are only left with whatever endgame and DLC you choose to explore.

As high as it may appear I am on the fighting by the end, I still wish there had been some more variety in how the various enemies were designed. After hours fighting the same 5 or 6 things, they started to blend together and feel indistinguishable. Some could fly, some could warp, but they all looked like one another. Additionally, the checkpoint system felt pretty archaic. There were a handful of times where I accomplished my main task, and accidentally died soon after. Oddly enough my death would be rewarded, the previous checkpoint so distant that I would accidentally leapfrog a portion of the challenge.

With regards to the story, there is an impressive level of ‘collectibles,’ paperwork, tapes, and the like--all contributing to the larger mood of the game. Unfortunately, if you’re like me and constantly fear that you’re missing vital story beats contained within an obscure invoice or note, you’ll get easily bogged down by the overwhelming level of detail here. Perhaps the game could have better flagged what was essential reading, or introduced some voice-over work to allow you to review the contents while continuing on with your mission. Maybe this criticism says more about me than the game itself.

The story also relies in part on various mixed media/video pieces that are both well executed and entertaining. They often lighten the mood of an otherwise dreary setting. When the game presents the story through it’s character models interacting with one another, the segments feel somewhat wooden and often pull away from any immersion the game otherwise succeeds in.

All this is to say, I suppose I was ultimately underwhelmed by Control. There were aspects that I really enjoyed, but it was clear that there was plenty of room for improvement. If you told me a sequel was on the horizon, I would be interested yet again, but I hope that they would build upon the frame of a good game they have here.