Top 50 Favorites: #41
Base game:
Strong contender for most fluid, straight-up best combat in all of gaming. There are a lot of things to love about this one: Remedy's dependably batshit narrative, its sleek environmental mix of corporate and supernatural, the tremendous graphical prowess on display, etc. But I've always found it pleasantly productive that a game literally named Control has some of the most snappy and responsive controls in any game - and the fighting in particular is just leagues ahead of the rest, not only is the moveset/upgrading therein concise and effective but it just feels right, man. Like all of the history of video gaming - its evolutions, ideas, and all that - has led up to this particular combat system, as if I've been unknowingly waiting for it this entire time. The speed in which you can swap directly from beaming a telekinetic array of office supplies at an enemy's face to blasting a paranormal shotgun that auto-reloads ammo to just downright rocking some dude's shit with some ground-shattering melee attack is just... goddamn, it's bliss. Like, actual perfection. I see it as only a bonus that the rest of the game surrounding it is pretty cool, too. Severely underrated even by its endorsers imo.
The Foundation:
Drop-dead gorgeous colors, perfectly fair amount of content for the price, further intrigue about a key character from the base game, psychedelic platforming, a rad new environment, and more of - like - some of the finest combat video games as a medium have to offer. Just straight-up quality all around - has the exact off-kilter energy you would want out of this IP.
AWE:
Just as rock-solid as the other Control expansion, but twenty times as deliciously trippy. The way this seamlessly blends two different game series into an awesome mindfuck love letter to both of them should forever be remembered - never feels forced and never reaches for cheap fan service, everything here feels 100% totally authentic. Gives away so much while actually revealing so little, mesmerizing. And like the base in addition to its aforementioned other DLC, there's sleek graphical fidelity and a pitch-perfect combat system to boot. Needs to be required playing before Alan Wake 2
Base game:
Strong contender for most fluid, straight-up best combat in all of gaming. There are a lot of things to love about this one: Remedy's dependably batshit narrative, its sleek environmental mix of corporate and supernatural, the tremendous graphical prowess on display, etc. But I've always found it pleasantly productive that a game literally named Control has some of the most snappy and responsive controls in any game - and the fighting in particular is just leagues ahead of the rest, not only is the moveset/upgrading therein concise and effective but it just feels right, man. Like all of the history of video gaming - its evolutions, ideas, and all that - has led up to this particular combat system, as if I've been unknowingly waiting for it this entire time. The speed in which you can swap directly from beaming a telekinetic array of office supplies at an enemy's face to blasting a paranormal shotgun that auto-reloads ammo to just downright rocking some dude's shit with some ground-shattering melee attack is just... goddamn, it's bliss. Like, actual perfection. I see it as only a bonus that the rest of the game surrounding it is pretty cool, too. Severely underrated even by its endorsers imo.
The Foundation:
Drop-dead gorgeous colors, perfectly fair amount of content for the price, further intrigue about a key character from the base game, psychedelic platforming, a rad new environment, and more of - like - some of the finest combat video games as a medium have to offer. Just straight-up quality all around - has the exact off-kilter energy you would want out of this IP.
AWE:
Just as rock-solid as the other Control expansion, but twenty times as deliciously trippy. The way this seamlessly blends two different game series into an awesome mindfuck love letter to both of them should forever be remembered - never feels forced and never reaches for cheap fan service, everything here feels 100% totally authentic. Gives away so much while actually revealing so little, mesmerizing. And like the base in addition to its aforementioned other DLC, there's sleek graphical fidelity and a pitch-perfect combat system to boot. Needs to be required playing before Alan Wake 2