This review contains spoilers
'Control' in a lot of ways reminds me of a Christopher Nolan movie. A large, complex, multilayered concept paired with a sleek visual style, a plot that feels like an afterthought and characters that exist only to serve up exposition. And just like with Nolan's movies, I found it mostly bland and boring.
After a couple of games where the gameplay was, to put it lightly, less than satisfactory (looking at you two, 'Alan Wake' and 'Quantum Break'), Remedy finally managed to create a fun combat system that is based on the protagonist's supernatural abilities. After over 20 hours with the game (including DLCs) I was still very much enjoying throwing at the enemies the wide array of objects at Jesse's disposal. Equally satisfying was levitating over the battlefield and taking down the enemies with the game's equivalent of a sniper rifle. The collection of guns available is rather standard, but the shooting mechanic is serviceable. It's a shame, then, that most combat scenarios and enemies are uninspired and quickly feel like a copy of previous encounters. I think the game could've really used more variety in its enemies including boss battles, which are scarce and not memorable at all.
The game's clean, corporate-like visual style wears off pretty quickly, although there are some exceptions, with the most notable being the Ashtray Maze which is at the same time the most thrilling level in the whole game. Many times I did feel, however, like I'd been wondering the same corridors/rooms for long periods of time and that feeling was only exacerbated by the game's terrible navigation system, where the map is actually detrimental to the experience.
I think Remedy's writers are very talented when it comes to writing deep, complex lore, however in this case I found myself lost among all the abstract themes, entities, planes, etc. I'm well aware that to many people this will be the strongest part of the game, analyzing every little detail (and there's definitely a lot to be analyzed, including an absurd number of collectible notes) and figuring out the connections between 'Control' and Remedy's previous games. Personally, I found it to be too much and along the way I lost interest, even though I was picking up and reading every letter and memo I found for the first half of the game or so.
In contrast to its deep lore, the game's actual plot is relatively straightforward. The writers made the right call by withholding Jesse's true motivations for a considerable amount of time, because when they are finally revealed they turn out to be quite...plain? It doesn't help that Jesse's brother makes an uninspired quasi-villain and every single other character, even though Remedy tried to make them look and sound unique, is nothing more than an exposition tool.
What I did appreciate, however, were the numerous little quests. Figuring out the way to get the desired outcome at the roulette, entering the mirror world, the fridge duty - it's clear that the team had lots of great ideas how to take advantage of the setting which allows for virtually anything (and is also a great starting point for a potential sequel). It's an even greater shame, then, that the majority of the main storyline is a very video gamey chase between MacGuffins and uninspired characters.
After a couple of games where the gameplay was, to put it lightly, less than satisfactory (looking at you two, 'Alan Wake' and 'Quantum Break'), Remedy finally managed to create a fun combat system that is based on the protagonist's supernatural abilities. After over 20 hours with the game (including DLCs) I was still very much enjoying throwing at the enemies the wide array of objects at Jesse's disposal. Equally satisfying was levitating over the battlefield and taking down the enemies with the game's equivalent of a sniper rifle. The collection of guns available is rather standard, but the shooting mechanic is serviceable. It's a shame, then, that most combat scenarios and enemies are uninspired and quickly feel like a copy of previous encounters. I think the game could've really used more variety in its enemies including boss battles, which are scarce and not memorable at all.
The game's clean, corporate-like visual style wears off pretty quickly, although there are some exceptions, with the most notable being the Ashtray Maze which is at the same time the most thrilling level in the whole game. Many times I did feel, however, like I'd been wondering the same corridors/rooms for long periods of time and that feeling was only exacerbated by the game's terrible navigation system, where the map is actually detrimental to the experience.
I think Remedy's writers are very talented when it comes to writing deep, complex lore, however in this case I found myself lost among all the abstract themes, entities, planes, etc. I'm well aware that to many people this will be the strongest part of the game, analyzing every little detail (and there's definitely a lot to be analyzed, including an absurd number of collectible notes) and figuring out the connections between 'Control' and Remedy's previous games. Personally, I found it to be too much and along the way I lost interest, even though I was picking up and reading every letter and memo I found for the first half of the game or so.
In contrast to its deep lore, the game's actual plot is relatively straightforward. The writers made the right call by withholding Jesse's true motivations for a considerable amount of time, because when they are finally revealed they turn out to be quite...plain? It doesn't help that Jesse's brother makes an uninspired quasi-villain and every single other character, even though Remedy tried to make them look and sound unique, is nothing more than an exposition tool.
What I did appreciate, however, were the numerous little quests. Figuring out the way to get the desired outcome at the roulette, entering the mirror world, the fridge duty - it's clear that the team had lots of great ideas how to take advantage of the setting which allows for virtually anything (and is also a great starting point for a potential sequel). It's an even greater shame, then, that the majority of the main storyline is a very video gamey chase between MacGuffins and uninspired characters.