Control game review 2022: It’s a great sci-fi third-person shooter that includes some light Metroid Ania, RPG, and (of all genres) loot shooter elements. The main story is crazy. I wouldn’t spoil anything, and I’m not sure I can. It takes place in the “Federal Control Bureau” (originally the X-Files department of the FBI as a separate government entity). Protagonist Jesse Faden enters The Oldest House, the Bureau’s headquarters, in search of her brother.
She finds the building in lockdown due to a supernatural attack. She is, somehow, appointed the new director of the FBC (quite in spectacular fashion), inheriting the service weapon (your main gun, and a mysterious “object of power” that ties herself to the FBC director). and sets out to find out where her brother is, what happens here, what is “here”, and how to get out alive. The gameplay feels tight and powerful.
You continue to acquire abilities and “mods” to upgrade your weapons and personal abilities and stats. Abilities allow you more combat and mobility options. You’ll also use them to reach new areas of the oldest house, or go back and look for hidden treasures.
Mods (and materials to craft them) drop off enemies semi-randomly, leaving more valuable loot with tougher and unique enemies. Character progression is like RPG with a twist. Gone is the experience bar; Instead, as you complete certain missions and challenges, you are awarded ability points to improve some of Jessie’s skills and stats.
This character is an interesting twist in progress, but works very well. It prompts you to complete side missions and explore new areas. My biggest areas of contention are general game performance and back loaded bosses. It’s fair to say that the game runs great on my PS4 vanilla. This is more apparent when there are lots of enemies and particles flying around. This really leads to criticism of my boss
The game has some really cool boss fights, even with optional high difficulty boss fights. My issues are that most of this happens towards the end of the game, and most involve “additions” (small common enemies) to add difficulty, rather than interesting boss patterns and mechanics.
Some are very simple, but you fight them in confined spaces, with tons of enemies paying for a normal encounter, as opposed to an epic battle. This is partly due to the drop in frame rate, and the fact that younger versions of most bosses reappear as normal enemies after fights.
Those issues aside, the game is a masterpiece. It’s a lot of fun exploring the oldest house while using Jesse’s abilities, leaving behind dozens and dozens of documents, and experiencing a mind-bending story. Just get it on PC, one of the more powerful consoles, or wait until the next generation for performance improvements.
Is Control a hard game?
This game is awesome. The world-building alone keeps me coming back for more. The story is compelling and keeps you hooked and hooked. The game and controls feel intuitive, not at all clunky or hard to remember. I’m a fan of the small details in a game, and I really liked that about the controls.
All the files, and the correspondence you can collect, make you feel more invested in what really happens, to understand more about the world in which Jesse finds himself. I’m sure the developers had a lot of fun making it. The gameplay is quite challenging; But not too much to cause frustration.
I play games for their story and world building aspects and the game has both in spades. But, for those of you who really enjoy the challenging gameplay: there are timed challenges that you can play using the jukebox.
I play on my Xbox One and the graphics are still amazing. But, at times, this can lead to the game crashing. This didn’t happen often enough that I would demote my rating to 4-stars though.
It completely slipped under my radar upon release. I really feel guilty for getting this for free on Xbox Game Pass, so I made it a point to buy the DLC (something I absolutely recommend you do).
For me, it’s easily a 10/10 game. The “Oldest House” (where the game takes place) is a truly unique setting, and the story is utterly psychic but utterly engrossing. All supporting characters have their own specialties that encourage you to get to know them and interact with them as much as possible.
Also, the various documents/videotapes/cassettes throughout the game are fantastic and really help to add depth to this very strange world.
