Control is a beautiful game with fluid combat, but unfortunately the story and gameplay leave a lot to be desired.
In Control you play as Jesse Faden, the newly appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Control. The Bureau is dealing with a supernatural threat called the Hiss, and Jesse has to fight her way through the building while dealing with various supernatural phenomena. As she explores the Bureau, she cleanses areas, unlocks control points and gradually gains access to new parts of the building.
That's essentially the core of the game. She also hears the previous Director speaking to her and giving her instructions, while the Bureau's janitor and other personnel occasionally help her along the way and give her new missions.
Personally I think that the Bureau map is very confusing, and navigation is harder than it's supposed to be. I mean the player can see an objective on the map without having access to that place. So you might go to check the objective only to find out "oh, I don't have the proper clearance" (which is okay, but makes no sense when I'm supposed to be the Director), or that there's an obstacle on the way right where the entrance is. The developers kinda decided to use the map as a guideline rather than a rigorous way to map out the place. So occasionally you just teleport to another place on the opposite side of the map and accept that this is how it's supposed to go. And to make it even more confusing, all floors appear on the map at once, and blocked areas are not marked on the map, meaning that it's very hard to know which pathways are actually available without trying them.
I've had several situations where I've spent quite a while looking for a way into an area, only to eventually realize that the route I was looking for simply wasn't where the map made it seem like it should be. At some point you just learn to stop trusting the map and start wandering around until you accidentally find the right corridor. That's not particularly good navigation design.
The game also has a strange way of introducing new objectives and areas. You can be wandering around for quite a while without anything particularly happening - even Jesse is completely silent - and then suddenly a new objective appears, such as "search for this object of power", seemingly out of nowhere. Often the game simply displays the name of an area when you enter it, without much indication of what you're supposed to be doing next. It can be pretty trippy when you're just walking around and the game suddenly decides that you've apparently progressed the story. In the Finnish Tango mission, for example, you need to find one particular control point and claim it before the mold appears in the Coolant Pumps section. The game is full of small hindrances like that.
Also some of the Bureau design is questionable. You can go from the medical wing to the security area (in the Containment section) in the most roundabout way possible, but apparently it was too much to make emergency exit stairs between floors. And there are plenty of elevators that only go between two floors. Some of them also seem to be placed in ways that don't make much sense, with the elevator paths not even lining up properly between floors. The whole building often feels like it was designed without much thought given to how an actual building would be laid out.
There are shelters all over the building, but each shelter has a max occupancy of six persons. You go around visiting those empty small shelters and opening crates in hopes that there's a useful upgrade component there, but mostly it's just gamer instinct that makes you visit them.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of self-talk in this game. Jesse spends a considerable amount of time talking to herself, and the previous Director also speaks to her in her head whenever she reaches certain areas. Whatever dialogue there is often isn't particularly deep, so much of the story ends up being structured around Jesse's own thoughts and observations. The supernatural setting is interesting, but I don't think the plot itself is particularly compelling.
The gunplay feels quite good. The service weapon is responsive and combining it with Jesse's supernatural abilities makes combat feel fluid. But there isn't a huge amount of variety. The service weapon has five different forms. You also get melee, throwing (Launch), levitation and enemy conversion (Seize) abilities. Once you've unlocked all the weapon forms and abilities, the combat doesn't change all that much for the rest of the game. And the combat itself feels like it's from a cover shooter, while the game doesn't even have cover shooter mechanics. If that's not the case, then why does the game have very powerful mold snipers that can shoot powerful shots across the room and kill you when you can't even see them without binoculars? Rocket launcher enemies will shoot you even from close proximity, taking a huge portion of your health with one hit. And you have no regen that would make any practical difference. Taking out bosses that have shields is easiest when you just go next to their face and start spamming Shatter and Launch in quick succession so they have no time to send rockets after you. Not to mention that in most enemy encounters there are some enemies, like Snipers, that mostly just run around like headless chickens. And the game itself sometimes forgets to spawn enemies when it's supposed to.
The combat is too easy for my taste. I died more often from fall damage than actual combat. Most encounters barely feel like a challenge, which is a significant minus in my book. Keeping your distance from enemies is usually the safest strategy, and aggressive play is the best bet against stronger enemies. If you play cautiously, you can get through many encounters without taking much damage. The combat can be kind of fun, but I rarely felt like the game was really testing me.
Where Control really shines, however, is in its attention to detail. There are references to the Alan Wake and Max Payne games, Finnish culture and plenty of other small details scattered throughout the Bureau. The graphical detail is impressive. You can often read even the small text on posters, wine bottles and other surfaces. These details make the Bureau feel much more convincing, almost like a real governmental building rather than a generic environment.
Control is a technically impressive game, but it simply didn't grab me, to the point where I started getting tired of both the combat and exploration. A lot of the missions and side missions involve doing what essentially feels like janitor's work. And the fact that you're working alongside the Bureau's janitor makes the comparison feel even more appropriate. At times it feels like you're spending more time cleaning up the Bureau than actually uncovering anything interesting.
Personally I think both Quantum Break and the original Alan Wake were better games in Remedy's lineup. This game also has some annoying sections that make it less appealing for replays. Despite that, I still think Control has some merits and the Bureau itself might be an interesting place to experience.
My main gripe with this game is that it feels like it was made to be as "safe" as possible, as if game design decisions were made by a committee through democratic vote. Because that's how it feels. And this game is something I would recommend playing only when you have nothing else to play or like the feeling of being lost in a concrete jungle.
Final score: 5.5/10
