Control

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JaySevenZero
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Control

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Control for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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designermatt
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Re: 520: Control

Post by designermatt »

I remember loving Alan Wake on my Xbox 360 back in the day, and I couldn't wait to get stuck into Control. It looks gorgeous and the combat makes you feel powerful, particularly later on when you're casually levitating and throwing desks and chunks of concrete at enemies with such satisfying sounds.

It's the world here that really drew me in, though. The deeper Jesse and I went into the Oldest House the more it surprised and delighted me with places, monsters and mysteries I'd never seen before.

Whilst the main plot felt like it ended a bit too soon, I loved how much craft had gone into little details and side missions - for example, the guy in a cell who's not allowed to take his eyes off a fridge. You could easily never find him, but when you do, you discover a whole side story that has you sucked into the fridge to battle a giant, Lovecraftian space worm. Details like that showed me just how much thought and care had gone into this game.
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Tolkientaters
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Tolkientaters »

I love this game, I've played 2 twice one on Xbox One and once on PS5. I think the main thing that stands out is the aesthetic and tone. It looks fantastic with moody lighting brutalist architecture and an impressive degree of Chaos when the combat starts.

I love Jesse's internal monolouge and reactions to the bizarre characters that work at the FBC. The little tidbits you find and read are fantastic and I'm not gonna forget the fridge guy.

The combat also feels great, it never gets too challenging, but there's enough to keep you on your toes. It's just going for something different then most AAA games and it nails the vast majority. The DLC is also great with the darkness elements keeping things fresh.

The only real downsides for me are a slightly confusing ending that peaks a little early with the ashtray maze and some choppy performance on original hardware.
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Quiet Paul
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Quiet Paul »

Having 100% Alan Wake Remastered and craving more, I finally bit the bullet and played Control. I bought the game a long time ago for a cheap price and it sat on my shelf with the plastic wrapping still on it waiting for me to be in the mood to play it and I honestly can’t believe I left it so long. The game is fantastic!

For me it hasn’t got the same appeal as Alan Wake does but the gameplay throughout is great, and the occasional set pieces are even greater. With the exception of The Last of Us mould zombies in the basement. Thankfully it was a short level.

The Ashtray Maze being the standout part for me. Blazing through an ever changing maze to the blasts of Old Gods of Asgard (feat. Poets of the Fall) filling my ears while I destroy hordes of enemies with relative ease. It’s a welcome break in the story from all the built-up tension. I dare say one of my favourite moments in gaming, genuinely fun!

Also having Porcupine Tree play during the credits was another awesome touch.

Fridge Duty has already been mentioned a couple times so I’ll be brief: I was absolutely gutted about Phillip! I Googled how to save him and everything, but alas…

The AWE DLC blew my mind and got me craving more Alan Wake! Looking forward to the AW sequel now. Hopefully it’ll be out within the next 5 years.

I enjoyed the game as a whole. So much so, I downloaded the Xbox Series X version and started collecting all the achievements again in 4K with some lovely ray tracing effects to make the game that wee bit more awesome.

3WR: Not so Ordinary
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Quiet Paul
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Quiet Paul »

For your ear filling pleasure:

Old Gods of Asgard (feat. Poets of the Fall) - “Take Control” - https://youtu.be/k0QsHKH77MI

Porcupine Tree - “Fear of a Blank Planet” - https://youtu.be/efsm6aJPybg
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Kermit McElmo
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Kermit McElmo »

I picked this up for sale in lockdown while I was out of work, perfect pallette cleanser after the laborious AC Odyssey.

I was a huge fan of Alan Wake and this game certainly lived up to expectations. Specially when it connected into thw universe!

Overall the game play was simple yet fun, which for me I find very relaxing in a game. Flying around throwing stuff with psy powers was also satisfying, however so was the gun? Inreallt felt switching the weapons up for different enemies was vital, although default was thr uzi and the sniper.

The story is confusing yet fantastic, although it suggers from way too much reading. At first I was readong it all, then just skim reading as quick as I could, but this is my only gripe (that and it was on PS plus t a month or so after I bought it).

The story is confusing and trippy, back to the Twilight Zone/Twin Peaks/X-Files vibe of Alan Wake. Simply fantastic, I THINK I understood it? The motel for me was the most surreal aspect of the game, specially the first time you go there.

Whatba fantastic game, there is absolutely no reason to avoid this!
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TheEmailer
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Re: 520: Control

Post by TheEmailer »

The game is great, but I look back in regret because
a) choppy framerate on ps4 did impact gameplay
b )I hit an unfortunate bug in the ashtray maze which necessitated restarts, ruining the flow for what might be the best sequence in the game

:(
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Tleprie
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Tleprie »

I got Control this past Christmas, and had avoided most things about it, aside from the seemingly universal praise, and general knowledge of the premise. And it is a great premise! ...but that is where it stopped being great.

I am, of course, being reductive. There are a lot of great moments. Interesting side stories, cool impossible architecture and, a charismatic mad scientist! My issue was that for every 5 minutes of engaging sci-fi horror, there seemed to be 90 of bland AAA shooting, and a largely apathetic cast.

Wait, even that is reductive. The shooting and throwing things around was satisfying. The charge gun felt good every time. But I'm reading these stories about crazy cases going on around the country, and here I am stuck in an office building fighting people who glow, and sometimes float.

The UX of the game was also baffling. Why, in 2019, are there audio/visual logs that I have to completely stop what I'm doing to listen to or watch? I feel like Bioshock and plenty of other games have already solved this? Sometimes an FMV would play as a cutscene, but only show part of the full thing. So after watching 40 seconds of a video I'd open up a menu to see the remaining minute or 2 of it.

My experience was absolutely not helped by playing on PS4. Load times after dying, especially in the Juke Box, upset me an embarrassing amount. I ended up turning on one hit kill for the Alan Wake boss, and if I go back to do the other DLC, will probably turn on invincibility. I appreciate having those options, but would've preferred a game that didn't compel me to use them.

I feel so strongly because I see glimpses a game that I would love inside of Control, but it is thoroughly bogged down with, well, everything I've just been ranting about.
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Alex79
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Alex79 »

I didn't like Control. I didn't like the story, the repetitive enemies and environment or the characters. I just found the game boring. The powers Jesse unlocks as you played through the game did start to get a little more interesting the further you got, and mechanically the game functioned okay. The actual combat and shooting itself wasn't too bad, and a sequel set in a more interesting place might work for me, but as it stands Control isn't really a game I'd ever be interested in replaying.

(Ha, interesting, I checked what I'd written about this when I finished it a couple of years ago. Whilst not glowing, I seemed a lot more positive about the game. It must have really soured in my mind over that time, weird!)
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stvnorman
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Re: 520: Control

Post by stvnorman »

This was my first experience of Cloud gaming when it arrived on Switch, and I was mostly curious about the tech over the game itself. Unfortunately it wasn’t my first experience of motion sickness in a game, but was about the worst outside of VR, and there was no way I could see it through. Possibly a mix of colour palette, relating to my colour blindness, frame rate and motion blur, but not much fun whatever it was!
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Seph
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Seph »

After bouncing off Quantum Break for its pretentious multi-media presentation and for telling me off for exploring too much, it was great too see that Remedy learned from these mistakes with that game that blends live action and in-game graphics seamlessly and actively encourages you to discover things for yourself. Well, once I got into the game that is.

When I booted Control for the first time I was instantly confused and bewildered. I had no idea what was going on and I found the gameplay really boring. For about an hour I wondered if I had missed an opening cinematic or if there was some prequel thing I didn't look up, because once you enter the Federal Bureau of Control building things turn very weird and the characters do very little to help you understand just what the hell is going on. As a result, I abandoned my first playthrough very early.

I gave the game a try again for a reason I'll explain later, but once I understood that the confusion is intentional, similar to the film Memento (at least, that's what I went with), I enjoyed it more and the game mechanics made more sense through constant experimentation.

The story is a confusing mess, which isn't to say it's bad, just that I actually found myself caring little about what was going on and instead was more focused on finding new areas of the building. The side quests are great fun though, they felt like "monster of the week" episodes that added more to the lore of the world and the weirdness of the Objects of Power. While the support characters are a little flat, I thought Jesse was fantastic and the inner monologues did a great job to help you connect with her. The acting across the board is great, especially from Courtney Hope and the velvety-voiced James McCaffrey.

I remember listening to Giant Bomb's end of the year shows where they discussed the best gaming moments, and almost everyone was enthusiastic about something called the Ashtray Maze. Because I like to experience things first-hand, I stopped listening and decided to find out for myself if this lived up to the hype. Short answer: yes! This feels like the moment the game has been building to, the section where the developers basically said: "Ok, you have all these powers, show us what you can do". And the song! Holy shit, the song. I almost punched the air when the similarly impressed Jesse exclaims: "That was awesome", because it really is.

I can't help but admire a major game studio for being so obtuse with its presentation, and with the success of this game I hope it encourages more developers to try new ideas other than army man goes bang-bang.
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MattL
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Re: 520: Control

Post by MattL »

I found Control to be a fairly average third person shooter, having done nothing particularly wrong and neither having done anything particularly mind blowing. In fact, I believe it was a victim of mainstream games journalists, and Remedy's dire hard fans, promoting the game as though it was revolutionizing the genre and the majority of that praise seemed to be related to the game's setting, the Oldest House and it's cast of characters.

I read time and again that the Oldest House was a character in and of itself and was constantly shifting and changing and I found neither to be true. It was a static, gray office building that featured an absurd amount of collectables that recite the mundane world of a professional office, that just so happens to deal with the least mundane people, things, and events in the world. I am not opposed to having lore collectables, but I need to first care about the main story and I just didn't due in large part of the performances of the majority of the game's cast. Jesse's performance in particular is as gray and blank as the concrete walls within the Oldest House.

So it's safe to say that I did not get on with the game's story and environment. The combat however was fun from start to finish, if a bit simplistic, and is what got me to finish the game. Picking up and throwing pieces of the environment felt satisfying every time. Sure there were guns and other offensive powers, but none ever came close to the ease and amusement of lifting desks, computers, and concrete and launching them at your enemies.

In summary, I was a mild fan of Remedy going into Control and I'm still a mild fan. I find their games simplistic but fun for a short burst and can recommend them at the right price point.
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Hyperdeath84
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Hyperdeath84 »

This was my first time playing a game from Remedy and I was simply hypnotised by the game from start to finish. The beautifully anachronistic brutalism of the Oldest House immediately drew me in with a dreamlike nostalgia for the concrete buildings and analogue tech of my youth in Manchester (UK) in the 80s and 90s. This was a game that sucked me in and made hours evaporate in a way that I hadn’t consciously recalled since first playing Resident Evil 4 upon its initial release. The more time I spent in the Oldest House the more I, like protagonist Jesse, felt a deep connection and sense of ownership for it; I got into role playing as the Director, clearing out the Hiss and putting things back in order in this enigmatic and shifting space that came to feel very special to me. The sense of terror at the unfathomable beings that were connected to this world was matched only by my curiosity to see what was beyond the veil.

The story was engaging with a decent mystery, held together by a strong central performance from Courtney Hope as Jesse. Her portrayal of Jesse as cagey and sardonic in the initial hours flowed nicely into the deeper scenes that dealt with her past and true motives. But it really is the world of Control, the Oldest House and it’s connected multiverses and strange objects, that are the stars of the show.

The drip fed power progression was handled well and affords a decent variety of builds, even if levitation and launch are objectively the best abilities, one can make any combo of weapon form and ability work. The culmination of Jesse’s escalating powers occurs in the wonderful Ashtray Maze, an absolute standout sequence that instantly became one of my favourite gaming moments ever.

Control is one of my favourite games of its generation and one I hope gets a follow up somewhere down the line.

3 word review: hypnotic, beautiful, terrifying
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Rhaegyr
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Re: 520: Control

Post by Rhaegyr »

MattL wrote: May 11th, 2022, 7:51 am I found Control to be a fairly average third person shooter, having done nothing particularly wrong and neither having done anything particularly mind blowing. In fact, I believe it was a victim of mainstream games journalists, and Remedy's dire hard fans, promoting the game as though it was revolutionizing the genre and the majority of that praise seemed to be related to the game's setting, the Oldest House and it's cast of characters.

I read time and again that the Oldest House was a character in and of itself and was constantly shifting and changing and I found neither to be true. It was a static, gray office building that featured an absurd amount of collectables that recite the mundane world of a professional office, that just so happens to deal with the least mundane people, things, and events in the world.
I am not opposed to having lore collectables, but I need to first care about the main story and I just didn't due in large part of the performances of the majority of the game's cast. Jesse's performance in particular is as gray and blank as the concrete walls within the Oldest House.

So it's safe to say that I did not get on with the game's story and environment. The combat however was fun from start to finish, if a bit simplistic, and is what got me to finish the game. Picking up and throwing pieces of the environment felt satisfying every time. Sure there were guns and other offensive powers, but none ever came close to the ease and amusement of lifting desks, computers, and concrete and launching them at your enemies.

In summary, I was a mild fan of Remedy going into Control and I'm still a mild fan. I find their games simplistic but fun for a short burst and can recommend them at the right price point.
Couldn't have said it better myself.

Except I quite liked the Ashtray Maze portion of the game - great change of pace.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Our next podcast recording (21.5.22) - 520: Control

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Everybody talks about the Ashtray Maze. Rightly so, it's great. But what about the moment when you step off an industrial platform and are suddenly floating through a surreal forest while a Finnish waltz plays? It's an incredible moment. This game does X-files vibes and journeys into the surreal as well as anything I've played, supported by some terrific voice and mo-cap performances and moments of absurdist humour and intense eeriness. Jesse is a fantastic lead and your quest givers are a supporting cast of nervous middle management who look like they've just run out of cigarettes.

Combined with the ability to rip chunks out of the walls and hurl them at foes, then rip same foes from their feet and throw them into others, all while levitating around like a straight-up demigod, and this should almost be an all-timer. I feel the game lets itself down by trying to be a shooter when it should instead focus on being a bizarre and creepy story of an office building gone extremely wrong. Encounters with hard-to-hit flying enemies and Ubisoft style armoured goons with regenerating shields are exhausting and tedious rather than exciting, with Jesse being way too squishy and the obnoxious checkpointing often requiring you to repeat long sections if you die. The bosses are especially guilty of this, with all of them doing massive damage, having waves of adds and far too many opportunities for you to end up in a loading screen. At least this was the case when I played it, before they very sensibly added some quality of life options like one-hit kills.

I still recommend this game because in terms of tone and atmosphere it's doing some rare and amazing things, as well as being another powerful argument for the benefits of working from home rather than in an office.
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