Control Reviews
It is still a very enjoyable game for its action gameplay and powerful visual and artistic aspect, but it is inevitable that it leaves a bitter taste to come from a studio like Remedy Entertainment, which I did not expect to neglect such elementary aspects in the narrative
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Control is an interesting title. It features some truly incredible gameplay, with visuals and audio to match; but disappoints in terms of providing an engrossing narrative. The puzzle like structure of the overarching story can be confusing and often lacks any real draw for gamers to continue pushing through the game's 20 hour campaign. At best, the draw to find out what is actually going on and to help Jesse's brother will keep players moving forward; at worst, there are a multitude of side quests and mini-bosses to invest in as players push toward the conclusion. Narrative aside, Control features superb level design that encourages exploration. The exploration coupled with the superb gameplay help mask the repetitive nature of the title, thus making the game genuinely fun to play. Jesse being a likeable protagonist, with her fourth-wall breaking moments of introspection, not to mention the often crazy and psychedelic level design, should keep players interested for some time to come.
Overall, Control has severe highs and lows. The mix of shooting and power based combat feels great, and features a robust system of mods and upgrades that allow you to customize to how you prefer to play. Additionally, The Oldest House is a unique environment, and is at the core of what makes the premise of the game so intriguing. Unfortunately, it gets in its own way by gating off so much of the details and lore through countless documents and audio logs that break the flow of the game. With an ending that leaves many questions unanswered and plot points unresolved, it leaves players unsatisfied and wondering "is that it?"
Control offers interesting "lynchian" story, mysterious setting, and a lot of secrets to discover. It's a shame the game istn't optimized a bit better.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
While Control doesn't exactly stick the landing on its ambitious mind-bending sci-fi story, there's still plenty to enjoy. Remedy creates one of the most well-developed worlds ever crafted for a video game and takes the opportunity to learn from their past and craft their most well-rounded gameplay experience to date.
Remedy Entertainment's latest game, Control, continues to embrace the weirdness that has permeated in the studio's past titles but fails to excel in any one area.
Ultimately, Control is a really cool experience even with all of the flaws. I really liked the atmosphere of the Bureau and Jesse’s voice actor Courtney Hope did a terrific job. The ending is a trip, and the gameplay is fun, even if it’s slightly repetitive.
Control is a interesting experience with the story about other dimensions and supernatural things. But it also fails on that feeling of accomplishment and progression.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
An adventure with some of the best Remedy qualities, with some ingredients that may appeal to the fans of supernatural games. On the other side, the exploration is unnecessarily frustrating and the graphical department feels as a mixed bag.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Control is a game with a superb pulp sci fi plot, that could have been a masterpiece thanks to it's level design. Unfortunately some very bad design decisions drags the game to the "interesting but flawed" territory.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Control thrills with action-packed battles and a mystical setting, but stumbles over his high ambitions.
Review in German | Read full review
Is Control Remedy's apex moment? No. Is it their best game yet? I don't think so, but I wouldn't scream at you if you thought it was. Control's story and world-building, its thematic cohesiveness is better than anything out of Remedy yet, which is saying a lot. Unfortunately, Control has some blemishes, most of which aren't very distracting, but when you couple it with some considerable performance issues it adds up and saps a little bit of that specialness.
Control is a game with an enjoyable variant of standard third-person shooter gameplay, an excellently unsettling atmosphere and setting, a big but not overwhelming world to explore, and surprisingly fun and charming collectibles to find. However, it’s held back by an underwhelming crafting system, some particularly frustrating boss fights, and sometimes-severe performance issues, at least on an original PS4. The length and amount of content is respectable for $60 USD – I’d estimate my playthrough took 20-25 hours for the main story – and there’s still things to do once you finish the story missions, mainly cleaning up any side missions you have left and the few postgame missions, or just exploring more of the Oldest House and finding more collectibles. If you like Metroidvanias and you want one with its own special brand of weirdness, I’d definitely recommend Control.
Control offers exactly what it promised: a fascinating story and high doses of action. The ensemble goes beyond what Remedy Entertainment has established in its most recent works and the result is an ensemble with many lights and some shadows. A safe bet for science fiction lovers. It's not perfect, but it's a lot of fun, isn't that more than enough to give it a chance?
Review in Spanish | Read full review
All in all, Control is a real good third-person-shooter with fast combats, supernatural powers and an intense atmosphere. It feels oldschool in a good kind of way and reminds me of the early Resident-Evil-Series. Even if the gameplay is convincing, the technical presentation has some real problems, like a buggy map, a poor german synchronisation and a bad performance on Xbox One.
Review in German | Read full review
Control is worth experiencing for its rollicking, ravaging action, as well as its stately visuals and ‘new weird’ vibe.
Control is an unique title whose highs are game of the year worthy, but the whole package is spoiled by unnecessary flaws. However, The Oldest House remains worthy of a visit.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
It took me a few (full) days to go through almost all of what Control has to offer. While I can’t deny that the game has some issues, I did largely enjoy my time with Control and found myself heavily invested in this strange world.
If you like weird and supernatural games, this one is worth picking up. If you prefer a game with less thought and more action, then it might not be your cup of tea. Even so, there's plenty of intense action in Control.
Control consistently delivers the bizarre without trying too hard to be bizarre. It’s a weird, wonderful, and generally fantastic game that’s hampered by an unfortunate technical handicap.