Word has it Remedy’s Control is one heady power trip, albeit one not without a few minor flaws.
Thankfully reviewers suggest most are easy to look past, including such things as “iffy†performance issues, a few examples of botched storytelling, and some drawn-out battles towards the end.
It’s a culmination of everything Remedy is best-known for, essentially, taking bits and pieces from the Max Payne franchise, Alan Wake, and Quantum Break. A few unexpected ‘Metroidvania’ elements feature too…which a handful of critics weren’t too englamoured with. This seems to be the reason behind some of the lower (7/10) review scores.
Don’t let this put you off – it’s still on track to become one of the highest-rated games of the month, with the PS4 version boasting an 81% Metacritic. The Xbox One version currently sits with a slightly higher 84%, meanwhile. We’ve rounded up scores below.
5/5 – EGM: Control is Remedy at the height of its abilities. Finally, the studio’s expert handling of tone and story is met with gameplay that’s just as engaging and refined. As an experiment in nonlinear world design, Control doesn’t just stick with tried-and-true waypoints and forests. Its Oldest House is a brutalist masterpiece, and the characters inhabiting it are just as unforgettable. All told, it’s going to be one of the most memorable games of the year.
9/10 – TheSixthAxis: Control is one of the best story-focused single player games in years. Its unique mix of surrealism, sci-fi and mystery draws you in, but doesn’t give everything away, and the combat is fantastically varied and provides just enough challenge. A culmination of everything that went before, Control is Remedy’s magnum opus.
9/10 – Destructoid: Control is a weird, enigmatic, perplexing masterpiece. It’s also Remedy’s most well-rounded work yet. Like Jesse levitating far off the ground, Control signifies Remedy is capable of ascending to great new heights.
4.5/5 – The Xbox Hub: When you take into account the standout moments and combine them with brilliant visuals, some audio that is out of this world, a smattering of puzzles, a top drawer narrative and super intense gameplay, and yet again we find that Remedy have delivered the goods with their latest adventure isverigeapotek.com. Granted everything they put their hand to are all pretty unique experiences, but in actual fact, Control really does take control, topping even their previous storytelling exploits.
8.8 – IGN: Control creates a captivating, oddball world that never loses the thread of its supernatural tale.
8.75: GameInformer: Despite a few drawn-out battles near the end, Control is a complete rush. With the power at Jesse’s fingertips, I walked into every room ready for an amazing fight. When I walked out, it often looked like a tornado had torn through the building. The Federal Bureau of Control is a fascinating place to explore, and I loved every bizarre encounter inside its creaking hallways.
8/10 – The Metro: The flawed storytelling squanders its full potential but even with a few missteps this is still one of the most enjoyable action games of the year.
8.0 – God is a Geek: Despite some iffy performance issues and some very frustrating narrative choices, Control’s compelling gameplay, excellent combat and dedication to the bizarre make it an easy game to recommend
8/10 – VideoGamer: Control is Remedy at its best: pulpy, weird, and immensely satisfying to play. Its setting is a potent concoction of ’60s brutalist style and wacky sci-fi. Performance issues hamper the shootouts, and the characters are a little cold, but it’s the setting and atmosphere that win the day.
8/10 – GameSpot: It’s not often that a game invades my thoughts the way Control has. I’m at the point where I want to consume every last thing it has to offer. And if I’m honest, it also makes me want to go back and replay Remedy’s past games, too
7/10 – PSU: Remedy’s Control might eventually be one of the coolest games on the market, but upon release framerate, balance, and popup issues are so rampant that players are forced to change their style of play to work around the bugs. While Control’s world-building, performances, and writing are all superb, the difficulties in actually playing through the game to see all that cool stuff leads to a deep sense of frustration.
7/10 – Push Square: There’s no doubting that Control is a good experience, but it’s not one that’ll go down in the history books. Its explorative and combat-focused gameplay is a major highlight thanks to abilities that give you the chance to get creative, but the unreliable framerate that goes with it puts a stop to the enjoyment far too frequently. This is most definitely worth playing, but that’s about as far as any substantial praise can go.
Control is out tomorrow (Tuesday) on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.