Control

[one-armed dwarf]

I think most are positive on Control. It has this indelible 90s TV sci-fi channel thing about it that I really like. 

 

Remedy make the most stylish games in AAA right now, even if not necessarily the best playing

[Maryokutai]

I think it plays really well. I recently picked up the consumer unfriendly Ultimate Edition which more than doubles the framerate from what I experienced on Xbox One and it's a really enjoyable shooter at its core. How frictionless the telekinesis works is unrivalled in games, usually these kinds of mechanics are super cumbersome.

 

The problems are more certain encounter/boss designs and how you often get hit by stuff that drains 60% of your life without ever seeing it coming.

[DANGERMAN]

probably clear from this thread already but I loved Control. I've chipped away at a 2nd playthrough on Steam Deck, and another one with the fancy RT stuff on big PC. It's a great game, much better at a better frame rate, so playing it first on PS4 and still enjoying it is testament to the quality of it I suppose, that version was probably carried by its atmosphere as much as gameplay

[mmmark]

I recently picked this up, ultimate ed, for dead cheap. I’m a monster who sets his games priority as graphics which adds ray tracing and locked at 30fps here.

 

So far I really love it. It’s incredibly stylistic the way that information is presented to you as you’re running around. I don’t think anything is presented generically. Even the map is live, which I haven’t seen in years.

 

I’m very early on but the first time someone was harder to kill than the regular ones I died a few times. They just seemed to be able to kill me so fast. But then when I did it I did so easily and have no real idea what I did differently so moving forward should be fun.

[AndyKurosaki]

That’s the real problem I had with this game. Fairly early on, there’s these rocket launcher type enemies, and they rip through your health bar very quickly. I kept dying constantly because of them, and eventually I lost patience and sacked it off. 

[one-armed dwarf]

There are cheats in the game I think which can help

 

I don't say that as a slag, I used the cheats for a really shit boss fight. Went further on PC and just cheated all the skill unlocks with cheat engine. It still remained a great game to explore and figure stuff out, it's just a world that leaves you with enough breadcrumbs in its narrative design to be curious. If you're into the kind of fiction that this is aping.

[AndyKurosaki]

There’s cheats? Well that I didn’t know. Might make it actually more bearable then. 
I finished Alan Wake 2, and I know there’s various references to Control that I wasn’t properly getting. Mind you, the story in that game is all over the bloody place. So I don’t think I missed that much.

[Nag]

You didn't...

[AndyKurosaki]

Fair enough. I’ve seen people saying “Should I just jump straight into Alan Wake 2, without playing Control, or the first one?”

To which I go “You must be kidding”. 

[one-armed dwarf]

People exaggerate how weird the stories are in these games tbh. There's lots of stories like these, some far weirder. When you boil Control down to its core 'plot' it's actually pretty straightforward and they tell you all the things you need to know

[Maryokutai]

I remember thinking that as well when it first came out. Somehow nobody bats an eye when Harry Potter runs headfirst into a wall at a public train station to hop on an invisible train that leads to a magic castle undiscovered by 21th century technology. But a haunted rubber duck that pulls you in an alternate dimension? Nah, too weird, not buying it.

[Maf]

This came back on Gamepass and the Ultimate Edition has different achievements to the regular version so I downloaded it on PC

 

😋 It looks kinda sick.

 

This my 3rd time playing this. Original version on Xbox One, Ultimate Edition on PS5, and now UE again on PC. The ray tracing is immediately stand out and I think generally very noticeable because of all the glass and reflections. Not sure if this has RT shadows as well or just higher image quality but the first cutscene with Ahti is very moody and good. 

 

It has a weird LoD bug (Same as Alan Wake 2, actually) where things not that far away are too slow to load in the better asset, and I had to cap it at 120 because even on my PC the jumps up and down were a bit much. And my aiming sucks on mouse. 

 

Between this and RE4 I'm realising I'm bad at M&K because I don't aim and move at the same time. It takes too much thinking where as on console I whirl both around without thinking, and controller probably has some aim assist, too. But I have to learn to be able to move and shoot at the same time instead of standing still trying to make tiny adjustments for headshots. 

 

But, yeah, very cool and another test for my computer. I will play it properly at some point because it's a been a few years, but just wanted to check it out quick. Still holds up and the game looks great! 

 

[Maf]

I played quite a lot of this last night. I'm speeding through it. Skipping the dialogue and cutscenes and just enjoying the gameplay. Just finished the Black Rock Quarry bit. 

 

I don't think I'll go for achievements or completionist stuff as I've done all that twice before. 1000g on original on Xbox and Platinum on Ultimate Edition on PS. The thing that puts me off the most is because this version is the UE edition I would have to complete the DLC. And honestly fuck the DLC, it sucks. 

 

One thing I wanted to say though is I think this is the first game I've played on PC where M&KB elevate the game. People always talked about how good the combat is in this, which is true, but mouse especially makes this so. much. fun. 

 

The speed of the aiming really fits with the scrappy, on-the-fly nature of the combat and out of 3 playthroughs I'm finally loving the gunplay. This just good.

 

Although sometimes I get over confident and run around like I'm in god mode and then whoop. Mini gun guy 😇

[one-armed dwarf]

Mouse aiming feels like aiming whereas controller aiming feels like steering a mech to point a gun in a particular direction.

 

I cannot play FPS or TPS on a controller anymore. 

 

The DLC does suck, Control is a game were less was definitely more and the main campaign was good enough for that

[Maf]

I enjoyed this playthrough so much I think this might be Remedy's best game. It's a shame I didn't enjoy the story more. I've never been especially compelled by it, too much of it is both back story and happens off-screen which gives me a difficult time getting in to it. + I've seen it twice before and couldn't be bothered to sit through it.

 

Which is a shame because I enjoyed the gameplay so much it would have been good if I had enough patience and intrigue for the story as well then I could appreciate it as a whole.

 

Regardless, even just running around shooting stuff and skipping all the narrative stuff the game is a blast. It just plays so well. I finally understand why people were saying it about this game. 

 

I might go back and finish the side missions if I feel like it, but I just played through the entire game essentially in 3 sittings in 1 day so. Could do with a break. 

 

This game is excellent