50 Years of Video Games: Control (Xbox One)
By 2019 gaming hardware was allowing for nearly photorealistic graphics and game worlds could be manipulated in creative ways with a good degree of freedom, but consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One were showing their age. Processing power was becoming the main limiter to realizing artistic visions, and while half-step upgrades like the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro sought to push up the power some, these were 2013 consoles being retouched to run things better rather than providing a new baseline. At first Remedy Entertainment’s Control might not look like it would be pushing the boundaries of such aging hardware, especially compared to their previous game Quantum Break that had more obvious demanding visual effects that ran just fine. Once you begin to see its malleable environments that move and contort in mind-bending ways and start tearing up chunks of them to hurl around with your mind it becomes clearer why this game pressed against the boundaries of what the then-current consoles could do, even leading to small hiccups like textures taking a small bit of time to properly load in or “out of video memory” errors with the scary sounding “Break” option being what you need to click to force the game to exit instead of crash. Luckily these little issues mostly arise from longer play or hardly hurt the experience, but Control was clearly aching for the capabilities of the consoles releasing next year and high end PCs as the industry prepared to take a leap that wasn’t as big as previous generational shifts but still meaningful to what video games could realize with their designs.
When you take your first steps into the Federal Bureau of Control as Jesse Faden though, you’ll find a building that seems like a standard government office, but this is a deliberate misdirection. The FBC operates as a means of suppressing knowledge about unnatural occurrences in the world, covering up events outside our normal understanding of reality and then taking them to their headquarters for observation, study, and containment. In fact, despite its deliberately mundane facade, the bureau itself takes the form of the Oldest House, a dimensional construct that can shift its shape and connect places that logically shouldn’t work within our understanding of the universe. Jesse Faden arrives at the bureau in search of her brother who went missing after the FBC suppressed a paranatural event in her home town, but before she knows it she’s been chosen by supernatural forces as the new director of the entire government branch and must deal with an abnormal dimensional intruder known as the Hiss that contorts most any human who hears it into a new host. Trying to balance the new threat with her personal mission starts to reveal they are more connected than they first appear, Jesse starting to uncover the mysteries of the Oldest House and those who work there as she tries to find closure while fighting for the safety of reality.
Jesse’s personal journey is actually perhaps the weaker side of the adventure though. While having her tied to the bureau’s activities in the past does lead to some interesting moments of discovery as you plumb deeper into the goings-on of this mysterious organization, it also is the simpler through line for the story and one that culminates in a climax that feels like it’s missing a truly grand finale. There is an interesting angle to it though, Jesse having a passenger in her mind she speaks to that at first almost feels like she’s directly communicating to the player. This silent conversational partner leads to many moments where we’ll get to see into Jesse’s head, her reactions to the people she meets and situations she finds herself in cropping up quite often even if at times they feel like a bit of a pace breaker in a conversation.
The battle against the Hiss and your growing understanding of the Federal Bureau of Control and its activities is a much more fascinating part of the adventure though. Taking some clear inspiration from the likes of the SCP wiki, Control’s supernatural elements tie heavily to Altered World Events, Objects of Power, and Altered Items. These involve often mundane items starting to exhibit paranatural elements such as a T.V. hurtling about the air or a safe creating a barrier of energy around itself for protection, the bureau trying to cordon these objects off for safe observation but the Hiss has lead to many of them being unleashed within the Oldest House. Files with redacted info can be found that still give pretty informative descriptions of what these objects and items seem capable of and the world events they were tied to, but there is a bit of a discrepancy between the quality of how things are portrayed in the paperwork and how they manifest in the video game itself. An interesting tale about how one item let people access other dimensions that even twisted their bodies into monstrous forms provides an exciting concept with potential but the game’s story doesn’t make use of those powers when the object crops up, and while the pull string that can teleport you to an eerie motel with a lightly changing design offers a moment for puzzle-solving whenever it appears, its frequent reappearances weaken the novelty of the idea. Luckily the game can still pull out some impressive Objects of Power at other times to counterbalance these moments, the Ashtray Maze in particular involving the game whipping out all the stops to create a space where the walls and floor are almost constantly moving to spice up battles and make for a more compelling space to explore.
Even during regular navigation the Oldest House’s architecture has become twisted by the Hiss’s influence to make the building more than hallways and offices, although its nature as a containment facility for dangerous objects and its odd extradimensional connections also open up opportunities for more varied industrial spaces or areas that seem almost otherworldly. Optional Objects of Power also seem to have a good deal of attention given to realizing their concepts, be they a unique area to briefly explore or a special battle, and with mysteries about what happened to the former director and what the Hiss even is to follow there is still enough to pique a player’s curiosity even if some of its most creative ideas aren’t realized within this action game’s format. Some characters like the inexplicable janitor Ahti and design choices like the researcher Dr. Darling only appearing by way of live action footage also continue to make the game world feel more unpredictable and sometimes eerie in how it works, perhaps the promise found in many of its successes making it feel strange when something like the ending comes up a little short conceptually.
The way the Hiss manifest in Control is as corrupted human beings, and while at the most base level this can mean the gun-wielding security of the Bureau is now turned against Jesse Faden, the Hiss’s powers can shape them into even more corrupted designs. Twisted bodies float through the air and use telekinesis to hurl debris at you, some surround themselves in shields of red energy that can regenerate if you don’t kill them after you shatter it, and some will drift towards you and detonate their bodies to try and eliminate you. Between some gun and armor variation in the standard gunmen types and the more unusual forms those controlled by the Hiss can take there is a decent batch of standard enemies to face throughout the adventure, although the small selection of bosses mostly feel like either small adjustments to an enemy type to make them more durable or are part of side missions. However, the regular enemies definitely put up enough of a fight to provide some entertaining challenges, especially in battles where multiple waves of foes appear and often mix and match the heavy duty fighters with more standard ones who still can deal good damage if you ignore them too long.
Jesse essentially has two ways of fighting her foes you’ll be swapping between during a fight, that being using her transforming gun and the paranatural powers she absorbs from objects around the Bureau. The gun is the work horse of the two, many of the game’s collectibles going towards modifying the weapon’s strengths or crafting upgrades to it. The gun has no ammo to worry about replacing as it will regenerate bullets after a period spent not firing, its different firing modes utilizing different amount of shots and are thus limited appropriately based on their power. The initial mode when you acquire it along with your role as Director is a rather strong pistol shot that remains useful throughout the adventure for a good mix of rapid fire and damage output, but over time you can acquire forms you can shift the gun into with a press of the X button. Shatter works like a shotgun blast and can’t be fired as quickly while Spin can put out an incredible amount of shots quickly at the cost of strength and accuracy, but Pierce and Charge stand out for more unique ideas. Pierce can smash through part of the environment so that enemies can’t make use of cover and Charge slowly builds up rocket shots before launching them, but these more unique weapons do hit a snag when it comes to how you use the gun. You can only have two forms set for quick access at a time with others requiring you to pause things and open a menu if you want to swap them in, and with many battles being fast-paced fights with a few varying enemy types, you’re more likely to settle into consistent effectiveness than the situational excitement using something like Charge or Pierce could provide.
To ensure battles don’t grow stale though, you also gain a gradually expanding set of paranatural abilities to assist in a fight. The most impactful one is Launch, the ability to grab nearby objects or chunks of the ground with your mind to hurl at foes. Certain enemies take much more damage from your gun or Launched items and thus mixing their use becomes key, but Launch is made more interesting by the fact that whatever you grab for the telekinetic throw influences its power and potential as well. Grabbing big items can hit multiple foes, some things will explode when they make contact, and you can even turn fired rockets and grenades back against their users if you grab them in time. Launch does have a few hiccups, sometimes if you try to grab something in a hurry the game can struggle to pull it towards you, leaving you unable to do anything while under fire as it tries to sort things out, and during moments of quick puzzle solving where you need to hurl the right object like a power core at something the object rich environments can make it fiddly to grab exactly what you want, but for the most part it’s an important addition to your arsenal since most battles will come down to alternating between Launch and gun use consistently.
New powers do add important elements like a shield and dodge to your capabilities, these bound powers all having dedicated buttons so they’re easily integrated into your arsenal but also draw from the same energy so that you need to manage how often you use them in battle so they have time to regenerate. Surprisingly the game won’t force you to grab most of these as part of completing the main plot even though it often does make sure to draw your attention to a side path to grab them, the Oldest House actually asking you to revisit areas often but with new dangers to face. Side missions do often have a good bit of care put into them since they often pay off with a unique boss battle or special abilities although a fair few do boil down to a way to squeeze in additional standard fights, but some like trying to understand the unusual Mold beneath the Oldest House have enemies you rarely see otherwise to give them more variety. The Bureau Alerts that crop up really are just a batch of enemies to fight elsewhere though, this seemingly meant to give you a chance to earn more chances at materials and the like.
Seize and Levitate are the two abilities that seem to really add more to the base combat though, Seize since it lets you turn weakened enemies against the opposition so they can distract foes and Levitate giving you a new way to explore as you float through the air for a while. It’s not really flight as it has limits in how high it can go from the ground and it lasts a short while. Outside of situations where Levitate is necessary for movement, you being up in the air usually just removes the useful advantage cover gives you in a fight. Abilities can be upgraded so powers can become more efficient and effective so they may better contribute to the action, but things will still likely boil down to the alternating gun and Launch strategy with Seize and Levitate more a nifty option you can whip out when it feels appropriate.
THE VERDICT: Control’s mysterious setting invites curiosity and wonder even if the personal story of Jesse Faden isn’t quite so mesmerizing. The Federal Bureau of Control’s corruptions of reality make for some impressive sights and fun concepts despite files often telling even more exciting stories, and the Hiss-infected foes you face are interesting opponents for your gun and Launch based fighting style. The game doesn’t feel like it fully embraces the potential of some of its ideas despite side missions often having a good bit of care put into their construction, but the compelling strangeness of the Oldest House still keep the game from dipping into true disappointment.
And so, I give Control for Xbox One…
A GOOD rating. Control has creativity in bounds and when it does realize it, it is exciting to go along for the ride of discovery. The action does usually find some way to interact with an Object of Power’s strange influence even if the game keeps its combat ambitions rather restrained, and the ties the Hiss has to the set of characters you meet along the way ensures there is a plot worth following since the personal concerns of Jesse over her missing brother seem too basic and lean to really sustain the adventure otherwise. One thing that might have spiced up the action more would be full access to the gun’s different settings, the fact they all draw from the same regenerating ammo that needs time to recharge ensuring that swapping between them so easily wouldn’t be a huge advantage while also giving you reason to actually utilize Pierce and Charge for their very specific roles. The enemy arrangement as is still provides enough of a challenge in terms of overcoming their composition even if you’re not incentivized to stray from reliable gun modes and alternating Launch usage, but Control probably also could have done with putting more of its side content into the main adventure so that the core plot wouldn’t feel like it’s missing distinct and definitive moments.
Control is still an enjoyable adventure with a solid combat system and a world that is free to embrace unusual ideas, but its limits aren’t just with the old console technology it is tied to. It didn’t have space to fully embrace its Objects of Power concept at times, the gun modes are weakened by making you only able to utilize two without interrupting things with pause menu navigation, and the need to make Jesse personally connected to the bureau’s actions made learning about its many intriguing secrets sometimes secondary to a rather standard family separation story. Control needed to be bigger to fill in more of its concepts with unique content, but there is still a considerable amount to enjoy within the package we are given. Perhaps ironically the game should have been less restricted in how it represented the paranatural, but at once it may be the processing power that really held it back from being all it could be. The portion we were served is still capable of providing an entertaining slice of the Bureau’s story-telling and gameplay potential though, and so Control is still able to hold the player’s attention with the creative ideas it did have room to include.