A game that makes you question things, like games
Control
THE FEDERAL BUREAU of Control sounds
like something a certain type of Facebook
group might rebrand the FBI as, but in
this mind-bending, space-twisting third-
person-sorta-shooter, it’s a real thing.
Well, mostly real. It resides in a building
called the Oldest House that only appears
to those who need it, or by accident. Its
brutalist exterior houses an interior that’s
either infinite and unshackled from our
hum-drum trio of dimensions, or taking
up a great deal of expensive New York real
estate. Our money is on the former.
Influenced by Mark Z. Danielewski’s
House of Leaves, the neverending
corridors and offices of the Oldest House
could be seen as a satire on modern
working conditions, but this is something
far greater. The FBC is charged with
investigating paranormal incidents, and
its HQ is filled with portals, dimensional
rifts, mailbags, and floating staff.
When you get there, the levitating
laborers are inert, but events frequently
cause them to become hostile. An entity
called the Hiss sends security guards and
possessed military units against you, but
your only defence is a shape-changing
gun that, well, let’s just say you don’t find
it in the most joyful of circumstances.
What could be a standard prowl around
some corridors shooting at anything thatthin film of reality we surround ourselves
with so effectively. Unreality pours
through the cracks in Control’s world,
and you’re never more than a few steps
away from bursting through into strange
worlds and Montana hotels.
But if this sounds like a glorious
experiment in freeform gaming, be
prepared to slam up against some
traditional game design at times. A
system of keys keeps you out of new areas
until you’ve discovered them, some save
points need to be cleared of enemies and
activated, and there are boss fights that
punctuate major story revelations.
Control is cleverly made, frothing with
ideas, and toys with your expectations
like a cat with a bird. It’s almost enough
to make you forget you’re playing another
third-person shooter. –IAN EVENDENFloating people and odd
cubes are the Hiss's
signature moves.Outerdimensional
areas reward you
with skills or items.Hiss-corrupted soldiers
become more powerful
as you progress.Yes, that really is
an 8-inch floppy.moves is made into something special by
the splicing of videogame and live-action,
and the way you never know what’s going
to happen next in a game where the
ceiling could twist open to reveal a whole
new dimension at any moment.
There’s more. You’ll eventually gain
powers to levitate yourself, and fling
items from the environment at enemies.
You’ll find a weird janitor, shoot monsters,
discover what happened to your brother,
fight an eight-inch floppy disk that throws
tables at you, and take vague orders from
an ineffable “board” that might be in
charge. It sounds like a mess, but there’s
a strong sci-fi story pulling you through it
all, and that’s enough to get you traveling
from one side of the building to the other
many times, occasionally popping outside
real space to gain knowledge or powers.
For all its office-based looks, Control
is a good looking game at times.
Everything is physics-enabled, to the
extent that knocking over a projector
allows the film to keep playing from its
new position. There’s also one of the
toughest implementations of ray tracing
we’ve yet seen, turning every surface into
a reflection, if you’ve got the card for it.
That janitor polished the floors gooood.
There have been few games recently
that use videogames’ ability to pierce theControl
CONTROL Packed with
ideas, weirdness, cinematics,
and craftsmanship.
REBEL Level gates and boss fights feel
artificial against the broader back story.
RECOMMENDED SPECS i5-7600K/Ryzen 5
1600X; 16GB RAM; GTX 1060/RX 580.
$60, http://www.remedygames.com, ESRB: M8
VERDICT©^
50
5 G
AM
ES
ACTION
ADVEN
TUREmaximumpc.com DEC 2019 MAXIMUMPC 91