Control Review — Russell Troxel

Sep 7

Sep 7 Control Review

There’s a lot of media out there about a secret, supernatural world being hidden from humanity by a vague government organization. Whether your touchstone is Warehouse 13, Men in Black, The X-Files, the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark, or the SCP Foundation collaborative fiction project, there’s something about this idea that really resonates with people. Like other humans, I’ve got an appetite for mystery and a general distrust of anyone with more power than I do, so I’m a sucker for this kind of fiction. That’s why I was really excited to play Control this week.

In Control, players step into the shoes of Jesse Faden, a young woman searching for answers about the disappearance of her brother. Her search has lead her to the Federal Bureau of Control, a branch of the American government dedicated to the containment and study of items and events that defy the common understanding of reality. Very quickly, Jesse gets in over her head as she is suddenly appointed to be the new director of the FBC and must work with her new coworkers to repel an alien presence trying to invade Earth via the Bureau.

As a third-person shooter, Control gives Jesse two ways to fight off the invaders: the supernatural powers she gains throughout the game and The Service Weapon. The Service Weapon is the first Object of Power that Jesse and the player encounters. Objects of Power are physical items that possess one or more paranormal qualities and The Service Weapon is among the most powerful. Made up of an uncountable number of black geometric shapes that vaguely resemble a pistol, The Service Weapon can change shape to act like a variety of staple video game guns and replenishes its supply of ammunition. Although it’s able to function as a pistol, shotgun, rifle and more, Control lets players equip only two forms at any time. This is baffling to me. Why would designers create not only the systems to give player a shape-shifting gun but also the lore to emphasize The Service Weapon’s capacity to change forms and then decide that players are only allowed two at a time? It feels less like a lack of understanding and more of a purposeful decision to make the game worse. Players also have access to the supernatural abilities Jesse gains as she explores further into the FBC and encounters more Objects of Power. Some Objects are able to be bound to a person, granting them abilities. Most of these powers involve some sort of telekinesis, whether throwing an object at enemies or holding objects in front of Jesse to prevent harm, but others can be discovered later on. I won’t say how many powers there are, but I will say I don’t think there are enough and, while they are fun to use, most of them aren’t too creative.

If the designers had stopped at these features, I think I would have actually liked Control a lot more than I do. Unfortunately, someone, probably an executive who does the least work and collects the biggest paycheck, seems to have decided there wasn’t enough stuff in Control and several more systems were added. The first and my personal least favorite was crafting. As players kill enemies, they will receive “Source” points as well as a variety of crafting materials. Players must use these to unlock new forms for The Service Weapon as well as mods for The Service Weapon and Jesse herself. The crafting materials are all named tantalizing things like “Ritual Impulse” or “Intrusive Pattern” but the game never even hints at how these abstract concepts make Jesse or The Service Weapon more powerful and feels like they’ve been given fancy names to distract players from how boring and frustrating this system is. I would have preferred The Service Weapon developing new forms when Jesse got into new problems, such as Jesse fighting through cramped tunnels and in response The Service Weapon deploys its shotgun-like Shatter form.

Then there’s the mods I mentioned. Jesse and each form of The Service Weapon has up to three slots for mods to improve various parts of their performance. Frustratingly, these mods are all incredibly dull with effects like increasing Jesse’s maximum health by 10% or making The Service Weapon fire 15% faster. Mods come in one of five ranks of power, but that only served as short hand to know if the new copy of a mod is better than the old one you have equipped without having to look at the stats. It’s incredible to me that in a game with mind-control molds and sentient refrigerators, the developers couldn’t think of better mods to apply Jesse’s powers and weapon. On top of all of that, it seems like one in every 10 enemies drops a mod and the player has limited inventory space for them, so every three or four enemy encounters players have to go into their menus and deconstruct inferior mods for a minuscule amount of "Source” points. Players also have the option of spending crafting materials to obtain a random mod of specified categories but I can’t imagine why anyone would do that since most of the game at most seven mods can be used at any one time unless a player dedicates a lot of time to fighting optional battles to get more upgrades.

The last obnoxious addition to Control are two kinds of side mission: Countermeasures and Bureau Alerts. Countermeasures are tasks players can volunteer for in addition to accomplishing actual plot missions and always involve killing some number of enemies with one specific power or Weapon form. When completed, players receive a random mod or crafting material of a specified caliber, which is barely a reward at all. Bureau Alerts are intrusive side quests that are suddenly thrown at the player and always involve repelling a sudden enemy invasion from an area the player has already cleared out. They’re not necessary, only give mods and crafting materials as rewards, and don’t have any consequences if a player fails or ignores them, so they feel like a huge waste of time. There are other side missions that are actually interesting and rewarding, so these two categories should honestly just be skipped.

It’s a testament to the strength of the core of Control that I still like it under all of the awful additions. The story of Jesse and the FBC is fascinating and I want to see more, but all of the extra systems bog Control down so heavily that it makes me not want to play it much more. If you’ve got a stomach for dealing with obnoxious game design or just a desire for a cool story, I say pick up Control but absolutely do not pay $60 for it.