One of the biggest surprises of E3 was Control. It is being developed by Remedy, the same company behind Alan Wake and Quantum Break. Remedy seems to have failed to realize that Control does not rhyme with the other two titles so that may be something to look into. Just for fun. That so far is the only “critique” I have of the game because it looks absolutely spectacular.
In Control, you play as Jesse Faden whose job title is simply the Director. She works for a rather secretive agency called the Bureau of Control and they have good reason to be secretive. They work at investigating and defeating a range of supernatural enemies. In this game, the enemy is called the Hiss which gives me an image giant, invisible snakes. When those start haunting your dreams, there’s not enough chamomile in the world to stop them. As the new Director of the Bureau, it is up to Jesse to put a stop to this mysterious menace.
Fighting fire with fire tends to yield the best results, in video games at least. So when it comes time to destroy supernatural creatures, it’s time to get some supernatural powers. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find one of the greatest feelings in the world involves floating around and swooping down on enemies. How some protagonists in video games don’t have a God complex is beyond me. So if you also enjoy flying around like a deity and making life difficult for everyone below you, then you are in luck. Levitation seems to be a big part of the game, at least in combat. It will probably be useful other times as well though.
It’s not all about flying either. Perhaps you prefer using telekinetic powers. Control has got you covered that way as well. You can bring a far away object closer to you and knock out any enemies in front of it, or you can throw all types of things around to kill anyone/anything that is attacking you. You won’t have to clean up anyway, so what do you care? This ability can also be used to defend yourself. Jesse can pick up lots of little pieces of junk at once and use it as a shield. She will probably be able to throw it at enemies when she’s done to do more damage as well.
Control also gives you one of the coolest guns in history. It can change shape to fit what you need. If the enemies are far enough away, use it as a handgun. They move closer and more damage needs to be inflicted, well it will just rearrange itself and boom, it’s a shotgun. Those are the only two that were seen at E3, but it will surely embody other types of firearms as well. It’s definitely a weapon I want, you know, for science reasons.
The world itself is just as interesting as the gun and powers. First of all, it is highly destructible, so when you start throwing around large pieces of furniture, damn near everything in its path is going to break into a thousand pieces. Plus it changes as often as your gun. Every staircase, every room, is going to be changing at all times making you feel like you’ve somehow walked into an M.C. Escher drawing.
Control will be releasing on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC sometime in 2019. And it can’t come soon enough.