Control

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 63 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 63
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 63
  3. Negative: 1 out of 63
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  1. British GQ
    Sep 11, 2019
    Delightfully weird.
  2. Eurogamer
    Aug 26, 2019
    Giddy action and astonishing art design combine in one of the great locations of modern video games. [Eurogamer Recommended]
  3. Kotaku
    Aug 26, 2019
    It’s a twisted, haunting odyssey through an old post-WWII office building under siege by parasitic beings from another dimension. Control has all the standard elements of a regular third-person shooter, but its exhaustive world building and all-consuming eeriness make it much more.
  5. Mashable
    Aug 26, 2019
    The mechanics are the straightforward stuff of third-person shooters with some bonus abilities thrown in. It's well-made and fun to play, no question. But that's not what tugs you to keep playing. Like the twisted and overlapping spaces of the Oldest House, Control's layered mystery and HOLY SH.T!! reveals are its biggest assets and its greatest successes.
  6. The Jimquisition
    Aug 28, 2019
    Yeah, it's pretty good with a number of caveats. Terrific combat and a ground bed of fun ideas, marred by some poor writing and level design. Still, you get to throw a LOT of stuff around.
  7. The Verge
    Aug 26, 2019
    While it can be tedious at times, Control is worth experiencing for the atmosphere alone. It’s the kind of place that feels both alien and mundane, and it becomes richer and more compelling the further you delve into it. By the end, the things that first disturbed me become almost banal. Floating, chanting bodies are just the beginning.
  8. Time
    Sep 11, 2019
    While Control is a blast to play and looks stunning, it’s the story that really holds it together. Faden’s journey through The Oldest House to find out what happened to her brother and rid the FBC of The Hiss kept me hooked until the very end.

Awards & Rankings

35
#35 Best PS4 Game of 2019
8
#8 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2019
40
#40 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2019

User Reviews

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User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2611 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,692 out of 2611
  2. Mixed: 507 out of 2611
  3. Negative: 412 out of 2611
  1. Timppa87
    Aug 27, 2019
    10
    Very high quality action game. Unique story and excellent game mechanics. Beautiful graphics!
  2. CustardPigeon
    Aug 27, 2019
    6
    This game had so much potential to be something great, but it is marred by bugs, design choices, and story structure. The first few hours wereThis game had so much potential to be something great, but it is marred by bugs, design choices, and story structure. The first few hours were great, the rest of the game, not so much.

    You play Jesse Faden, a woman who is in search of her missing brother. She is led to the FBC which is a secretive government agency which secures, contains and protects against paranormal objects and events. If you have seen the SPC site in the internet, its essentially that. Within 5 minutes of entering the building you are made the director (boss) of the agency and its up to you to find your brother, defeat the paranormal entity infesting the building, and do everything your staff need you to do.

    The design of the game is a big letdown. Although the building the game is set in is TARDIS like with unlimited dimensions inside, and with the paranormal objects which fill the game and according to ingame lore can affect their environment, causing new dimensions (thresholds) to appear in the same area. you'd assume this would result in some variety of area design, but no. All areas are just grey concrete filled with desks, and/or pipes. The thresholds you see are limited to putting a few piles of clocks on the floor, or a quarry filled with black rock. Wasted opportunity, as the graphical quality isn't too bad, although more effort is put into flashy dust like effects and debris.

    Areas which contain enemies are overly dark, illuminated only by red light as the concrete walls swell and close in. Combine this with enemies who lack discernible differences in appearance except for glowing red spots, and it can be difficult to discern which enemy is which type (necessary for some option missions where you need to kill a certain type), and to determine which is the biggest threat. Combat was generally easy in my experience, only becoming difficult when you get swarmed with shielded regenerating health enemies, or if there was snipers with rocket launcher, for whom you get little warning their homing rockets is coming towards you. You do get the power to convert enemies to your side, but I found the AI lacklustre, as converted suicide bombers just stood pointlessly whilst there is enemies running around them.

    Mission structure tends to consist of go to place, find thing but thing isn't there, go somewhere else, find thing and boom, mission done. This becomes incredibly tedious, especially with the obtuse way the story is told to you. Between the story/mission structure and the level design, I was just getting bored.

    Actual gameplay is pretty good, with you combining gunplay with powers such as telekinesis and levitation for combat, and with the debris effects it can be really entertaining/ but repetitive, uninspired enemies and level design made this too, become boring and tedious to do the more i played.

    I cant really comment on sound design as the soundtrack is subtle in the midst of gameplay, so all I can really say was that it was there, but not good or memorable enough to be remembered.

    Playing on a ps4 pro, I experienced numerous frame rate drops, freezing, slow loading textures, and had to reload my save a couple of times as certain mission items would not load in. These issue may be fixed in a future patch, as is the norm these days.

    In summary, this game had so much potential to be something amazing, it's a brand new IP with a unique setting and fundamentally good gameplay, but it is let down by a lack of imagination by the developers when it comes to sound, area, mission, story and enemy design. I hope that in the event of a sequel, more effort is given to these aspects and then we may have an amazing series in the future.    … Full Review »
  3. JAX85
    Aug 27, 2019
    9
    A Great game with a fascinating and mysterious story-line that with awesome game play and shooting system is one of the best games of 2019.A Great game with a fascinating and mysterious story-line that with awesome game play and shooting system is one of the best games of 2019.
    Story = 10
    Graphic = 8.5
    Game play = 9
    Sound = 9    … Full Review »
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