Xbox One Edition - worth a look?

Hi all,

I noticed that Control Ultimate Edition is on sale on the Xbox store. It has had a significant discount compared to the retail version. I am wondering if this is worth a look if I end up playing it on Xbox One for a while (as the Xbox Series X is not available to buy anywhere and I am debating whether I should get it early on or wait until there is more software/a price cut) so would not get any benefits of a better frame rate/improved graphics that the Series X/PS5 offers.

I enjoyed Alan Wake a lot so would like to see what Remedy have been up to since then, but there was talk of the console versions being rough?

Thank you.

From what I understand, it runs like ass on the original Xbox One. It kinda ran okay on my One X, but I hear it plays very well on the Series X. If you REALLY need to play it now and plan on getting a Series X when you can, I guess grab it now and see how well it plays. If nothing else you can always wait to pick it up again on the Series X.

It has a few hiccups on One X but is totally playable. Most noticeable issue is the hitching when pausing or pulling up the map. Not outstanding, but it didn’t ultimately hurt my experience. I can’t say how much worse it is on the base Xbox One, but I’m guessing if that’s your primary console then you’re probably used to how it performs.

I’m a big fan of Alan Wake, and I played through Control on my One X. It was one of my favorite experiences of the generation. I truly can’t recommend it enough. If you appreciate Remedy’s work, Control is some of the best they’ve ever done.

I didn't love Control. Alan Wake is still their best game to me, then the Max Payne games, but there is some good stuff in it (mainly, Alan Wake stuff and even that ended up being disappointing to some degree with its DLC). I would wait if you only have the base Xbox One or S, but on Xbox One X it runs totally fine.

I played it on a launch Xbox One. It does indeed run like ass. It's playable, but don't expect a smooth experience. I still enjoyed it, frame rate and load times aside. But if you are picky about those types of things, I probably won't recommend it.

@ntm: I know it’s not the point of the thread, so feel free to spoiler tag any response, but I’m curious what you didn’t like about Control. I know some folks just don’t click with Remedy’s style, but it sounds like you appreciate at least some of their other work.

@hatking: I thought the story and characters were pretty dull (also, bad/weird facial animations). Ahti is interesting though. I know a lot of people enjoy the combat and destruction, but I didn't love the combat, and the destruction was cool but wasn't super new to see.

The service weapon looked cool and is a neat idea, but the combat didn't feel all that impactful to me. I don't know it if was the sound of the weaponry or the animations of the enemies when they're struck with the bullets or both, but it wasn't entirely satisfying to me. And I typically love the setting that Control has (office/complex, mixed in with some weirdness), but The Oldest House just didn't do a whole lot for me either. It does have some cool looking structures in it though. I liked The Oldest House, but I didn't feel as immersed in that environment as I was hoping I would be.

The music was also disappointingly unemotional. I heard the music but didn't feel much listening to it; it was just kind of there. It kind of works to complement the atmosphere, and I can see what they were trying to accomplish with the overall sound design, but still, the music wasn't something that grabbed me. Also, to be clear, I didn't love Control (just saying, I didn't necessarily dislike it overall). I'll definitely be playing whatever else comes from Remedy or even Control in the future. I like Remedy a lot, but their games have always had an interesting thing going in and of themselves, while Control feels very much like it's being the Dark Tower of them all, and that's the intrigue. Control only works, at least so far, by how it uses Remedy's past works to me.

@ntm: Thanks for sharing! I definitely had a different experience with Control, but we can at least agree that Alan Wake is great!

I played the base game on an original Xbox One and thought the performance was decent most of the time. Like hatking mentioned, it hitches when pulling up the menus or the map. I also thought the load times were slow (30-50 second) running off a USB 3.0 external hard drive.

I only had two serious issues. First, it's the only game I've played that caused the Xbox One to run out of video memory. That happened about 4 times over my roughly 35hr playthrough and caused the game to crash each time. Second, there were 2 moments where the framerate dropped to the point of becoming a sideshow--literally 1 frame every few seconds.

Even with those issues, I still strongly recommend this if you're a Remedy fan. I played Control this summer, and it's easily my game of the year.

Wait for series x version. Otherwise avoid. Game runs like crap