Quick Look: Control

Less big expansive open worlds and more interesting and intricate small worlds!

It's called Control because you control the controls with a controller.

It's not just the self narration that makes those messages from the previous director Max Payne like, that's literally Max Payne's voice actor.

Sounds like a game to play on the PC. I looks really bad in this video.. but not in the videos from the PC (with beefy hardware.) Lame that it is on the epic store because there is no pre-load :P (I hope cloud saves..)

I'm really looking forward to playing this. I HOPE SLI works so i can get 4k and RT (… i'm not holding my breath.)

i generally wish GB did more in-depth stuff. "oh, i played of an hour or two." isn't very helpful. I watch these for the entrainment value of the crew, but not about the games themselves.

Is the main character meant to be 3ft tall, or did they get Ben to design the doorways in this facility?

Wait, so is there going to be an RTX version review? I mean, that is the whole point of this game. It's a tech demo for ray-tracing with a story shoved in it. I know someone on the crew has to have an RTX card and know how to use it. I don't understand why you would go with a PS4 version of this game unless the RTX version is somehow gated off.

22:19 Ahti is Finnish. Jesse thinking he's Swedish was a joke about how people consistently confuse Finns with Swedes and Remedy probably did that in part to rile up the home audience. I'm riled up... Reeee.

@alex The weird stuff he's saying is either just Finnish (mostly swearing) or Finnish colloquialisms and idioms translated into English word-for-word. For example the correct translation for "I can tell you are not a yesterday's grouse's son" would be "I can tell you weren't born yesterday", "No-one's gonna cancel my holiday, or sheaths gonna rattle" would be "No-one's gonna cancel my holiday, or there'll be hell to pay" and so on and so forth.

I realize I'm biased as all hell, but from what I've seen, I like the character a lot. He's like a perfect representation of a Finnish blue-collar worker. He's laid back and coarse, also seems a bit sad and lonely. He also likes Finnish tango music and you can hear him sing along, and I love it.

Also, seeing a character in a game that has the voice and likeness of a famous Finnish actor is kinda surreal, but that's neither here nor there.

This is the end of my /torille, thank you.

Shame about the performance on consoles, game looks interesting, raytracing or no. Hopefully they can patch it into a better state.

"Hiss Rangers" sounds like a group that would report to Serpentor.

Yes, but are you controlling the controller or is the controller controlling you?

Holy shit "stuffed that skeleton into some different meat" is an incredible phrase.

@adamcboyd: I asked for the PS4 version because that's what I wanted to play the game on.

@adamcboyd: That's... really selling the entire game short, dontcha think?

wait, the previous director is literally voiced by max payne guy lol. that's awesome

Return of the B game

@adamcboyd: uh it's also just a video game, you know. The RTX version isn't really attainable for the vast majority of potential customers anyway. I'm sure Digital Foundry will have an in-depth look at the PC version with ray tracing, but that's not what GB really dabbles in.

So excited to get my hands on this. Quantum Break played so well and this seems even better.

I loved Alan Wake and this has a lot of the trappings. I can see me being into this.

I've been waiting for this quick look. I'm really excited for this game

@the_nubster: I have an RTX card, and am very interested in seeing Remedy's implementation of their Ray Tracing in Control. That all being said expecting GB or any other outlet to review the PC version specifically for the Ray Tracing is ridiculous. I don't understand where the person you're quoting from got any of that in his head, but such is the state of discourse around video games.

Don't worry Alex- I got it ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PtvIr2oiaE

So this looks pretty cool, but I'm sadly saddled with only having a base PS4 to potentially play it on. Is there a good place to find regular vs Pro footage for this game? Didn't see anything on Digital Foundry, but they just might not have it yet? Alex made it sound pretty bad, but I tend to be less sensitive to performance issues than most.

Ray-tracing benchmark or whatever aside, I am very interested in this game. I've been looking for a game where the gameplay is fun enough, but where the world and environments are dense in character and detail. Just the way color and lighting interact with one another looks excellent, and particle effects from explosions look awesome.

This is a very Remedy-looking game, and that's enough for me to shell out $60.

40 dollar ps2 game with 60 dollar ps4 pro production, very interesting ... hmmmmmm

This, of course. GB isn't a hardware review site. Digital Foundry has carved out a niche comparing performance of AAA games across all available platforms, and they do quite a good job of it. Wait for their analysis.

Wait... I didn't realize the plot was literally SCP: The Game?!

Oof, Sony's marketing deal is not doing this game any graphical favors. Looks so much better in the videos I've watched with PC footage (not many of those sadly).

Having liked Quantum Break quite a bit, the only thing I'm not totally sold on, watching this, is the actual gunplay. I didn't love the shooting in Quantum Break either, but the multiple powers you get (the TIME STOP bubble thing, particularly) made it easy to tolerate. Hopefully, Alex is still just relatively early in the game, and more abilities unlock later on.

I don't like being critical of these quicklooks, but that boss fight was frustrating to watch. It felt obvious to me that you have to lure it into that yellow room because, for one, it follows you, for two, it doesn't go through the small door, for three, you have to use that cube to power the door.

You had me at Remedy

I think I am wayyy into this.

Yeah I dunno, it seemed preeetty obvious you were supposed to be trapping that thing in there. Alex just kept running through the hallway before it even really got in the room. He did it once accidentally early on but wasn't aware he needed to close the door.

I wish I could play this, but that flashing makes me super nauseated.

This makes me really glad I was gifted the PC version. Although if I had gone down the console route it would be for my XB1X which would have done fairly well I guess, but yah the second-class-citizen effect for non-Pro console owners is in full effect.

Some of the floating enemies gave me real 'Layers of Fear' vibes.

This was a great quick look. I got to see a good measure of the game and Alex brought me into it with clear explanations so I knew what was going on. Thank you!

Why did they call this a B-game? If anything, it's a slightly more expansive version of the same style of Remedy game they've been making for years, and those have all been basically near AAA-releases in my book.

I'm not sure I would ever consider Max Payne, Max Payne 2, Alan Wake, or Quantum Break B-games.

This sure looks like another Remedy game, for good and for ill.

Too bad the video is blurry like 80% of the time.

Very much appreciate Alex's three-hours-in spoiler warning near the start of the video here. There is a distinction between dipping one's toe in with a QL and knowing how events (a few hours in) play out too soon (for me, anyway - heck, I love Remedy's work, I know I'll be playing this sooner or later.) I'll watch this in future; for now, thanks again!

Drink any time something is described as noun-ass-noun. You'll be dead-ass-dead.

@wiseblood: I was thinking to myself... are they purposely not mentioning it?

Goddamn hearing that voice make me yearn for a new Max Payne.

I'm pretty sure the only games that "games media" would characterize as AAA these days would probably be Rockstar games and they apparently take 5-8 years to make and maybe even more with resources stretched thin chasing microtransactions for online. If arena shooters, 2D platformers and CRPGs can carve out a niche for themselves, why can't story-driven third person shooters as well (if they are up to par and not a haphazard reboot)?

I don't remember hearing of this before E3 so I was pleasantly surprised that Remedy was already releasing a game so soon after Quantum Break. Apparently they have expanded a lot and I hope they find an audience for their games because they combine impressive technology with interesting story themes. It might be due to publisher contracts but at least they make an effort in building new worlds for plots instead of grinding some old franchise to death.

Anyways, Alan Wake might be their best game IMHO but I think I might buy this on PC eventually (which is why I mostly skimmed through the video).

@subscryber: When the GBE crew started the now-defunct Bring Your B Game series and were caught arguing about what made a game a B game, any defining characteristics were pretty much thrown aside. I mean Dan was arguing that C&C were B games and now it's just whatever it feels to you. If a game feels like a B game, then it's a B game. I've come to terms with it.

I'm into this type of weird.

With all of the massive open world or loot games I play these days, I long for a tight experience like this. They are few and far between now.

Pro tip to commenters: 1) Just because a puzzle solution is obvious to you, doesn't mean it is to everyone else. You don't speak for them. 2) You do realize we all process visual information differently, and it's unfair to judge how quickly you found out the solution to the puzzle to another person. Also, no one cares if you solved a puzzle faster. 3) You may not mean to, but you sound like a condescending bully when you say things like "It's so obvious..."

Looks pretty boring

Is it running at like 15 frames per second?