The
Order: 1886 wastes no time revealing its hand.
From the moment it begins you're bombarded with beautiful graphics,
tremendous cut-scenes, and top-notch voice acting. But where does that leave the gameplay and
story?
STORY:
In
an alternate 1886 London, werewolves run a mock and only one small group of
knights can stop them: The Order. The
knights have traded in their swords for more practical weapons like shotguns
and hand cannons, but their sworn oath to take out the Lycans has remained the
same. Players assume the role of
Galahad: a valiant knight that isn't old, but experienced with a sexy mustache
and mussed hair. Nothing will stop Sir
Galahad from tracking down the source of this terrible evil…except maybe an
unfinished story.
"I don't know about you, but after this...I'm going back to that brothel to catch a few more STD's."
THOUGHTS:
If
there was ever a video game that allowed players to sit on a couch and pig out
while almost gaming, this would be
it. There are equally the same amounts
of cut-scenes as there is gunplay. So
before you start the The Order: 1886, make sure you have a gigantic bucket of
popcorn, a hotdog wrapped in bacon, one large fry, a cheesesteak, fish and
chips, a milkshake, and a box of junior mints to finish it all off. Because this is one long movie and just a
small box of Raisinets is not going to cut it.
You
might notice when you start The Order that a percentage of the screen is
missing. Do not attempt to look under
the sofa or in between the cushions…it’s actually not supposed to be
there. Did the developer add the black
bars at the top and bottom of the screen to make the game more cinematic? Or just to decrease the amount of pixels,
because it couldn't run at full 1080p?
This is anyone's guess. But it's
best not to think about it and push on.
The
Order is beautiful. In fact, it's one of
the most beautiful games the PS4 has in its arsenal at the moment. The detail to the characters and the
extremely well crafted guns are some of the best pixelated artistry you'll see
on console. On top of the gorgeous art,
you get astounding voice over and character animations. The slight changes in facial expressions
allow you to see a protagonist go from happy to sad to worried with just an eye adjustment. And watching one
of the main characters contemplate their next move is breathtaking. But the problem is gamers have watched movies
before. We've sat in a theater or at
home and have seen great acting on screen.
So whether or not you enjoy yourself, all comes down to the gameplay.
"I know you can't do anything about your ugly face, but a Tic Tac could possibly solve that halitosis."
GAMEPLAY:
The
few and far between gun fights that happen within The Order are heavily
inspired by Gears of War. You might be
saying, "Good, I love Gears of War,"
but do you really remember all the immense battles in those games? The massive fights you'd get in and the fun
weapons you'd be able to use? Well
forget all that while you’re playing The Order.
The closest thing you get to fun, is at one point your character uses a
rocket launcher for a couple of minutes.
Aside from that, most of the time is spent using different rifles, a few
machine guns, and the same pistols. Now,
it may sound like a Call of Duty type game, but the gunplay is cliché and
uninspired. Duck and wait…return fire
and then rinse and repeat. Now, a few of
the sequences do have enemies dressed up like The Man in the Iron Mask, but
they are just bullet sponges. You
literally have to sink over 15 shots into these idiots to put them down and
their shotgun—no matter if you're behind cover or not—stings and hurts you. So the gun "play" just becomes slightly more tedious and frustrating.
Now…at
one point the shootouts do get turned up to eleven and that's when you're
fighting in a kitchen area. Why? Because pots and pans, man. Pots and pans. The physics in some parts of the game is actually entertaining. For instance, in
the kitchen you'll have more fun shooting the hanging pots then the actual
enemies that are trying to kill you. But
sheer awesomeness doesn't surface until you get to the warehouse and the game
begins to mimic a county fair. The
enemies will actually pour out of one side of the screen like ducks and it's
your job to take them down. The only
thing this sequence was missing was the ding sound as each enemy was shot in
the head. Nothing like nostalgia, right?
"Hmmm...small alley with cover carefully placed here and there. Yep, pretty much what I expected."
THE WEREWOLVES:
Sprinkled
in between the gun battles and long cut-scenes are a few werewolf
scenarios. Actually there are two kinds:
one scenario puts you in a large room and exactly three Lycans will charge at
you. You shoot and dodge and then press
another button to take them down. The
other scenario is more like an interactive movie: a giant Lycan growls and
slashes and you press the button prompts to avoid being eaten. The first scenario sounds like fun, but with
the QTE included to dodge, it becomes outrageously stupid and tedious. The second scenario is actually copied twice
in the game and is ridiculous. If you
think you're actually making the moves shown on screen you're sadly
mistaken. Because there are times when
you’re fighting the giant werewolf and trying to press a button, but nothing
happens. Why? Because it's not scripted at that
moment. So you'll have to wait for the
script to kick in and then one of your button mashes will finally go
through. Kevin Sorbo has the perfect
reaction to these sequences.
THE STEALTH:
There's
not much to say except the stealth in the game is terrible. Done.
You would think with all the massive stealth titles out there to pull
reference from, like Hitman, or Splinter Cell, that these areas would be
fun. Nope. Just more button prompts. And if you fail pressing that one button, you
have to do the entire area over again.
There's no running away or punching the guy in the face or causing the
sequence to go from stealth to action.
There's nothing. You either do
the stealth exactly as the game tells you or you're dead. Fail.
HOW IS THE STORY:
Yes…how
is the story? Well, do you like your stories to have no
ending? How about a love story that
really doesn't matter? Or how about
characters that basically are just pixelated bodies thrown in to take up space? If so, then you'll love the story. The funny thing is all the ingredients were
there for a fantastic romp: Old school London, Steampunk, gorgeous weapons,
werewolves, Tesla, the Knights of the Round Table, and even Jack the
Ripper. But it turns out that the actual
execution of the story is more like the Three Stooges trying to bake a
cake. They have all the right
ingredients. They even have the recipe
on how to it, but for some reason everything turns out blowing up in their
faces. When a main character gets hurt,
you won't even care because they haven't been explored yet. And then when the ending leaves story plots
up in the air (can you say PlayStation franchise) you’re left scratching your
head with the controller.
"I have to find that sniper...but first I must read every newspaper in the room and
look at every photograph."
CHOOSE YOUR OWN
ADVENTURE:
The
Order could have been that much more interesting if the player could have
chosen—just in a couple of spots—how the story played out. But instead your hand is held while you walk
through scripted event after scripted event.
There's no weaving your own path or telling your own story. You basically sit there and watch a movie
unfold, while being prompted to push a button every once in a while. Cool story, bro.
HOW TO MAKE A
SHORT GAME LONGER:
The
Order is short. About seven hours with
half that time being cut-scenes. But it
didn't need to be that long. It feels as
though the developers had a good few hours and then thought, "Well, crap…how do we make it longer?" And some joker in the back of the room was
like, "Let's make the main character
read the paper and look at old photographs." And everyone cheered and slapped that guy in
the ass and said, "gg." Not only do these boring events take place,
but you'll also spend time searching bookcases and an entire warehouse for
certain things...just like real life.
And you know how much fun looking for a needle in a haystack is, so
there's no need to go into detail. Also,
your character feels like he weighs two thousand pounds and attempting to push
the thumb stick to get him to move is horrific.
They actually slowed him down in areas so wandering around would take
even longer. If you pulled out the
searching sequences, the walking sequences, and the studying objects sequences,
the game would literally take about four hours…tops. But they had to make it feel longer. And it sure does. It feels so long in parts you'll completely
stop looking at newspapers and disregard trophies just to get to the next
cut-scene or…hopefully a gun battle.
"Man, everyday these mobile games get more and more complicated. What'll they think of next?"
CONCLUSION:
The
Order: 1886 shows Playstation fans what's possible in terms of graphics and
beauty. And Ready at Dawn took a shot at
attempting something new in gaming and should be commended for that. But with uninspired gameplay, and sequences
that completely bog down the flow of the story, you'd be much better off spending
your hard earn money on another game or waiting for this one to go on
sale. The upside is the sequel is definitely
coming and with this mess already out of the way, hopefully the next game
focuses on just fixing all the problems.
Imagine what a sequel would be like if the graphics and beauty remained,
but the story and gameplay was also top-notch?
Complete gaming bliss.
2.5 out of 5 Stars (add a star for graphics & beauty, and ½ star for voice-over)
No comments:
Post a Comment