The Order: 1886 Review (PS4)
Story
This game takes place in alternate reality of London, where it is plagued by Half-Breed attacks as well as by the Rebels. Galahad, along with his comrades are tasked to find out the cause of Half-Breed attacks, without official jurisdiction and orders. Little did he know that he will uncover a secret conspiracy that will threaten the whole country of England.
The setting is particularly innovative and well-done, reflecting an interesting take of London in the past. Story itself is fairly interesting, but falls short as there are too many unanswered mysteries in the game and the abrupt conclusion. Characters are underdeveloped in this game, for both main and supporting characters despite having memorable designs. The only characters that I am genuinely interested with despite lack of development are Galahad and the Rebel leader.
Gameplay
This game is a standard third person shooter game, with lots of cutscenes in the game and Quick Time Events. You can take cover to avoid damage during gunfights and to avoid detection, you can dodge rolling to avoid attacks such as grenades, and interact with objects.
The game's progression is linear and simple, as you will progress from one point to another by relying your objective marker, and you may have to fight enemies on your way in. Occasionally you will encounter a lockpick puzzle which you have to get through to proceed, or bypassing certain doors using Nikola's device. As there is not many variety or progression methods and processes, the game is fairly simple yet too linear.
While exploring, you may pick up new weapons and ammo for you upcoming gunfights, or inspect a number of objects throughout the game, such as newspapers and photos. You may also examine certain objects further if you want to. There are quite a number of hidden collectibles in the game, so using a guide to find these collectibles is highly recommended.
Combat in this game is rather intense yet repetitive. You may use weapons such as revolvers, pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and other weapons. Each weapon have their own pros and cons, such as firepower, ammo capacity, and others. Depending on the difficulty you are playing, you may have to improvise your strategy on defeating enemies such as picking up weapons dropped by enemies in case you are out of ammo. You may also throw grenades to kill a group of enemies, but it may not be reliable if enemies are spread out. There are two main group of enemies, such as armed humans and a certain group of Half-Breed. Armed humans can be dispatched easily using your firearms, but the particular group of Half-Breed enemies that you will encounter will require you to be a bit more responsive in terms of attacking and dodging them. You may also initiate lethal physical attacks on nearby enemies, or do stealth kills in later chapters while undetected.
There are two useful techniques in this game that will help you survive the game. First is the Blacksight. Blacksight is a slow-motion technique that allows you to fire your pistol/revolver at enemies in a very fast rate, and you may be able to kill multiple enemies if you are quick enough. You can only use Blacksight once the gauge is filled up, which can be filled up by killing enemies. The second is Blackwater. Once Galahad is dying, you can use the Blackwater to revive yourself and giving yourself another chance in combating enemies. However, enemies can still kill you when you are in dying state and when you are using it. You can only use Blackwater once, and you will not be able to use it again until you restart a checkpoint or die in the level again.
Overall, the third person shooter combat is solidly done, but the game lacks a lot of content to make this game worth playing all over again. There are lots of game modes that can be included in this game to increase the replay value, such as survival modes, boss modes, and others. The whole game can be completed less than 10 hours, meaning very short completion time. The developers could have add more gameplay sections and incorporate less Quick Time Events to extend the playing time. Other significant issues of the gameplay include lack of enemy variety, no actual boss fights, lack of stealth sections, repetitive and linear progression, and imbalance of QTEs and actual gameplay sections. Technically, there are two boss fights, but it is difficult to consider those as boss fights as these two fights are completed via Quick Time Events.
Graphics
So far, this is the one of the best looking PS4 games, with amazing looking characters and environments. The attention to character details and environments are amazing. Collectibles such as items that can be inspected throughout the game are also amazingly well designed.
Sound
The game's voice acting is pretty good, with solid performance by all voice actors. The motion capture in this game is simply well-done. However, nonce of the voice actors did extremely memorable job for me to highlight their performances in the game. The soundtrack is rather good, and it has choir and epic themes. As the main composer of the soundtrack is the same one who has done Dead Space soundtracks and Tomb Raider reboot soundtrack, the composer has made quite a name for himself by doing this great soundtrack.
Replay Value
There isn't much replay value in this game. You can opt to play the game again in different difficulties such as Hard Mode, collect all collectibles in the game, or obtain all Trophies in this game.
Conclusion
There are few games that are worth comparing with this game, which are Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain. Lots of cutscenes, heavy QTEs usage, and impressive graphics. Some players however, may debate that how much playable these games are compared to other games. Another comparison is Asura's Wrath, an action game with lots of Quick Time Events. Depending on player's tastes, this game can be a great addition to them or a bane for them.
One of the employees of Ready at Dawn Studio mentioned that the quality matters, not quantity. Players may only agree that statement is true only if the overall game is enjoyable without being extremely repetitive. Otherwise, quality of a game is very debatable. The value of the game is also questionable, and it is wise to get this game when it is cheaper.
Overall, this game has major issues. Abrupt ending, underdeveloped characters, short completion time, repetitive progression, lack of gameplay modes, no major boss fights, lack of enemy variety, and low replay value are the major issues of this game. This game has some merits however, such as interesting setting and lore, intense and fun combat, variety of weapons to be used, amazing graphics, good voice acting, and good soundtrack. The pros do not outweigh the cons easily, and it is highly suggested to get this game when it is cheap and if you like story-driven and Quick Time Events based game. Hopefully a sequel with improvement on these areas will somehow overshadow this game's critical mixed reviews by critics and players in the future.
Score
Story: 6/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Final Score: 7.0/10.0 or 30/40
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting setting and lore.
- Intense and fun combat.
- Lots of weapons to be used.
- Amazing graphics.
- Good voice acting and soundtrack.
Cons
- Abrupt and weak ending.
- Many underdeveloped characters.
- Imbalance of combat sections and Quick Time Events sections.
- Not many stealth sections.
- Short completion time.
- Repetitive progression.
- Lack of gameplay modes, such as Survival mode.
- No major boss fights.
- Lack of enemy variety.
- Very low replay value.
Sir Galahad is one of the respectable Knights.
This game takes place in alternate reality of London, where it is plagued by Half-Breed attacks as well as by the Rebels. Galahad, along with his comrades are tasked to find out the cause of Half-Breed attacks, without official jurisdiction and orders. Little did he know that he will uncover a secret conspiracy that will threaten the whole country of England.
The setting is particularly innovative and well-done, reflecting an interesting take of London in the past. Story itself is fairly interesting, but falls short as there are too many unanswered mysteries in the game and the abrupt conclusion. Characters are underdeveloped in this game, for both main and supporting characters despite having memorable designs. The only characters that I am genuinely interested with despite lack of development are Galahad and the Rebel leader.
Gameplay
Defeat your enemies with a variety of firearms.
This game is a standard third person shooter game, with lots of cutscenes in the game and Quick Time Events. You can take cover to avoid damage during gunfights and to avoid detection, you can dodge rolling to avoid attacks such as grenades, and interact with objects.
The game's progression is linear and simple, as you will progress from one point to another by relying your objective marker, and you may have to fight enemies on your way in. Occasionally you will encounter a lockpick puzzle which you have to get through to proceed, or bypassing certain doors using Nikola's device. As there is not many variety or progression methods and processes, the game is fairly simple yet too linear.
While exploring, you may pick up new weapons and ammo for you upcoming gunfights, or inspect a number of objects throughout the game, such as newspapers and photos. You may also examine certain objects further if you want to. There are quite a number of hidden collectibles in the game, so using a guide to find these collectibles is highly recommended.
Combat in this game is rather intense yet repetitive. You may use weapons such as revolvers, pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and other weapons. Each weapon have their own pros and cons, such as firepower, ammo capacity, and others. Depending on the difficulty you are playing, you may have to improvise your strategy on defeating enemies such as picking up weapons dropped by enemies in case you are out of ammo. You may also throw grenades to kill a group of enemies, but it may not be reliable if enemies are spread out. There are two main group of enemies, such as armed humans and a certain group of Half-Breed. Armed humans can be dispatched easily using your firearms, but the particular group of Half-Breed enemies that you will encounter will require you to be a bit more responsive in terms of attacking and dodging them. You may also initiate lethal physical attacks on nearby enemies, or do stealth kills in later chapters while undetected.
There are two useful techniques in this game that will help you survive the game. First is the Blacksight. Blacksight is a slow-motion technique that allows you to fire your pistol/revolver at enemies in a very fast rate, and you may be able to kill multiple enemies if you are quick enough. You can only use Blacksight once the gauge is filled up, which can be filled up by killing enemies. The second is Blackwater. Once Galahad is dying, you can use the Blackwater to revive yourself and giving yourself another chance in combating enemies. However, enemies can still kill you when you are in dying state and when you are using it. You can only use Blackwater once, and you will not be able to use it again until you restart a checkpoint or die in the level again.
Overall, the third person shooter combat is solidly done, but the game lacks a lot of content to make this game worth playing all over again. There are lots of game modes that can be included in this game to increase the replay value, such as survival modes, boss modes, and others. The whole game can be completed less than 10 hours, meaning very short completion time. The developers could have add more gameplay sections and incorporate less Quick Time Events to extend the playing time. Other significant issues of the gameplay include lack of enemy variety, no actual boss fights, lack of stealth sections, repetitive and linear progression, and imbalance of QTEs and actual gameplay sections. Technically, there are two boss fights, but it is difficult to consider those as boss fights as these two fights are completed via Quick Time Events.
Graphics
Astounding graphics.
Sound
Good voice acting and soundtrack.
The game's voice acting is pretty good, with solid performance by all voice actors. The motion capture in this game is simply well-done. However, nonce of the voice actors did extremely memorable job for me to highlight their performances in the game. The soundtrack is rather good, and it has choir and epic themes. As the main composer of the soundtrack is the same one who has done Dead Space soundtracks and Tomb Raider reboot soundtrack, the composer has made quite a name for himself by doing this great soundtrack.
Replay Value
Very low replay value.
There isn't much replay value in this game. You can opt to play the game again in different difficulties such as Hard Mode, collect all collectibles in the game, or obtain all Trophies in this game.
Conclusion
A promising start of a brand new franchise, but plagued with a number of major issues.
There are few games that are worth comparing with this game, which are Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain. Lots of cutscenes, heavy QTEs usage, and impressive graphics. Some players however, may debate that how much playable these games are compared to other games. Another comparison is Asura's Wrath, an action game with lots of Quick Time Events. Depending on player's tastes, this game can be a great addition to them or a bane for them.
One of the employees of Ready at Dawn Studio mentioned that the quality matters, not quantity. Players may only agree that statement is true only if the overall game is enjoyable without being extremely repetitive. Otherwise, quality of a game is very debatable. The value of the game is also questionable, and it is wise to get this game when it is cheaper.
Overall, this game has major issues. Abrupt ending, underdeveloped characters, short completion time, repetitive progression, lack of gameplay modes, no major boss fights, lack of enemy variety, and low replay value are the major issues of this game. This game has some merits however, such as interesting setting and lore, intense and fun combat, variety of weapons to be used, amazing graphics, good voice acting, and good soundtrack. The pros do not outweigh the cons easily, and it is highly suggested to get this game when it is cheap and if you like story-driven and Quick Time Events based game. Hopefully a sequel with improvement on these areas will somehow overshadow this game's critical mixed reviews by critics and players in the future.
Score
Story: 6/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 8/10
Final Score: 7.0/10.0 or 30/40
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting setting and lore.
- Intense and fun combat.
- Lots of weapons to be used.
- Amazing graphics.
- Good voice acting and soundtrack.
Cons
- Abrupt and weak ending.
- Many underdeveloped characters.
- Imbalance of combat sections and Quick Time Events sections.
- Not many stealth sections.
- Short completion time.
- Repetitive progression.
- Lack of gameplay modes, such as Survival mode.
- No major boss fights.
- Lack of enemy variety.
- Very low replay value.
Comments
Post a Comment