The Order: 1886

[Nyt]

So, anyone getting this game tomorrow ? 

 

Review embargo lifted today, and it seems mixed although most are leaning to the negative side.

 

Preordered the collector's edition, so I'll see what it's like tomorrow. I enjoyed cinematic/on-the-rails games like Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain so I'll see how this works when combined with 3rd person shooting mechanics.

[IVIYTH0S]

Do tell, never heard of it!

[bp9801]

Do tell, never heard of it!

 

Guess you never looked at any of the E3 info we had, or visited any gaming site.

 

The Order: 1886

[El_Capitan]

I've got enough games but not enough time. Looks pretty good, but I'll wait until it's $5 to $15 on Steam.

[bp9801]

I've got enough games but not enough time. Looks pretty good, but I'll wait until it's $5 to $15 on Steam.

 

Don't think it'd appear on Steam.

 

I'll wait until it's free through PS+.

 

 

 

Collection of reviews on reddit. GameInformer gives it a 7.5/10, GameTrailers an 8.2/10, while everything else is 6.5 or under. All seem to say the game looks gorgeous, but relies too heavily on QTEs, boring weapons, and tedium.

[IVIYTH0S]

 

Do tell, never heard of it!

 

Guess you never looked at any of the E3 info we had, or visited any gaming site.

 

Nope, I'm aboard the "captain's" boat on this one

[WhenKittensATK]

"30 FPS is an artistic choice." Don't enjoy QTE at all. If it's all cut scenes then I don't mind. When I got to those in Metal Gear I knew I could relax.

 

Hope Bloodborne does better. Deep Down is being redesigned. So much for the year of PS4 exclusives.

Edited February 20, 2015 by WhenKittensATK

[bp9801]

"30 FPS is an artistic choice." Don't enjoy QTE at all. If it's all cut scenes then I don't mind. When I got to those in Metal Gear I knew I could relax.

 

Hope Bloodborne does better. Deep Down is being redesigned. So much for the year of PS4 exclusives.

 

The year isn't even two months old. One exclusive that hasn't quite lived up to expectations is hardly cause for concern.

[Nyt]

My collector's edition never arrived, so I got a normal retail edition from the stores on Saturday. Finished it yesterday. 

 

My thoughts...

Graphics: 
Brilliant. Really beautiful. 

Beautiful cloth simulation. I doubt PhysX cloth even looks this good.
The smoothest 30FPS I've ever experienced. No input lag, nor any lag in intensive fight scenes.

Probably one of the best implementations of AA in a console game. I cannot recall seeing any jaggies at all.

I do suggest you play it on a large TV screen though - the black bars made it pretty small on my 27 inch FHD monitor, so I had to move to the 40 inch TV to get a better experience.
I also suggest you make use of the gamma settings available, because exploring dark places like basements/tunnels seem to be way too dark at default gamma settings.

Post processing and film grain make it feel more cinematic, although it would be nice if film grain could be lessened (especially when looking at the beautiful sky and you see a crazy number of large flashing dots), but this is just nitpicking. 

 

Sound: 

Really atmospheric. Helps develop the dark and unknown London atmosphere.

Nice variety of music in different paced scenes.

 

Gameplay: 
Cutscenes are really nice and well done, it makes it feel like a movie (although some people might dislike how entire chapters are just cutscenes).

Cover combat feels like The Last of Us mixed with Mass Effect with some added elements.
Really great cover system implementation. The ability to peek over cover and peek to the left/right of cover provides you with excellent views of the battlefield.

The ability to blind fire and to combine peeking so that you can fire with a reticle visible makes it feel like you have more options to deal with situations.
Some cover can be destroyed, however the enemy rarely seem to use this cover and it is not as abundant as you might think. Most of my firefights were behind solid cover. 

Excellent array of weapons with an abundance of ammo after a battle. 

Blackwater is used creatively and does not mean you are immortal and can never die. 

Blacksight adds a new layer to combat - ie. shooting grenades mid air, shooting multiple enemies quickly when they overwhelm you
Enemy AI is strange at times, but they do show some knowledge of battle tactics as some enemies suppress you while others try to flank you.

Fights against half breeds seem repetitive. Shoot, X to dodge, shoot, wait and repeat until they are incapacitated and press triangle to finish it and wait for the next enemy.

 

Characters and Dialog: 
Dialog is well done and conveys emotions successfully.

Characters are well developed and they each have a personality of their own.
But towards the end, things fall flat.
 

Story:
Interesting premise at the beginning. Feels like a movie.

 

Some of my thoughts while approaching the end...

Whenever there is a boss fight, Galahad always loses his weapon and it ends up as a knife fight with QTE. 
At some point Galahad starts killing normal police/guards who are only doing their job and it doesn't feel like something a Knight should do. There also seems to be too many enemies at once towards the end, and it feels like Tesla is mass producing experimental weapons because everyone seems to have them to use them against you.
There's a plot twist towards at the end, which I won't spoil, but doesn't get dealt with at all - Galahad doesn't reveal this plot twist/conspiracy to anyone. 

There's even a new character that is introduced in the last half hour and you never even find out their name, nor does Galahad even think to ask about them.

 

The game ends in an unsatisfying way...
Plot threads are left wide open for a sequel and I felt that there should have been another 3 hours to wrap things up in the story.
This was not a good way to wrap up the first game in a new IP.

Graphics: 10/10 
Sound: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Characters and Dialog: 7/10 
Story: 5/10

 

Overall: 7.6/10