The Game: The Order: 1886
Current Status: 3-4 hours in, halfway through Chapter 9 (out of 16)
The conventional wisdom on The Order: 1886, as far as I can tell, is the following:
- for a $60 game, it’s far too short and has no lasting value beyond the initial campaign
- for a third-person cover shooter, it hardly reinvents the wheel, and the combat is bland and uninspired
- it’s absolutely gorgeous, though the decision to force black bars on the top and bottom of the screen (to enhance the cinematic widescreen effect) means you see less of the world than you’d like
- but still, holy shit, the game is gorgeous
- there’s not much to do beyond shooting, and while there are lots of nooks and crannies off the very narrow path, there’s not as much hidden secret stuff as you’d expect, and the stuff that’s there isn’t particularly interesting or provides any tangible benefit to the player
- given that Nikola Tesla is basically the game’s version of James Bond’s Q, you’d expect the weaponry to be a bit more diverse than it actually is
- in any event, the weaponry you encounter in the world is not adequately explained (which is to say it’s not immediately apparent why you’d pick up one weapon as opposed to another when given the choice)
- also: lots and lots of QTEs, which are dumb
I can’t really argue with any of that; and yet I’m still finding myself enjoying the game quite a lot.
I think what we’ve got here is essentially an incredibly polished first draft. The game’s world feels rich and deep, and the characters are acted quite remarkably well, even if the script is somewhat lacking in urgency and certain elements of the plot feel somewhat under-developed. Perhaps it’s because I’m a sucker for finely delivered British accents that I’m allowing myself to gloss over the story’s shortcomings.
As to whether the game is worth $60 – well, I’m renting it, so I’m not feeling shortchanged. But I think there’s something to be said about a game’s length in proportion to its intrinsic value. Not all games need to be 100 hours long in order for me to feel like I got my money’s worth. I loved Dragon Age Inquisition but there’s a fair amount of padding in that game, and once I finished the main story I lost any and all desire to finish my considerable amount of sidequests. Meanwhile, I’ve played the considerably shorter Portal and Portal 2 more times than I can count, and I enjoy them every time I do. Length isn’t the issue; it’s making sure that every moment feels as though it matters.
To that point, I don’t feel like my time is being wasted in The Order: 1886. It’s not without some considerable problems, but I’m having more fun than I thought I would. Maybe it’s the graphics whore in me, too – but goddamn, this game is spectacular to behold, even despite the fact that a lot of it is dark and dreary. I would love to see Dishonored 2 run this well. (It also reminds me a fair amount of last year’s ill-fated Thief reboot, for whatever that’s worth; games inspired by London in the late 1800s are apparently a thing now, but when they’re done well it’s quite breathtaking.)
Shouts From The Couch 