CONTROL Ultimate Edition

Great atmosphere, great soundtrack. Looking forward to Control 2!

Right off the bat I can start by saying this is NOT a terrible game. I can't recommend it, however, because its simply utterly underwhelming and overstays it's welcome. This game has a significant positive reputation backing it and to be honest, it's criminally overrated. The story is sleep inducing and the delivery of that story, even more so as it's largely delivered via a plethora of collectible lore dumps. Gameplay doesn't do it any favors either, you'll usually just be using your 2 favorite weapon forms mixed in with throwing stuff at enemies for the entirety of this games 50-60 hour run time. Variety is borderline non-existent and it doesn't stop with just viable combat approaches, enemies are really poor here. AI is rudamentary and easy, you'll face groups of standard enemies with sometimes a heavy enemy that does the same thing as the standard enemies. Sometimes there will be a heavy enemy that throws something at you or instead of a standard enemy you'll fight a standard enemy with a shield. But wait! Sometimes they fly! The enemy design is terrible with almost no change in how you need to approach them, and there is zero variety in their skins. You're fighting the same looking/behaving enemies over and over. Bosses are also complete pushovers and present even less of a threat than some of the standard enemies do. Variety is also non-existent with the areas you explore. The setting is a multi-dimensional office building that shifts and changes but yet every area you're in is monochrome concrete and desks. There truly is nothing about this game that hooks you and keeps you wanting more, it's all just mediocre and honestly starts feeling like a drag 10 hours in. There are like 400 collectibles to find too and each of them is just a lore dump or a weird abstract cutscene that leaves you more confused than entertained. Director went overboard attempting mystery and abstract filmography which really just comes off as silly rather than serious. The cutscenes being spliced with live-action also does more to pull you out of the immersion than it does to suck you in. Best part of this game is The Foundation DLC. Don't buy this unless it's on a heavy sale.