The Order 1886: The Jedi’s of Ye Old England
After a grievous delay and less than enthusiastic receptions
to the previews of The Order 1886 I went into this game worrying that this
would be yet another disappointing entry into the awkward early years of the
next generation. However the first party studio behind it, Santa Monica
The story of The Order 1886 takes us back to Victorian London
and follows Galahad and his squad, knights of the Order, as they have to stamp
out a rebellion that is erupting within the city. All while maintaining their
sacred oath of protecting mankind from the Werewolf, or Lycan, infestation.
While the story’s grounded tone and cool concept of a company
of Van Helsing-esque badass’ protecting the streets of London and its
impressive twisting of history that doesn’t completely override what we know to
be truth, intriguingly keeping deep routes within real history and using it as
an interesting tool instead of the confining factor it could have been; the
story overall is a disappointing factor of The Order. Which is greatly
surprising as the game was marketed as a story heavy experience and prophesised
as the main aspect of the game to really get its hooks into you. But the story
never really moved past the awe of its deep history and innovative concept,
while it interestingly expanded upon the Jedi like politics of the Order and its
heritage the game never really gave me insight into how the Lycan’s operate in
the world and the extent of their impact on this new timeline leaving me oddly
confused as I hunted down the supposedly dangerous foe.
Another drawback of the story is its lack of purpose; the
main overarching plot is greatly forgettable as you are left wondering many
times mid mission just why are you running down this hall way in such haste?
The story never allows you to invest and become entangled in the plot, leaving
you disconnected from the events on screen; which is an even greater shame as
the opening to the game is so gripping. This feeling of wasted potential is
also felt in the closing moments of the game as finally I found a sense of
urgency and inclusion in the story for it to just abruptly end with no real
satisfying resolution or conclusion met for you, the plot or the characters
involved. Instead leaving you with a sequel bait ending that I am hopeful is
picked up as I do really want to see how this situation is resolved.
The feeling of disconnection can also be said for the
characters of The Order. While their relationships are well-constructed through
the dialogue and their visual designs exceptionally cool, making me want to
join the Order just to get the badass attire, I never felt a personal
connection to the characters. This may be because of the plots forgettable
perils or the characters Jedi like status as they seem untouchable by death, in
much part thanks to the helpful resource of Black Water permanently chained to their
necks, but I never went through the emotional rollercoaster they were obviously
being torn through, leaving a strange void between the character and the player
that is never really bridged.
Saying this, the characters themselves were very interesting
and I would love to spend more time with them. This is in vast part due to the
excellent, high calibre acting that is put on show; further emphasising the
fact that acting within a videogame is never, and should never, be seen as a
sub class of acting but up there with the top dogs in film, TV, and theatre.
This triumphant show of talent is strengthened by the almost photo-realistic
facial animations and graphics that are put into the character design. Within
the already great cutscenes through the amazing attention to detail on the
facial movements of the characters we get to see a level of depth from the
performances that isn’t seen in many other games, as every minutiae of a
persons grief stricken or raged filled face is caught and genuinely expressed
on screen adding great levels to these performances, giving the actors the
virtual justice they deserve.
Speaking of graphics, I can say without a hint of doubt or
hesitation in my voice, or written word, that this is the most realistic
looking game that I have ever experienced. Every piece of clothing gracefully blowing in the breeze, lighting
effect that showcases the detail of the world around you, object that is purposefully placed in the environment, building that is projecting smoke into a picturesque zeppelin filled skyline and enclosed
train station looks unbelievably real. And this effect of awe never lets up as I
found myself constantly throughout the game stopping to look at the beautifully
breathe taking, realised and well designed world around me and how the
excellently detailed character was interacting with it. The exceptional level
of graphics within this game is not only a strangely distracting feature but
shows you just how powerful this new system can be and makes me very excited
for future projects such as Uncharted 4.
The level of awe is heightened by just how cool and grounded
the design of the world is. From the exceptionally cool aesthetic of this alternative
London to the vicious design of the Lycans, the universe of The Order has been
expertly crafted to have nothing feel out of place or blaringly ugly. This can definitely
be said of the Order’s weaponry as every gun has a futuristic but strangely period
appropriate mask to it.
On the lead up to release many of the people working on the
game described it to be a filmic experience. While much of the games media
shuddered at this seemingly corporate phrase akin to ‘leveloution’ it truly
does describe this game. And to my opinion this is a great step to take, its
focus on the single player experience and story, no matter how forgettable said
story was, is amazingly done in this product. Integration from gameplay to
cutscenes is no longer the jarring experience of abrupt black screen to cut
scene to another equally abrupt black screen back to gameplay. In The Order it
is an almost unrecognisable transition with you fluidly moving from gameplay to
cutscenes with not even the up res in graphics to give it away because they are
so damn good in game they don’t need to be bettered for the controlled environment
of the well directed cutscenes.
Adding to this film like feel is the constant black bars at
the top and bottom at the screen. While this can make the game feel more cinematic,
or filmic, overall this stylistic decision takes more than it gives to the experience.
This is because a lot of the times you feel like you are missing something important
in the portion of the world that are shrouded in the pitch black often leading
me to have to awkwardly nod my camera up and down to make sure I wasn’t missing
an important detail or another breath taking show of graphic achievement which
often completely took me out of the immersive feel the game was trying to
encapsulate me in. While I respect the developer’s dedication to a style when
games such as The Last of Us can achieve such an impressive cinematic feel
without these detriments to the experience I can’t but wonder at why these
blinkers were allowed to remain on the players views.
However what can be quite a jarring experience is the
transition from the slow paced, exploratory aspects of the game to the Gears of
War-esque shoot out action pieces of the game. While both are very enjoyable,
especially as the more slower paced portions of the game gives you time to find
more out about the world through character dialogue and objects around the area
while getting to really examine the truly mind blowing aesthetics of the game.
But when the two are smashed together at such high velocity, with action sequences
sometimes initiating from nowhere, you are left slightly overwhelmed by the instantaneous
change in pace making you have to get over your slight dizziness to the now
rapid movements of the camera or perish at the hands of your well adjusted
enemies.
When you do finally adjust to the fast paced nature of The
Order’s warfare it is a blast of a time. While the cover shooter structure of
the game does nothing to innovate the experience from other cover shooter games,
The Order does excel at what it is doing. Gun play is fast and fun and the
assortment of weapons at your disposal feel real, with each gun bringing its own
unique drawbacks and advantages to the field which allows the combat to stay
fresh and interesting throughout.
When not in gun focused combat, which is mostly within the
few boss battles of the game, the combat turns to a more close up, hand to hand
(or knife) style of battle. This is also a very fun and enthralling aspect of
the game that really helps in the emotionally heated climatic boss battles of
the game, bringing the fight to a more personal level as you can really feel
every hit, dealt or received, as you are absorbed into the experience and
ferocious grudge that is felt between you and your formidable enemy.
And while the fierce Lycans are usually the Order’s
formidable enemy the poor AI of your allies can also prove to be a just as much
of a devilish foe. Even though the game is a single player experience almost
every mission sees you awkwardly paired up with a side character at the last
moment of a cutscene as the character and the pairings circumstances seem like
a forced occurrence for a co-op mission, yet this game is completely absent a
co-operative mode. This peculiar happening would be less frustrating if the AI
of the seemingly forced companion didn’t love to get in your way, whether it be
in the slower paced aspects of the game, yet again breaking the immersion of
the game and the realistic feel of the world or in the fast paced battles that
see the AI as an almost body guard for your bullets intended target, running into
the path of your blaze of fury and wasting your precious ammunition.
Overall The Order 1886 is a great addition to the PS4’s line
up of exclusives. While The Order does lack a truly compelling story and relatable
characters the expertly crafted universe, phenomenal look and lore of the game
is strong enough to gain my interest. Even after the disappointing sequel bait ending
I am excited to see this series expand and where it will go in future
iterations; where I can hopefully find out more about this fascinating world
and most of all get to have even more fun blasting the hell out of the monstrous
Lycans.
The Order 1886 = 7/10
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