The Order: 1886

I've taken up a new reviewing policy in these new generations of games: I only bother to make positive reviews when I'm consecutively pleased with the game. Most games now are good even when they're performing what should otherwise be considered adequately.On the Whitechapel level specifically, I was repeatedly pleased. This game is very slow to warm up. I wasn't sure til then if I really liked it however much I wanted to when pre-ordering it. As active game users, much of the content in this game is instinctually sorted as filler. After all, any time when we're walking from place to place just looking at the environment pales in comparison to all the epic happenings we expect from the game world [because sincerely, if it's less interesting than our normal lives, why bother?]. We're hard-wired that way. But this game is structured differently. It (quite disrespectfully) is designed as if under the assumption that it's the first game you've ever played.Just as the game is directed differently, a typical gaming mentality is an incorrect approach to digesting this game. It's quite like transitioning from Advanced Warfare to Garden Warfare but keeping the mental expectations of the former. Garden Warefare is a beautiful game in it's own right, but a quick jump from a Call of Duty game can paint it to be the most frustrating nonsense in gaming. There's no running. And there's often no running in The Order either. But I'll get back to that.In another world, I'm sure the developers (and fans of the order wouldn't have marketed this as the epic shooter everyone should have tried. The game requires the same respect and ceremony of play as a true horror game. Meaning, it has to be played in the dark, slowly, on a big screen with headphones or very very loud speakers. I didn't feel right playing this on my projector until I adjusted the color settings to Cold and dark. Then it felt somehow right and the experience became as immersive as it should have been. I prepared myself enough and new things came to light.-The awesome timing of musical cues really did a number on me as I opened doors and peaked out of hallways. We're tuned to ignore most music in video games, but the music in this game is anything but filler, despite sounding much like what we know as filler. True filler, instead, is what can be seen in the likes of Evolve or even Transistor, where it provides no insight into the game world.-The cutscenes and quick-time events felt like the natural continuation of the gameplay and musical score (in both tone and pacing).-The sounds of the environment relate completely with the story. (At some point, I heard what sounded like voices mixed in to the audio track. As I walked in a certain direction, it became more prominent until I opened a door and saw a prisoner in one corner going mad.)-The visuals also support the horror-sequel themes. There's much darkness and quite a few unsettling sounds. As you walk through a dark scene slowly, expecting to see what's causing these sounds and shine your light about, there's skeletons and bodies and body parts programmed to be sticking out. Most horror games do this, but they reserve it for fully coordinated jump scares. In The Order, they're toned down and more unsettling than anything else.I didn't play after a long day of work either. I didn't play for more than an hour or so at a time. What once seemed filler now felt quite right with time to digest it all. If you burn through this game, you're only going to hate it. Where it succeeds is in the polish of tone and atmosphere, not content. The level of polish in this game really serves to make it feel like one solid piece of art.-The opening menu design ties masterfully well to the introduction.-Your gun is not accurate. It's an old makeshift gun. It shouldn't be.-The power dynamic of beasts can be logically explained. At first, it seems cheesy that a half-breed would walk around nervously in an attack sequence instead of running up to you and mauling you instantly. But considering that they're sentient animalistic beings, it can be argued that they also value their lives and slightly fear man. Also, there is a moment when a Knight tries to close a fence on a Half-breed and they struggle even though the half-breed is publicly stated as so much stronger than humans. However, the juxtaposition of the two bodies in this sequence shows that the half-breed is not in a position of optimal force leverage, while the Knight is more efficiently holding the fence closed instead of trying to rip it open. Physics and symbolism.-Much like in Killzone, you can pick up others' guns, but your specially-designed stock ones are better - as they should be.-You are generally not rewarded for looking around the edges of the map, as you often are in video games. You're working for an important society and you have no time to waste walking around aimlessly and it works well with the theme. One of the most aggravating experiences I've had in games was with The Last of Us. There is a sequence in The Last of Us where an ally is yelling out for help and as you walk down a stairwell to get to them, there is some loot out in the open beside of the stairs that was just there to reward people that ignored the ally. There is no such thing in The Order.-The game has quite a bit of cliche bits. In fact, it feels like the developers played it so safe in the gameplay that it felt like their first attempt at this kind of game. And it was. But being so, they really tried to allow what would generally be a cliche bit to be logically excusable. At some moment, your player gets knocked out and another character that was stuck and unable to get you comes in to save you as we're sick of seeing in games and movies. Black Ops excuses the same cliche by revealing that the one that saved you was a figment of your imagination. In The Order, the cliche is excused with the less grandiose fact that you moved some of the clutter out of the other character's party before the fight sequence.-The world of the game is a gruesome one. As a cinematically-intended piece, it doesn't not shy away from showing you. There was a dark room that if you illuminated as you walked through, you could see jars of preserved fetuses ripped open and samples of sick faces on a wall (one of which boldly looks like a child's).-As far as I can tell, body anatomy was well researched and well respected in design and direction. Body similarities between half-breeds and humans are well shown, even with movement and face gestures. Also, failure to beat fight sequences is followed up with well varied awesome cut scenes. One in Whitechapel stands out as a haunting, beautifully-executed segment where a monster not just bites the neck of your player and miscellaneous neck meat falls out, but a half-breed bites your neck, breaks the vocal chamber of your character as they barely gag, loosens a ligament and bites again, pulling the ligament and rocking the whole head forward. It was disgusting. But it only happens if you die. It's incredible. These Mortal Kombat-style gruesome cutscenes are effective but are used about as sparingly as in Tomb Raider 9, which also adds it for atmospheric reasons. But it doesn't compare to how well tailored it feels in The Order as you play it. It's very rewarding to the atmosphere and folklore of this game.On the topic of forced walking, the following:This game has many segments that force you to walk. It's a gesture that gamers pout about. But know that it is used in good taste. If you treat the game with the respect it deserves and find yourself receptive to the dance that it leads, you will find yourself naturally walking in segments with forced walking. It should be a non issue. In larger rooms with scattered things to view like in Tesla's Lab, running is allowed. That's good game design. If you find yourself trying to run and not being able to, I would argue that you're not in the right state of immersion to appreciate the level - that your pacing is not aligned with that of the game and that perhaps you shouldn't continue playing that day in the same way that every day is not a champagne and oysters day. However, it does bring to light a real issue about the mentality of the modern gamer. The environments and landscapes in this game are beautiful. We all want to see it. But we would rather run up to a scene in the game to stand there and look at the landscape instead of walking slowly, enjoying it the whole time. Maybe it's a millennial caprice of ours that indicates a psychological need to get things the moment we want them. Regardless, the game holds its own as the starter for the IP. It can only get better from here.

The Order 1886 has had a very harsh reception both from critics and actual gamers all of whom are upset because they all had something else in mind. I myself did expect it to be different but once I heard that it was more of a cinematic/ action rather than straight action I readjusted myself. I can't say its been the most enjoyable game of my life or even the best game I've played on the Playstation 4 but I can say I believe its a masterpiece in its own way and succeeded in doing exactly what the developers wanted.Well lets get the obvious fact out of the way. This game is the best looking game ever put on a console. A lot of games really beef up the graphics for the cutscenes and then scale back for the gameplay, you wont find that here. This game looks the exact same both in cutscenes and gameplay. That alone really just makes this game a very unique treat. So many critics even before the game came out were bashing its use of familiar cover based shooter mechanics. Im not sure why however, in my opinion just because Gears of War made cover based shooters more popular doesnt mean other games cant use it. The formula works and was entertaining in those games and yet almost the same combat style here is being criticized. The Last Of Us also employs that same cover based shooting system and that game won Game Of The Year. This game uses it and is labeled as boring gameplay. I had a blast with Gears of War and The Last of Us and I had a blast with the action in this game as well.I found the characters to all be quite interesting and the story was well rounded and kept me interested as well. Galahad is a very fun character and I enjoyed getting to see this man fight his way through the twists and turns the story takes. He might not have the personality of Commander Shepard but he is easily one of my favorite characters in a video game. The game truly does feel like a movie from beginning to end. There's intriguing dialogue, likable and not so likable characters and to top it off the game has FANTASTIC score. I will say I expected a little bit more use of the Lycans which is one of the things that first intrigued me when the trailer first came out but Im not gonna get pouty about it.Another big complaint people have for some reason is the use of QTE's . This is a very common complaint in a lot of games and I dont understand whats so bad so I wont go into it too much suffice to say this game has them. To me they offer a fun alternative to the usual pointing and shooting but for some reason the use of them in games is like a guaranteed way to get people's feeling hurt. Pay attention and you might have to retry some scenes a few time but its all part of the challenge. The game is short but feels complete regardless and didnt feel short to me. i finished in about 8 hours on normal when it ended I was wanting more. Anyways Im not very good at writing these but play the game for yourself and make up your own mind, dont let Amazon's very unreliable review scores or critics scores sway you. We all have our own opinions so play it and make your own.