The Order: 1886 Review - All Out Of Steam

[TippiestRook]

God damn it Sony,just give the rights back to Marvel already.

 

[gorfias]

I want the whole package: graphics on this level and great gameplay. Make it fun and the story interesting.

I know we are only year 2 into Gen 8 but Gen 8 was late in coming. PCs have been doing this level of graphics for year and Consoles should have an easy time of hitting the ground running.

Instead, it's still a big deal to have good graphics but a meh, 6 hour story?

I'm going to go play some more Tomb Raider PC.

 

[pilar]

But what other gameplay style could a third person shooter possibly have?

Vanquish, where the main character has a rocket suit that makes him fly across the battlefield in an instant and encourages run and gun tactics as though to infuse a bit of stylish action method like in Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Heck, there's a reason the funnest character class to use in Mass Effect 3 is the Vanguard since instead of hiding behind cover you're zipping across the battlefield like a caffeinated rocket of death.

In all honesty the best TPS' this gen have been ones that use cover-based shooting as a framework and then tear the concept to shreds in order to advance. Fact of the matter is that the concept is overdone and in need of either a major innovation or needs to be put to bed for awhile. Also doesn't help that games that center themselves around combat are getting pretty dull lately.

Anyway, sounds to me that this is another one to add to the pile. Like Titanfall, Watch_Dogs, Assassin's Creed Unity, Destiny, etc that came before it, 1886 is just another glorified tech demo made to pad out the fact that there still isn't a definitive reason to get a new-gen console. Seriously, if this is all that devs can do for the new generation than it's clear they have no clue to actually design anything are just wasting money and time on BS. Not exactly a great couple years for the current gen.

So you're AAA next gen game has to look better than anything before it in addition to showcasing revolutionary combat--and all of that needs to be done within a 2-3 year window for developers to keep from going bankrupt.

Hmm.

[HEADING=2]You buy consoles to play games[/HEADING]
The entire PC community (casual, hardcore & MMO) make up just a couple % more than the console base and they both share mostly the same AAA titles. There's no magical dimension from where amazing games will start appearing. Industries never make massive leaps--AMD's Mantle for the PC is no where near as revolutionary as it was promoted to be. Small steps toward progress; but our generation wants everything now.

Order is the best looking console title to date, but the game play is not so Uncharted. Fine by me. I don't expect a new AAA developer to get everything right their first time.

 

[otakon17]

snip

snip

But what other gameplay style could a third person shooter possibly have?

Top down shooter? First person? How about a semi turned based strategy game like Valkyria Chronicles? Hell even a third person shooter with RPG elements could have worked. But QTEs? Cover based combat? The majority of the enemies are mooks with guns? I knew it was gonna be a wasted setting.

 

[Adultratedhydra]

So its another 30 fps, over the shoulder brownathon with steampunk elements. Made by a company for whom "FUCK LOOK HOW PRETTY THIS IS" is more important than gameplay?

We still have the original Crysis, something that melded Card melting Graphics with fun Gameplay. Oh how far the industry has fallen.

 

[silasbufu]

"What we were teased was steampunk monster hunters, with Nikola freaking Tesla on staff, using their weaponized scientific contraptions to dispense with mythological terrors in an alternate history, turn of the century London. What you really get is shooting at rebel humans almost exclusively the whole game, with mundane firearms that are roughly half a century ahead of their time." This is devious marketing and building hype, summed up. I'll wait for a sale, because 10$/hour of gameplay sounds like bullshit.

 

[VoidWanderer]

It's like going out with someone who is smoking hot, and they say the right things, but there is no emotion behind them. It's like they are doing a pity date that you don't realize until partway through.

While the game is swiftly paced, the pace really slows when you dawdle around the room finding the magic plot device. I wish they cut back on the graphics and focused more on the game. The beginning makes me think someone just finished watching the entire '24' series marathon before going to work.

I am about halfway through, and I am still trying to get the motivation to figure out if I want to finish it.

 

[Quellist]

Of course the game could be so short and truncated because they are planning to sell the other half of it as DLC a few months down the line.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

Eh, I hate to say it but these days I don't really see the point in buying a full-price game unless it's got at least a somewhat open world or a non-DOA multiplayer. Since the Order has neither, I don't really see the point.

 

[Schmeiser]

Hey no worries guys, bloodborne is out in a month, so praise the moon

 

[ecoho]

But what other gameplay style could a third person shooter possibly have?

Vanquish, where the main character has a rocket suit that makes him fly across the battlefield in an instant and encourages run and gun tactics as though to infuse a bit of stylish action method like in Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Heck, there's a reason the funnest character class to use in Mass Effect 3 is the Vanguard since instead of hiding behind cover you're zipping across the battlefield like a caffeinated rocket of death.

In all honesty the best TPS' this gen have been ones that use cover-based shooting as a framework and then tear the concept to shreds in order to advance. Fact of the matter is that the concept is overdone and in need of either a major innovation or needs to be put to bed for awhile. Also doesn't help that games that center themselves around combat are getting pretty dull lately.

Anyway, sounds to me that this is another one to add to the pile. Like Titanfall, Watch_Dogs, Assassin's Creed Unity, Destiny, etc that came before it, 1886 is just another glorified tech demo made to pad out the fact that there still isn't a definitive reason to get a new-gen console. Seriously, if this is all that devs can do for the new generation than it's clear they have no clue to actually design anything are just wasting money and time on BS. Not exactly a great couple years for the current gen.

So you're AAA next gen game has to look better than anything before it in addition to showcasing revolutionary combat--and all of that needs to be done within a 2-3 year window for developers to keep from going bankrupt.

Hmm.

[HEADING=2]You buy consoles to play games[/HEADING]
The entire PC community (casual, hardcore & MMO) make up just a couple % more than the console base and they both share mostly the same AAA titles. There's no magical dimension from where amazing games will start appearing. Industries never make massive leaps--AMD's Mantle for the PC is no where near as revolutionary as it was promoted to be. Small steps toward progress; but our generation wants everything now.

Order is the best looking console title to date, but the game play is not so Uncharted. Fine by me. I don't expect a new AAA developer to get everything right their first time.

actually no the PC has less players of high end games and more players of games like MMOs and MOBAS due to the lower requirements to play those games.

 

[Mikeybb]

I'm genuinely disappointed that this game isn't even near to living up to the promise.

Given I'm attracted to steampunk like a moth to a flame, it's understandable.

All the same, I'm glad not to be burned by this spluttering candle of a release.

 

[Slycne]

Well I suppose this is an unpopular opinion, but I just finished the order... and I actually really liked it.
It took me a bit longer than advertised, mainly I imagine because I was exploring all the places (mostly pointless).
Now I'm not gonna say this is a GRAND game, but I actually would rate it way above the first Uncharted, and about at the same level of Uncharted 3. In fact, I'd say a lot of similar criticism can be raised at all these games.

In fact more than the length, the mechanics, the extremely similar "boss fight" (which aren't really they serve more as action cutscenes to further the story, similar to some of the action in The Walking Dead telltale games). Plainly more than the overall lack of gameplay innovation, I'd say that my biggest issue with it was how contrived some writing resources were in order to force the plot into the interesting but cliche cliffhanger ending that it had.
It happens that when you reach this level of fidelity, then the writing and the acting are under more scrutiny, and in this as in many other games, a lot of the delivery and the plot resources feel quite forced and unnatural.

However, I did like the point where it ended on, how meaningful or important the closing is, is a more subjective question, sure. But I was actually quite satisfied, it is not final and it certainly isn't happy, but it does present an interesting turn of events to explore in following games, if they do happen.

In any case I think it sets up a really great start for the IP, and I feel a lot of reviewers have been quite unfairly harsh to it. I mean, maybe we have shunned on the structure of Gears of War, Asura's wrath or Uncharted nowadays, but it seems like a really unbalanced backlash. What did everyone expect? it's not like they sold the game as anything different.

Ahh well, Who knows what will happen with it.