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REVIEW: THE ORDER 1886 (PS4)

22/2/2015

11 Comments

 
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Pretty much since the off there have been video games that promised a "cinematic" experience - without any of us ever really knowing exactly what that might mean.

Judging from the efforts that have used this label to date, we assume they mean a game that sort of borrows the structure and language of film, and forces you to watch loads of tedious cutscenes.

It sometimes feels that certain game developers - like everyone else, depressingly - put more stock in the value of film than in games. They sometimes seem so embarrassed by their jobs that they have to pretend their games are something they're not, or are somehow elevated above the rank-and-file shoot 'em ups and platformers because, y'know... they're "cinematic, maaaan". 

Presumably, this is because cinema is the single greatest thing mankind has ever achieved, and the pinnacle of all artistic endeavours since the dawn of time.

The Order: 1886 is just the latest video game to be wholly embarrassed by itself.

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WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?
Thing is, why would you even want a truly cinematic video game when there are plenty of actual cinematic things in the actual cinema? Surely we play games to play games, and we go to the cinema if we want the cinematic whatevers? 

Fact is, we typically end up getting bored by most so-called cinematic games. Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls can go stick their faces in a lathe, as far as we're concerned. What does a tedious shaving mini-game tell us about character or story? Who in their right mind wants to endure that for five minutes? It doesn't work as a piece of storytelling, or as a gameplay element.

What's more, you're setting yourself up for a fall if you present your game as "cinematic". If you're going to force us to sit through your story you'd better hope it's a bloody good one, with characters we care about.

Naughty Dog gets that - The Last of Us and the Uncharted franchise have "done" character better than virtually any other game. Telltale games also do a good job of emotionally investing you in their characters too, before sending you on an exciting licensed adventure with them.

The Order: 1886 does not. The Order: 1886 has seemingly pressed its characters (and gameplay) out of a mould that has been used hundreds of times before, and its chief ingredient is "bland".

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LETTERBOX
So what exactly is The Order: 1886 trying to achieve? 

Because - you see - it isn't cinematic, so as much as it's a thing merely pretending to be a film.

Seemingly, we're meant to believe this is "cinematic" because it presents the game in a letterbox format, and applies a bit of film grain to the picture, and runs at 30fps rather than 60fps (because that's closer to film's traditional 24fps). 

Oh yes. And there's a story. You know: like you get at the cinema. And just like at the cinema, it's a story you can't skip, however dull it gets. They're screaming at you that all of this is important, and worthy of your time. Unfortunately, it is not. It's something you must endure to get to the bits that are slightly more fun.

ARTHUR JOB
The Order is set in an alternate, steampunk-y Victorian London, and "stars" a dull, mutton-chopped, werewolf-hunting, generic tough-guy, video game character - the member of a whole club of similar werewolf-hunting toughs, who are some sort of modern day incarnation of The Knights of the Roundtable.

You know the sort of fellow he is. You've been him a thousand times before in games. He puts his gun on his back when he's not using it, and stalks around looking at bits of paper, and acts like he cares about his teammates - including the French one (who is so much of a stereotype they might've just as well called him Pepe le Pew) - even though they give us no reason to care for any of them. 

There's a conspiracy. There's some other stuff. And it looks very, very pretty. Of course, it can afford to look pretty because most of the environments are horribly dank, claustrophobic mazes, which do much to dilute the graphical achievements. But still. It's definitely one of the better looking games of this generation. It's just a shame they didn't use the steampunk setting to build a more unique sense of place, like the Bioshock games did. Even the rubbish one.

Beyond that, It's a paint-by-numbers third-person shooter, with the odd stealth bit. It cribs most shamelessly from the Gears of War playbook, with the occasional quick-time-event button-press - to lift wooden beams, or stab a monster, or shudder with involuntary pathos. And you'll probably whizz through it in about 7 - 8 hours, providing you stop to admire all the scenery.

And there's no multi-player mode. 

And it'll cost you sixty quid.

BANDWAGON
We feel like there was a bandwagon heading the way of The Order: 1886, and wanted to be sure we weren't on it before writing this review. For whatever reason, after the excitement of the game's initial previews died away, it felt as though people started getting in line to give it a kicking. We wanted to be sure we were giving it a kicking for the right reasons, not because the we're-so-angry-and-we're-not-gonna-take-it-anymore mob was doing so. 

"Must... attack.. this week's... gaming cause célèbre... WHY AM I SO ANGRY??! What am I really angry about?! Who cares? Hate! HATE! Hate him. Hate that thing. Hate her. HATE! Ha ha! Now loads of people hate the same thing I do! Ha ha! We are The Super Dudes!!"

Truth is, The Order is not that bad - it's perfectly entertaining, while it lasts... but there's absolutely zero replay value, and it's hobbled by being deeply cliched and unoriginal (even if the setting does have momentary flashes of inspiration and glimpses of full-frontal male nudity).

Also, it's quite easy to be irritated by it, because the developer had such lofty, pretentious ambitions. While it's occasionally a very good looking game, it has failed to deliver on those ambitions. Why developers continue to insist on telling us their games are cinematic we dunno, but we do wish they'd stop, and put some more faith in the medium of games as a storytelling tool. 


You don't get, y'know, poets going "My new poem - I Rubbed My Face Across A Cat's Thighs On a Bright Spring Morn - is like, well, cinematic, man... please watch through this letterbox while I recite."

SUMMARY: It's alright. Just really unoriginal and - surprise - not a film.
OVERALL: 2.84 out of 5.5
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
  • REVIEW: Evolve (PS4/Xbox One/PC)
  • REVIEW: Dying Light (PS4/Xbox One)
  • REVIEW: Zombie Experience Days
11 Comments
kelvingreen link
22/2/2015 01:09:23 pm

I'll stick with The Chaos Engine then.

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Nick link
3/3/2015 05:20:32 pm

The Chaos Engine is genius, still holds up well after all these years.

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Old Red
22/2/2015 01:32:38 pm

Your reviews are by far the best around. I feel really bad that you're not getting paid properly for it and I'm too poor to give you some money; I promise I will when I get more settled in my new existence. It will be interesting to see what happens when you start getting the attention you deserve and the powers that be have to take notice of your constantly evolving review scores.

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Mr Biffo
22/2/2015 03:44:43 pm

Aw, thanks, OR for those very nice words. Genuinely touched.

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ted sallis
23/2/2015 12:22:58 am

Glad i payed attention to my Spidey sense, Hovered over 1886 for a few seconds , then picked up Evolve...The assistant in the shop threw in a free Evolve T-shirt. because they were left over from pre orders that hadn't been collected. A sure sign of a quality game . Roll on uncharted 4

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Mr Smith
23/2/2015 03:01:22 am

From early previews The Order didn't look very appealing. The only thing remotely interesting was some early preview made mention of how they were creating it in such a way that different surface materials (wood, metal, stone, cloth) would react differently to player stimulus. So shooting wood would create different results to shooting stone. Or something. Still seems dull.

I enjoyed reading this Digi review, so much so that I wonder if Mr Biffo would ever consider retroactively reviewing certain games from the current or just past generation? If so, my vote would go to Deadly Premonition. What were his thoughts?

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gonebeface
23/2/2015 01:10:02 pm

Retrospective reviews would be good...

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Mr Biffo
23/2/2015 01:24:24 pm

I'll see what I can do...

Keith
23/2/2015 05:33:24 am

I've often wondered why there are so few efforts towards capturing what most people feel when watching a film, in terms of "cinematic" gaming - the idea that the protagonist is actually impacting on a story that would play out negatively were the protagonist not involved.
With virtually every game, no matter how high the stakes of the story, the player is pretty sure that they'll get to the end eventually, or, at worst, that they'll stop playing the game - the antagonist's story is always set up to fail as the hero progresses through the game.
Obviously, it'd be a challenge to subvert this, but I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to do so. As an example, imagine a mystery/detective/action game set in an open world, and within that there is a story that plays out with the bad guys doing stuff at certain times, and that is heading on rails towards a climax in which without intervention from the player, the bad guys win - in early stages of the game the player can disrupt the plan, stumble across vaguely important bits, forcing the baddies to improvise/change tack. It would of course be quite complicated to do, but itd be really interesting to feel for once that you werent in a world that had been set up especially for the protagonist to save

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Klone
23/2/2015 08:37:52 am

What you're describing sounds a lot like what MS say they are trying to do with, is it Quantum Break? That one that was going to have a TV tie in but will now have bits of the cancelled TV show in the game. Might be good if they pull it off (giggity).

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Klone
23/2/2015 08:40:32 am

You know with graphics like this there would've been nothing stopping them just making a CGI movie instead...but they couldn't fleece people for 60 quid for a CGI movie I guess. Oh wait, they did!

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