The Order 1886
Callum Munro
(I try my hardest not to spoil any major parts of the plot)
My reviews are split into 4 sections that are rated out of 10, CONCEPT (The aim/idea/plot of the game), VISUALS (What the game looks like), GAMEPLAY (How the game plays and how fun it is), SOUND (The sound, funnily enough) and then given a final score out of 10.0 .
Concept/Story
The Order 1886 is set in an alternative take on late 1800's London, and follows the story of the ancient order of Knights sworn to protect the world from Half Breeds, which are half man and half animal. The order was created by King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and centuries later, it is still running thanks to a mystical elixir known as Blackwater.
The player takes control of Grayson, also known by Galahad, as he and his fellow knights must discover the truth behind a sudden uprising of rebels and a massive increase in half breed attacks.
It is a story of betrayal and honour, and is excellently told due to its wonderfully developed characters and near flawless script.
Playing through the story you will be heavily involved with historical figures, such as Jack the Ripper and Nikola Tesla. Tesla acts as a friend to the order, supplying them with advanced weaponry and gadgets, and actually serving an important part to the story later on in the game. Jack the Ripper also gets much more focus towards the end of the game, and adds an interesting twist to the plot.
Although the wonderfully atmospheric setting, believable characters and a carefully crafted script allow the story to shine, it is let down due to some serious pacing issues and an extremely abrupt end.
The game took me around 9 hours to finish and that is it, there is no other game modes to play, and no real reason to re play the single player again.
In terms of its plot and setting, The Order is brilliantly told with some genuinely interesting characters and dialogue, alongside a compelling and satisfying take on English historical fiction.
Although the story is engaging and well written, it is let down by some fairly sluggish pacing, an ending that comes far too quickly and a lack of content.
Although the story is engaging and well written, it is let down by some fairly sluggish pacing, an ending that comes far too quickly and a lack of content.
CONCEPT/STORY - 7
Visuals
The Order 1886 is undoubtedly, the best looking and most well polished game I have ever had the pleasure to look at.
Animations always look realistic and responsive, lighting is perfect and adds real atmosphere to the environments and the steampunk London setting looks almost real.
The emotion in the characters that these visuals make possible, add that extra level of plausibility to each and every scene.
I simply cannot fault the visuals in any way, every single thing that is done in this game, be it a cutscene or gameplay looks real and helps the player really believe in the character's emotions, like it was a film or a tv series. You really cannot put into words how flawlessly polished the world of this game is, you can only see for yourself when playing the game.
VISUALS - 10
Gameplay
Unfortunately for me, this is where The Order really falls short.
Unfortunately for me, this is where The Order really falls short.
In the 9 hours I played I was either walking around a (beautifully polished) are not really being allowed to do anything, engaging in generic cover shooting sequences with 3 enemy types, watching cutscenes or taking part in mostly pointless QTE's that often interrupt the scarce gameplay moments.
This may sound harsh, so allow me to expand on what I just said.
Firstly the gameplay is also affected by the sluggish pacing of the story, in the first 2/3 of the game, gameplay is simply scarce. It is not often you get to control the player for more that 3 - 4 minutes without being interrupted by either a pointless 30 second cutscene or a normal story related cutscene.
In the last stretch of the game, you get to take part in some pretty fun gameplay sections and set pieces, but it is simply too late and not long enough.
There are only two types of gameplay in this game, one being walking around searching for something, and shooting generic enemies until it is safe to progress.
The search sequences have you walking, very slowly around claustrophobic feeling environments trying to find something. The reason the environments feel claustrophobic is simply because there is almost no interaction that the player has with it, it looks great, but you just cannot do anything with it.
The shooting sequences are generic cover based moments, again the game just doesn't offer anything different in this respect.
You simply sit comfortably behind cover, pop up to shoot enemies, and then rinse and repeat. There is just no changes to the already formulaic gameplay.
However that being said, the guns are awesome, and feel great to use. Also along with the visuals, kills are very satisfying.
One gameplay element to the game that is actually really good are the fights with the Lycans (Werewolves). These parts are very fast paced, and actually frustratingly difficult at times.
The only problem with this, is there are simply not enough of these moments in the game, which is a shame because this actually added something different and fun to the gameplay.
The constant interruption of gameplay coming from cutscenes and QTE's really disrupt the immersion that the player has in the game. The gameplay also offers the player absolutely no freedom, with no exploration and no sense of progress as most progression is portrayed in cutscenes or boring quick time events.
There are some fun moments in some of the shootouts, and also some brilliant boss QTE's, however it is mostly generic action set pieces which is not bad, but not anything special either.
GAMEPLAY - 5.5
Audio
Similarly to the visual feats, the audio adds to the technical achievements that this game has achieved.
Voice acting is phenomenal, and along with the excellently written script it just adds that extra something to the game and its story.
Gun sounds are great, and the music is epic and fits in perfectly with the given moments.
The incredible voice acting performances and fitting music, just shows how technically perfect this game is.
AUDIO - 10
The Order 1886 truly is a magnificent technical achievement with totally unmatched visuals and truly epic scripting which I actually thoroughly enjoyed playing, unfortunately it is let down by a far too much reliance on cutscenes and unimaginative gameplay.
Well, I probably wouldn't be 2 feet tall, fuzzy, and running in a sewer without any pants... God, I miss pants. - Daxter Jak II
