The Order: 1886
Producer: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: February 20, 2015
Platform: PS4
Rating: Mature
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
Fear of the Dark
Written by Jesse Seilhan
Sony has a lot at stake this year, with 20 million consoles sold worldwide and a fanbase hungry for software. Last holiday was supposed to see the launch of The Order: 1886, a new IP from Ready at Dawn, but delays kept the title from hitting shelves until February of 2015. After a stunning E3 debut, fans eagerly awaited a potentially strong franchise from a studio known for portable God of War titles. But shortly before the game’s release, rumors and reports came out questioning the game’s length, design choices, and overall value. So are the rumors founded or is it truly worth $60 of your hard-earned money?
From the get go, The Order will have your attention. This game has set the bar for how good a console experience can look, from the super detailed player models to the beautiful world in which they live. The opening prison break scene shows how brilliant the lighting and facial animation is, punctuated by the superb voice acting from nearly the entire cast. But once you actually get to take some control of Sir Galahad, our hero for this romp, some of the faults start to shine through the cracks. The cutscenes are gorgeous, but play out like a half-baked Underworld sequel that fail to hold your interest for long until you’re forced to time button presses or be met with a brutal death. The plot follows a modern version of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table, kept alive by a special serum named Blackwater. This mystical liquid has allowed them to stay alive for centuries, fighting their ultimate foe: werewolves. Yea, werewolves.
Almost immediately, you understand that this game is broken into thirds: one part cutscene, one part quick-time event, and one part actual gameplay. The cutscenes are numerous and run for over 90 minutes of a six-hour game. The aforementioned QTE’s are annoying, but The Order is not the first game to rely too heavily on the mechanic. But the guts of the game, the actual gameplay, fails to make up for the other issues. Each gunplay section is essentially an endless corridor of idiotic baddies, throwing themselves at you until the room is clear. A shotgun-wielding foe is the toughest enemy in the game, as he actually gets up and flanks your position, forcing you to move from what has essentially been the far end of a shooting gallery. The game does offer a couple werewolf fights, but they follow an even easier pattern that really detracts from their monstrous demeanor. The same goes for the two boss fights, which follow the exact same steps to a tee. And while some of the guns end up being fun to use, you only get the experimental science weapons during very short sections and instead wield a common lot of pistols and rifles for 99% of the game.
Video games take a lot of collaboration, from artists and writers to technical directors and sound designers. When everyone adds their expertise, what you should have at the end is the best of all worlds, save for the necessary edits needed to actually put the game out on time. With The Order, you have a lot of experts in their fields making amazing things happen on screen, but the actual ideas put into practice just aren’t good ones. Building a game around the legend of King Arthur’s knights is interesting, but shoehorning in Jack the Ripper, werewolves, and vampires, is not. Creating a steampunk Victorian vibe with highly detailed models is a great idea, but shoving those hi-res models down the same corridor ad nauseum is a waste of that good idea. Essentially, The Order is the product of fantastic artistic direction muddled by poor execution. It’s worth a playthrough only to gawk at its beauty while shaking your head at its shortcomings. A true rental in every sense of the word.