The Order 1886

How this game got so badly slated is unfathomable to me. I've put around three and a half hours in so far and assume I'm around half way through. So that is the first valid criticism. It may (can't say until I finish it) be relatively short.

But how it was labelled a "quick time" or "point and click" rip off by reviewers, I'm at a total loss to understand. The first 45 minutes to an hour are indeed very slow, in action terms. But what it does is interlace the training and control prompts, with telling you the back story. Important with a new IP I would posit.

At times, the frame does feel like it stutters, barely noticeablely, and the controls can feel a little clunky when running through levels and their numerous obstacles.

But all of that pales into insignificance with such a beautifully well made game as this. It's stunning. Walk around the highly detailed, beautifully rendered town and look into the shop windows. Focus on the reflections of the world behind you. It's phenomenal. You really wouldn't believe it was being squeezed from the innards of your PS4. The synchronisation between facial expression and speech is the stuff of the future. All games should strive for this; it's extremely immersive. The score compliments the visuals perfectly and really sets the tone of what is without doubt intended as a filmic adventure title. You could only possibly feel cheated if you believed this was going to be an out and out shooter. It isn't. What it is, is an adventure stroke cover shooter (and a very good cover shooter in my opinion) wrapped in a deep and fascinating narrative that needs to be explored.

I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it last night, and the only possible disappointment could be an abrupt and early ending. This game definitely, unarguably in fact, deserves acknowledgement. If it's all over too quickly, I'll only be more angry that the ridiculous over-hype by a new generation of bedroom bourne games "journalists" and there self perceived entitlement, means there doesn't seem to be the intent to develop the IP further.

Anyway, if you open your mind and embrace the story telling at the beginning, and don't expect a BF or CoD run and gun fest, you can play what is the best looking video game I've ever seen, for roughly 12 quid from the PS Store.

The end of my video shows a couple of the "quick time events" that seemed to rile everybody so much. I don't understand why. They seem standard video game fare to me. For just over a tenner, you'd be daft not to try it and form your own opinion. And seriously, don't forget to look in those shop windows.

Nelly giving the orders 1886...

Twelve English pounds you say. I may try it

Not worth 12p never mind £12 .

Horses for courses ,Personally i thought it was a bag of [censored]

Nelly liking this and Homefront makes me think he's gaming standards have had a severe drop and its time for a visit of the White Coat Brigade and possibly a Padded cell .

The game bombed Bigtime and so did Homefront,forgotten within a few days with terrible reviews from both users and the general Gaming websites,obviously if it rocks your boat then it makes little difference,but i have to say i wasn't blown away with what a saw in terms of the gameplay in either title and once the reviews started flooding in that certainly did me on Homefront,i got suckered into the Order 1886 Hype but i have to say within about 1 hour playing it i was totally bored to death and i traded it the following day.

Nelly you seem to be well happy buying bargain bin games and those seem to make you happy,nothing wrong with that,but these games were like £45 on release and failed by a distance to hit the mark.

Edited by time2die (Sun 11-Sep-16 13:30:52)

I can understand people being annoyed about the length of the game, but I'm too long in the tooth to read too much into critiques. I need to see for myself. Homefront for example was lambasted for its uninspired protagonist that NEVER speaks, and the fact that the NPC's are shamelessly cloned throughout the environment.

But I didn't buy it for it's prospects at the annual gaming awards, nor for the variety of NPC hookers in the side alleys (I'm not that fussy ). I bought it because it's a solid open world shooter with motorbikes for 20 quid!

As Digital Foundary said, when running right on PC, there's an awful lot to like about the game, and that's my point. Dismissing games as bad, because they're not incredible, is a mistake. You yourself have admitted going back to games you didn't give a fair crack of the whip to, and enjoying them more than you expected after being let down by the initial hype.

I found this comment amongst one of the Order 1886 slagging sessions on Giant Bomb:

Over the years I've noticed that occasionally the culture at large picks certain games out of the lineup at certain times to serve as the platform for a larger criticism about innovation or the like. What it means is that a game that is ultimately no more of an offender than some next to it are disproportionately criticized or given attention in this sense. Often times though it's brought on by being sold under the banner of the next big game and that's what I think fuels the scale of it.

Happened with Watch Dogs last year and while I'm sure it can be a bit harrowing to be on the other end of that, I think it's probably healthy in the long term to have these moments for as arbitrary as it may seem to have that discussion on a larger scale.

Fair comment.

I think Watchdogs was hugely Underrated especially about the graphical downgrades,i started playing it again the other week and i haven't had so much fun in ages,like i say its a sad state of affairs when you have to play games from 2/3 years back just to get a gaming fix.

Im so disappointed in this generation so far its sort of put me of gaming if I'm honest,rather tuck myself in and watch TV and most nights i just can not be bothered with any of it.

I have downloaded countless inde games that have held my attention for the odd hour then moved on to the next one then the next one and rinse and repeat and then end up playing games from 2 years back,i even fired Killzone up again a few months back and Infamous .

I told you it was decent didn't I!!
For me it had everything albeit a bit short!

I'm currently playing through Killzone and Infamous, I've got so many games that I'm probably no more than 20% into, that's the trouble with new games being released!!

You did indeed. I cannot believe how it looks, it's amazing. If only all PS4 games looked like that!

My only real gameplay criticism is the Lycon (Werewolf) battles. I'd rather mow them down horde style like the dogs in CoD Zombies.

it is a good game.

Its reputation has similarities to final fantasy 13, that game got labeled as "press B to win" due to the auto attack system, like the order its a slow starter game but later on becomes a far cry from the claims of "press B to win".

End of the day the only opinion that matters is your own.

Downloading as I type

17/1d for a pint of cider? I think they need to work on their pricing
It seems they had telephones back in 1886 too

I just bagged my first werewolf with the electric gun and now it's downloading something??

Not sure what that is. Are you on easy or something? Don't remember having an electric gun option at Werewolf one, you jammy bugler.

The biatch gave it to me
Actually it's werewolf number 3, the one that got away
I'm on medium

Edited by deleted (Mon 12-Sep-16 20:39:31)

Sounds like a good game and yes it's definitely best to make up your own mind about them rather than relying on reviews, especially the ones from critics. That's even more true of movies, I have often loved a movie that has a terrible rating. Bit different with games when you are dropping £40 on one but at under £20 definitely worth a punt. Shame they don't do many demos these days...

In reply to a post by mrnelster:

You did indeed. I cannot believe how it looks, it's amazing. If only all PS4 games looked like that!

My only real gameplay criticism is the Lycon (Werewolf) battles. I'd rather mow them down horde style like the dogs in CoD Zombies.

Goes to show the PS4 is capable of great graphics if developers put the effort in..that's what we need IMO and not new hardware.

Yep. And at 12 quid it's a no brainer. Gotta give kila the credit for the heads up though. I don't remember to check the reduced games section on the PS store.

Yeah theres a few good things on there at the moment, been tempted but got enough for now and would rather a disc with my internet connection.

Edited by astateoftrance (Mon 12-Sep-16 22:36:19)

It's like playing a movie

That's how I felt and it's managed to keep me on board so far. I'm over 80% of the way in now, as a rough guess.

How would you rate the gameplay?

I reckon it's the yanks that did most of the damage to this games reputation. Not a single character shouting "Merica, [censored] yeah!"

No wonder they didn't get it...

Game play is good. Although the story is a bit strange. They should have kept closer to the story of the Knights Temple and the Freemasons. I don't pay much attention to what they are saying as I know it's BS
I'm not sure how far I am. I just dropped into the hospital basement so I'm expecting to be attacked by werewolves at any moment

Do Americans ever get anything?