It’s safe to say The Order: 1886 is without a doubt the best looking game on the PS4 to date. Set in a beautiful representation of an alternate 19th century London. The level of detail Ready At Dawn have put into everything from the magnificent Westminster skyline to the ridiculously good looking mustache’s is incredible.
Whilst there is nothing particularly ground breaking about The Order’s game play, It is a very functional 3rd person shooter. The gun’s have a real tactile feel to them, each bullet fired is felt and you really see the bullets have an impact on the enemies you come across. That is until you fight a Lycan.
The Lycan’s are Ready At Dawn’s name for what is basically just a bunch of werewolves. At first these enemies seem daunting, you’ve not fought against a non human yet and they are quick to send you flying off your feet. That is until you realize you can just sit back in a corner and plug away at them until they keel over, then you simply run towards them and press Triangle to finish them off. Problem solved.
One of my major criticisms for The Order is that it is very much a press this button to do this anything. Fighting an Elder (a slightly bigger werewolf that can speak) which should be one of the best parts of the game. is just, press L2 to slice it with your knife quickly, dodge with the right stick. now press R2, dodge with the right stick, now press L1 and so on. Where is the fun in that?
The Order is at it’s best when its acting as a cover shooter. unfortunately, it doesn’t want to be a cover shooter. It acts more as a five and a half hour ‘experience’ where interacting with the cut-scenes actually more annoying than just watching it and getting back to shooting.
As I said earlier the guns are really good. If only they would utilize them more! Guns like the Thermite Rifle – A gun in which you fire Thermite in the general direction of an enemy, then fire an ignition round to set that area ablaze – is hardly ever seen. It’s just boring pistol followed by a slightly less boring rifle.
When you aren’t in a cut scene, shooting away at rebels, chances are you are being forced to walk around the streets of London. Whilst they do look brilliant, I’d rather not be forced to walk down them at incredibly slow speeds. Occasionally there will be a few NPC’s in the street, all of which apparently lost the ability to speak. For a good amount of time the NPC’s either say nothing, do nothing, or spew out one measly sentence and proceed to stand still.
My biggest issue with the order is that it commits the cardinal sin that is an instant fail stealth section. My all time favorite game series is Metal Gear Solid, a game which handles stealth perfectly. Its hard to remain unseen, but rewarding when you manage it. Should the worst happen and you are seen. you can flee, hide and try again. Why oh why Ready At Dawn decided to have a fairly long stealth chapter where being spotted is pretty easy and will get you immediately killed is beyond me.
It’s important to clarify that in the approximately 6 hours it took me to finish the game, I actually enjoyed what I played. The problem is you only play a little bit, the rest of the time it’s just cut-scene after cut-scene. Occasionally you get to look at a nice gun, but you must look at it until the game is satisfied you’ve seen every possible angle otherwise you won’t get the next cut-scene.