Gamespot: The Order: 1886 Review

All of these gameplay tropes are then shoved together into herky-jerky levels that end just when you think they might gain momentum. The only individual sequence lengthy enough to find a rhythm is a later stealth level, though it's far too simple to inspire wishes for more sneaky sections. What, then, to make of The Order: 1886? It is, at best, perfectly playable, and lovely to look at and listen to. But it is also the face of mediocrity and missed opportunities. A bad game can make a case for itself. A boring one is harder to forgive.

[Zool 08]

Surprise Surprise, saw it coming

[realiks]

I expected at least 7.5/8. But with the recent 'rumors' that came to be true I knew it would get an average 6.

[PoSTedUP]

Boyond2 souls and heavy rain got scores as low as in the 3's. and 2's; the game is not for everyone. more for the mature audience who are into games like Beyond2souls and cinematic experiences. beyond sold i think over 3 million which is good for a that kind of genre. it just shows that there is an audience for that genre that knows what they like.

i expected it to be good for what it is, mixed/low/ average reviews. enjoyed by people who are into that kind of experience. its prob not the next best thing considering other devs have set the bar rather high the last few years. Heavy Rain and Beyond are amazing games imo. hype definitely got the best of this one because for a while it looked like this was a totally different genre up until recent: shooter/werewolf horror. lesson learned, take it for what it is.

[StanLee]

Playstation fanboys need a dose of reality like Xbox fanboys did with Ryse. From the beginning what we saw of both games promised mediocrity. A pretty face but nothing between the ears.

[aCasualGamer]

I'm still waiting for the developers to tweet that every gaming website unjustly hates them and their game and that the game deserves a 10 from everyone.

Not only did they get tons of money to develop and market this game the way they did but they also got a fair amount of development time + delays. Something alot of game developers would dream of.

I think it's pathetic behavior to accuse people that legitimately criticized the game for its flaws, to be haters, when it later comes our knowledge, after embargo was lifted one day before release, that they were legitimate critiques.

You hype your game like the second coming of Jesus and put an embargo on it until at the end when reviewers only recognize it as nothing more than a QTE riddled corridor cover based shooter that has no replay-ability after 6-7 hours, with a 60$ price tag. With mediocre storytelling and laugh inducing gameplay moments where entire sections are just walking til the next cutscene is triggered.

Albeit the greatest looking game of all time, but create a CGI movie if that's what you are going for. Gaming is not what this is about.

I don't agree with Beyond Two Souls or Heavy Rain analogy @Postedup. Those games are vastly different from Order. They were also beautiful and at the time, one of the most graphically acclaimed games that's what they have in common. Heavy Rain stands at 87 on metacritic and Beyond at 70, they got really high scores from Gamespot. That's respectable for great games. Beyond missed on many notes but still managed to bring something new gameplay wise. They had great replay value and real consequences to your decisions where Order does not even consider bringing such kind of system within the gameplay.

Ryse got scrutinized for it's "corridor" linear gameplay and storyline with nothing memorable to hold on to, basically a movie like tech demo.

But where Crytek didn't come out and accused gamers with legitimate concern to be haters, RAD did.

That's pathetic behavior from developers that have all the marketing tools and all that money to back up your game. If you call articles that bring up legitimate flaws within your game to be nothing but unjust hate i think you better bring a game that exceeds those critiques, otherwise, you deserve to be scrutinized in the gaming media for nothing more than hyping your own game to the extend that alot of people felt they shouldn't have paid 60$.

[Gamer1982]

Ready at dawns first proper new IP and lets be honest they blew it.. They rushed it no doubt as it has no multiplayer and cared too much about graphics. I always said care less about graphics and more about gameplay and this is exactly why.

[PoSTedUP]

@casualgmer: its the same genre, i didnt say its as good. it is also being recieved the same way as Beyond. and Quantic Dream came out and defended their games for the same exact reason RAD did: people saying "its not even a game its a movie with QTE" (hence the 2's and 3's) and they responded with "who determines how a game should be developed/made/experienced?&am p;qu ot;; for the people who were hating on the game, claiming that the hate was uncanny /unnecessary... what makes RAD any different? the review embargo was the same, all Beyond revews came out the day of release.

you liked Beyond, it got a 70 average on Meta critic. there is a good chance after reviews are all in that The Order will be close to that or even a little higher (its already close). then what? its all based on opinion and what audience the devs were targeting, and it was most definitely the Heavy Rain and Beyond audience. more on the action side. but it is infact the same genre and that is what i said. i didnt say its the same game nor shouldve been; its being recieved the same way as beyond and its the same genre, mos definitely not as good as heavy rain. but to each their own.

[aCasualGamer]

@postedup

Are you really going to say that Heavy Rain/Beyond is in the same genre as The Order?

In what way? Heavy Rain is a singleplayer only campaign and so is Beyond, but that doesn't mean that they are the same at all.

The Order: 6-7 hours long single player story based shooter with not alot of emphasis on gameplay, more on cutscenes and atmosphere and zero replay value(literally)

(single most under mentioned game of last gen, in my opinion a true masterpiece)Heavy Rain: 10-12 hours long psychological thriller story based game, with alot of puzzle elements and crime solving gameplay mechanics. Had many different characters and they all intertwined to create a cohesive and interesting and fulfilling ending. You could replay many times to get different endings and your choices mattered in the progression of the story.

Beyond was very similar to Heavy Rain but took the filmic experience further and had more emphasis on specific character and the gameplay for that character. Also a longer game 10-12 hours. Had many flaws but managed to hold its ground thanks to innovative gameplay elements, albeit QTE riddled. Less replay value than Heavy Rain, obviously.

So in that sense you could argue Beyond and Order are somewhat similar in concept, as they both derive from that need to make a filmic game.

The only thing that i think all the three games have in common is in their reception. They showed many parts of the games that looked like cutscenes riddled QTE moments. BUT... where they differ is that when the games launched and gamers got to experience all of the games, Heavy Rain was praised for the story and puzzle elements and thriller like choice integration. Beyond similarly, but not as much.

The Order however, didn't manage to exceed that reception. It ended up being a mediocre shooter at its best riddled with many design choices that were irritating especially the QTEs. The fact that it's 6-7 hours long with zero replay ability means the only experience you could criticize is precisely the linear gameplay and story.

What game had the best potential?

By far, The Order. If i were to tell you how much i looked forward to it, you probably wouldn't believe me from all the critique i'm laying on it, but i did.

The concept and early videos made me feel like this was going to be like Uncharted 1, but ended up being the worst version of Uncharted one could envision. It did everything that game did, wrong.

Quantic Dream, did the right thing defending their game because it ultimately ended up being a masterpiece of creativity from their part with innovative gameplay moments. (the police station section where they interrogate him and the gameplay switches between Norman who is fighting his addiction and Ethan(you) who is trying to remember what your son wore that day, just cmon! how can the whole industry just dust it off as nothing extraordinary!?).

They are all story heavy games, but RAD didn't manage to make anything out of the gameplay department while Quantic Dream did.

[PoSTedUP]

@casual gamer: i said it was the same genre. which it seems like it is. cinematic with QTEs. coulda saved you a whole lot of typing. games of the same genre can be and are very different, have different storys, premisis, length, atmosphere, setting etc. because thats all you described that is different, which was pointless. youre also saying that the replay value and focus of the game has something to do with what genre it is, which it has nothing to do with it. the quality of the game doesnt declass what genre it belongs to. Heavy Rain, Beyond, The Walking Dead, The Order, are all on a similar boat away from all other games as far as what they do with the gameplay and cutscene/interaction. third person adventure/interactive is where they fall between.

its also a fact that each dev has a right to defend their game. whether you agree or disagree the reasons for it, is just an opinion. but just know that the quality had nothing to do with the hate, the hate was because of the QTEs and cinematic aspect of the game, and both devs defended their game on that exact same front, regardless of quality which is an opinion (and im sure each dev defended their game because they though they deserved better, which imo they both do. to which extent is a different story). im glad you liked Beyond and what the devs did, so did i.

[aCasualGamer]

@postedup

Okey, your post confused me. Thought you meant they were very similar and both got the same treatment of criticism because of the gameplay elements of each game.

I disagree that devs get to resort to generalization of gamers who played it early and put it out on youtube and some, rightfully so, critiques by gamers who posted articles and commented some of the flaws of the game. The implementation of QTE varies quite alot if you look at Heavy Rain vs The Order for instance. The QTEs are directly linked to different choice and difference in outcome because of it, in heavy Rain. Where as in The Order, they are generically put in to give an illusion that you are controlling the actions of Galahad in cutscenes. Those are two vastly different implementations. Having one, directly affect the storyline and progression of your character(Norman Jayden chasing suspect in market, leading to either him catching and leading to different scenario or him not catching him and ending up in another scenario) the other game does not, for example lychan running and killing you if you miss button prompt. Heavy Rain is more similar in QTE scenarios to perhaps Until Dawn where we saw different scenarios in recently released videos.

You are absolutely right, these are all in the cinematic story heavy genre, but i thought you meant in terms of gameplay.

The Order doesn't allow for any deviation from the linear story told, much like Uncharted 1, but in my opinion this was poorly done with the Order. Many irritating gameplay scenarios. Missed opportunities with the lychans overall and i loved the weapons but didn't feel like i got to use them in the sections that would have made sense.

Defending your game, and resorting to attacks of all gamers who criticize the game and victimizing themselves in doing so is different and, in my opinion, a pathetic desperate move.

I don't recall Quantic Dream calling those who criticize the fact that the game is riddled with poorly placed QTEs being haters and bullies.

Why do you phrase it as hate?

In my opinion it is absolutely fair to criticize the implementation of QTE if they are poorly implemented and personally i think nothing should be protected from scrutiny, if it's fair critique.

Developers pored their souls into this game, and it shows. But them expecting only praise doesn't mean they shouldn't get criticized for some of the bad design choices.

[PillowInUrBassDrum]

Sony fannies over-hyped a damage-control ridden game. This is to be expected. If expectations for this were kept just a little lower (and by little I mean A LOT), the hype train may not have crippled this game as much as it evidently has.

[curtis92]

Same as Ryse with xb1 fanboys. It's all the same. Only with Ryse they took what was a kinect game and made it to what it was. With the order, they just kind of lacked a good vision from the start in terms of what kind of video game they wanted to make.

[StanLee]

@ curtis92

But that's most games this gen. Most feel dated and generic. Developers have to become more creative of risk this kind of mediocre result. Game design has to be progressive not just graphics.

[GMR_PR]

@StanLee

Yeah i agree to certain point, but games like Shadow of Mordor, Sunset Overdrive even GTA 5 are pretty great games and they are not the best looking games. Developers need to put gameplay first on their projects. Most of this is our fault, we were hyping graphics and pixels from the beginning of this generation now we must face consequences.

[remixx116]

Will you people please quit creating the troll accounts its starting to get rather desperate and annoying.

Get a life

[PillowInUrBassDrum]

who are you referring to by chance remixx, seeing as though my post history suggests that I am still going to pick this game up at a later point in time when the price goes down >.>

Owner of all three consoles here bud. Good comments by Curtis and StanLee though. Agreed, creative fire seems to be gone this gen :(

[Magicite]

yeah, unexpected.

[lemoncake]

Yeah game is getting bad reviews from all over so no surprise with gamespots review score.

[Blaze929]

Like I said, previews have been saying this for MONTHS. No one wanted to believe them. smh

This is cake right in the face honestly. Suge a high profile developer and game, coming out like this. Should be ashamed Sony

[lelo2play]

Yep... fanboys and developers claiming hate. It never crossed their minds that the actual game wasn't that good.

Ignorance is bliss.

[OrangePowerz]

It might not be everybody's cup of tea and a bit on the short side, but I find it hard to believe that scores in the range of 5/10 are fair.

The devs never claimed it would be anything else, it is what they said it would be. A cinematic experience, and it's a very polished one and it works as intended.

You can't have something inherently broken like BF4 or Unity scored so much higher. If they feel The Order deserves that score I would reason that it's just fair that Unity or BF4 should have received a similar low score.

[WelkinCole]

Here is the thing. Been playing it the last couple of hrs and the previews were dead wrong in my case. It is exactly the game that I expected.

Some reviewers are saying its like the best game from 7 years ago which to them is bad but for me it is a good thing.

I am an old time gamer that see the PS2 era as the best.

Its an old school game in spirit but use high tech for implementation.

In a way it is similar to what I loved about the souls series last gen where it uses old school hardcore game mechanics with mordern and innovative game designs.

This game has confirmed to me what I have been suspecting for sometime now. Game reviewers now mostly or only cater to 7Th to current gen gamers prefernce. As such they are now more than ever not revelant to old time gamers like me.

[creatchee]

@OrangePowerz

This reviewer's justification for the score was that the game was boring. To me, and a lot of other gamers, fun is what drives us to play games. If we're not having fun, then the graphics could look lifelike and the controls could be as smooth as butter from Shaft's cow, but it won't be something that we want to play.

Gamepro had it right back in the day - they scored games in several different categories (graphics, gameplay etc), but the largest, most prominent score (that was completely independent from every other score) was Fun Factor. That was the most important score to look at because, at least for people who play games to have a good time, that's the one that is addressing what they are looking for in a game.

I don't know whether The Order deserves a 5/10 or not, but if somebody is bored while playing it, they have every right to score it as such and not feel bad about it.

[OrangePowerz]

I would have preferred if BF4 would have been boring instead of downright broken and unplayable at all.

Like I said it might not be everybody's cup of tea, but if you can't play a game at all or not properly that's just as bad as having a boring game.

The thing with those kind of games is it won't necessarily appeal to the broad masses. Some people like games like the Telltale games, Heavy Rain or other more story focused games even if they are more linear and don't give the player a lot of choices. Other people hate them. Fun factor is a very subjective thing that can't be measured because what I think is fun you might find boring. I enjoy watching the cutscenes in MGS even if they are over 40 minutes long. Another person might think that it's boring. I think every review should contain a list of lets say 3 games that are similar. A little box that says this game is like those 3 games and if you enjoyed them you possibly enjoy this game.

I still need to wait till tomorrow when I get my copy to find out myself if I like it or not.

[creatchee]

@OrangePowerz

Definitely play it and see if you enjoy it on your own terms - if you like a game, who cares if somebody else does or doesn't? Reviews only give you an idea of what other people feel about a product, but as always, your mileage may vary.

[OrangePowerz]

@creatchee

That is very true. If I would listen to reviews I would have missed out on a lot of games last gen like Alpha Protocol that I enjoyed a lot despite some small little bugs here and there and some flawes in the gameplay and execution of the game.

I do think that the review systems in place are somewhat broken the way they are. For me reviews should present facts first and foremost to have a value for myself. Saying it is X hours long, has QTEs, lots of cutscenes and is very linear is presenting facts. Saying it's boring isn't a fact. You can review a game by mainly explain how a game is without having to wandee too far into your personal opinion. That's something I did for many years when I was an editor. Maybe because I'm from Germany I have a more facts driven mentality :D

In the end of the day when you rate a game like Rambo higher than something like the Order it doesn't make the current system look right and if you score Rambo higher because your expectations where low for that game and high for the other game that shouldn't influence the rating of a game.

[georgenancy]

this game is absolutely getting trashed.Sad to see this but i had a gut feeling this game wouldn't be good.
At least there is still bloodborne to look forward to

[Gore-Content]

I heard the writer of this review made fun of the game on twitter couple of days prior to his review.

[starcatcher]

I knew gamespot would give it a 4 or 5. I thought
ign was gonna give it a 7 however. Damn.

[stunkilla]

so im guessing it either hit or miss for some people now.

[Sketchy_Galore]

What is going on with games this generation? It feels like more than just fear of taking risks due to high budgets, it's starting to feel like everyone simply forgot how to make games. The types of mistakes they're making are the type of thing you'd think any person who even came close to being a gamer would know how to avoid. Of course there have been exceptions but for the most part this generation has been so disappointing in such a weirdly big way I'm barely even a gamer anymore. I find myself watching more movies and would have a hard time naming an upcoming game I'm genuinely excited for.

[Concertoine]

Well said. The obvious response is that every gen starts slow... but it seems to get worse every gen.

The only ps4 exclusive game ive really liked was LBP3 which still kind of lacked the Media molecule charm. Infamous was pretty good, but fleeting. Wolfenstein and Isolation were great but i could play those on a ton of platforms.

The only publisher delivering consistently right now is Nintendo IMHO. Even when their console's on the bottom of the sales charts they delay a game to near perfection.

[Omnisonne]

I noticed that aswell, especially with AAA titles
Im not sure yet wether to blame the developers for being incapable, publishers for cutting off innovative ideas, or the gaming community for being too spoiled.

Perhaps a combination of all three..

Either way its a shame this is happening. Im feeling this will only get worse with time, as devs mistake the issue and probably will take less and less risks with new titles, it will hurt gaming in general.

[Edward75]

@omniisonne

I agree with what you said.

In the case of Ryse and the order how the game looked took the top spot over gameplay.using the better power of the current gen systems for graphics to showcase that power to try to sell consoles.

[Toiletsteak]

Lol i have been saying it for ages it will be the Sony's Ryse but Ryse has more gameplay, if you want a laugh look a kotaku review they are brutal.

[Man-Eee-Faces]

another weak scores. I already knew something was up when the developer asked YouTube to terminate the user account that leaked the full playtrough, and the embargo is that late. The writing is on the wall.

[DougLord]

I'm surprised Gamespot is so harsh on this. Normally I suspect they inflate the reviews for big games so as not to piss off Sony, MSFT, Nintendo, EA etc...

The Meta is 65 across 46 critics now. That's worse then Thief, Sniper Elite, AC Unity and Drive Club! I honestly did not expect that. I thought you would have a bunch of 9s and 10s because its "pretty". But when you have 3 hours of gameplay mixed with 2 hours of cutscenes and the plot is boring, the characters are dull and you are lead around by the nose! Ouch!

[GeddyThePolack]

I'm surprised too. I was really excited for this but I've gone a head and canceled my pre-order. Not spending $60 on something that is so short with no replayability. Maybe I'll pick it up on the cheap when I clear out some of my backlog.

[destroyerz1]

http://www.gamespot.com/rev...

Irrelevant. Reviews are irrelevant for me. Particularly I'd rather play the games without any influence of reviews. I never trusted them and will never trust them. Deal with it. :)

[ps4gamer1983]

Enjoy wasting your money. I'll save my money for good games like Bloodborne. Also I plan to spend $300-400 just on games this year (MGS V: Phantom Pain; Bloodborne; Zelda U; Monster Hunter 4; Persona 5; Witcher, etc), so I can't waste anymore on mediocre ho-hum games like The Order 1886.

[destroyerz1]

I spend my money in any game. I play videogames (since 80's). There are short games that are better than long games. Games with bad rating that are better than games with good rating. I'll play The Order because i want to know the game. It is noticed that almost all the critic is against this game. If it's a disappointment for me, whatever. But surely there are worse games out there. I respect your opinion. If you don't liked what you read in the reviews or you just don't like this game, don't buy it.

[IIZANGETSUII]

And what are you doing here then? LOL

[fatneal]

I just think it's interesting that xb1 and ps4 for all its praise can't seem to string together great games but nintendo gets all the negative press Nintendo....xb1 and ps4 have all the features right? Better online right? More powerful right? But their games are average and nowhere near as critically acclaimed as nintendos in comparison...if this doesn't wake people up to the smear campaign and unjust bias against Nintendo nothing will

[Protagonist]

http://n4g.com/news/1674454...

[fatneal]

whats your point? nowhere in my post did i say ALL nintendo games are critically acclaimed...also thats not a traditional full kirby game its almst like a spinoff hence why its only $40....and lastly that kirby games still has a 75 metacritic score which is higher than most of xb1 and ps4 exclusives lol....nice try but try harder

[The_Sage]

This is definitely a love it or hate it game. I have seen reviews as low as 4.5 out of 10 where the reviewer talked about how it was a painful experience to suffer through, and as high a 9 out of 10 where the review talks about how it was a near perfect experience and that he would like to see more like it. I love story driven games, so I'll be picking it up tomorrow. With all of the negative things I have read over this game, my expectations are not that high, but I still have enough interest to where I'm willing to buy it and give it a shot myself.

[jollygoodchap8]

I love damage control from the fanboys..."Um um...no one hyped this up!!....um......RYSE!!"

[WESKER2015]

i cancelled my pre order, i am just not in a good enough financial situation to put my money down on unsure things, sad for me, i will wait a while until i am a bit better of, lots of bills to pay, but i will buy this game

[SKullDugger]

Good luck bro!!

[magiciandude]

See, this is why I never caved into the hype for The Order 1886. I was actually expecting mostly 7's from GameSpot and IGN but this game is getting 5's and 6's. Greatness still awaits, and it's been over 1 year already. Things are looking really embarrassing for the PS4.

[BigShotSmoov007]

This is turning out to be the ps4 version of Haze.

[burza1982]

Wow the lowest rated exclusive game ever. Is not only Gamespot but everywhere 5 or 6.
Kojima , save us! - please!!

[gamertk421]

How will Kojima save you when MSG is multiplat, not to mention the most overrated series next to GTA?

[burza1982]

Save from boredom.
MGS most overrated series? Don't make me laugh.
Maybe you will tell me also than COD series is the best.

[cruzngta]

Reality check for all of the sheep who thinking EVERYTHING PS4 related is pure gold. NOT. The best exclusives still so far imo are Infamous SS and TLOU. Its ashamed too because the graphics are amazing but at the expense of solid gameplay and like Titanfall before all of the updates - not much substance for your money. Why they did not have MP is beyond me and no coop as well. I guess devs think its okay to charge full price for a game that is more of an interactive film as opposed to an actual gaming experience. Pitiful. I will get this from the preowned bin down the line to marvel at the amazing graphics in the meantime I am sure Bloodborne will be a much better game and am looking forward to that day one.

[TKCMuzzer]

I'm sorry but did a major gaming website use the phrase herky-jerky in a review? No offence but how can anybody have the right to publicly criticize someone elses work when their own is of such low standard.
I want to take reviews seriously but with every passing month I end up more annoyed at the review and the way its presented than I do of the game their reviewing.

It seems the fanboys are out hitting the disagree button, I was pointing out an observation but if you want amatuer jounalsim to continue in the gaming industry, then carry on....here is the link to a dictionary, knock yourselves out.... http://dictionary.cambridge...

[Arborday1]

I remember when Driveclub bombed, this site were Banning mostly everyone who bad talked the game. So I know better this time, I'm just gonna say all good things from now on about any Sony game that bombs. I'm not gonna use Any words along the lines of; Flop, Fail.

Anyways Best Game ever it's just the reviewers are hating on Sony and this site has the right to Ban any user who disagrees that this game deserved a (10/10)

[jollygoodchap8]

Agreed, I just lost a bubble (for real)...........All hail Sony and The Order!!!....THE SONY ORDER!!!

[James Vanderbeek]

ill be playing this friday. even with the bad reviews still pumped for this game.

[Jag-T1000]

A 5! A freaking 5! Everyone that purchase this game at full price is in denial.

[James Vanderbeek]

if you are worried about 60 bucks you are either 18 or younger or poor.

[NixonMonoxide]

This is one of the most asinine, brain dead comments I've seen in a long time. You don't just come off as delusional, but bloody thick too.

I mean it's just $60!!! It's not like people can actually think of better things to do with money.

You absolute bellend.

[Immorals]

That 60 bucks could feed a homeless person for a week. Or it could be a nice gift for your partner. Oh who am I kidding, someone who posts something as ignorant as that is probably lonely and bitter.

[fanboysmackdown]

Sony fanboys will be crying in their Victorian soup tonight.

[BigShotSmoov007]

The Mount Rushmore of flops {Lair, Haze, Duke Nukem Forever, The Order}!!!

[Nitropants]

The Dragons Lair of this generation?

[LightDiego]

The same site that gaves 9,5 for Gone Home and criticized The Last of Us, also GTA V for the lack of female protagonists?
How's that garbage still exists? xD

[Protagonist]

Gamespot is worthless though.

[BigShotSmoov007]

They're worthless until they give Bloodborne a 9 right? Then all is forgiven?

[IrisHeart]

Since when is FROMSoft the devs that made The Order again?

[WizzroSupreme]

Doesn't seem like much for $60, to be frank, but it seems like it's a rather dull 5 hours. That's the big issue I'm seeing with every review.

[Nodoze]

Was hoping this would be a reason to pickup a PS4. Oh well...the wait continues.

[IrisHeart]

I swear if another person says cinematic experience again over interactive movie...