McMillan’s Codex#40 by C.T. McMillan

The Order: 1886

When criticizing a work of entertainment, one standard practice is often to acknowledge the piece from a basis of style versus substance. Either the title has qualities that transcend superficiality, or the work is more concerned with looking good. Take for example the Watchmen movie: the comic was an examination of superhero archetypes in the context of the real world, but the movie was an adaptation that did not translate the ideas that made the comic so important. The film was style over substance because the movie was focused on being faithful to the visuals without considering the themes. The substance of videogames is gameplay and story, and style is graphics and presentation. One must establish a balance between the two and The Order 1886 cannot stay on two feet without falling over.

I first heard about Order at the Sony presentation during E3 2013. I was taken aback by the idea of playing Victorian Era monster hunters in a steam-punk London using sci-fi weaponry. While I am not fan, the genre is at least interesting and the anachronistic qualities mixed with futurism is very appealing. When the game was finally released, however, the critical reception prevented me from making a purchase. After the game was cheap enough to buy with a single 20-dollar note, I picked up a copy to play for review.

From the outset the game visually amazing with pitch perfect graphics and animations. Character’s bodies and faces move realistically compared to traditional motion capture. The lighting is elegant, reacting to glass and metals with a beautiful shimmer. A hazy filter over the picture not only unifies the game’s visuals, but also creates an air of antiquity consistent with the period. The sound design is very physical with distinct effects in addition to expert voice acting. While these are the makings of a good game, the same craft and artisan touch is lost on the rest of the game.

As a standard third person shooter, the combat should have been the easiest to get right if the developers were not so concerned about looking good. The fluidity and realism of the animations may be a nice touch, but when you are trying to move you must contend with restrictions to how you move. Navigating your character is like driving a heavy truck that requires precise timing to turn corners. When not facing the right way, you must go through a slow turning animation. In combat this choice is especially frustrating when trying to get into cover takes forever. There is also stun locking where if you are hit, your character goes into a reeling animation to convey pain. This is an old practice in videogames that was for some reason brought back. All stun locking does is stop combat and compound frustration when you just want to play the game.

The reason I did not buy Order the first time is because the total runtime is 7 hours and I heard the story was incomplete, which are true. The game tries hard to be visually impressive while the narrative was unfinished in anticipation of a sequel that will not happen. Trying to build a following with an original yet incomplete first entry is suicidal and the developers have paid dearly.

The game has everything awesome: a knightly order that gains immortality by drinking from the Holy Grail, werewolves, vampires, and airships. Order seemed like a playable League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but when the game came time to use those elements in a narrative, the game was left open on purpose to point of ignoring the qualities that made the concept interesting. The werewolves are a small part while the vampires show up twice and do nothing. Both are background details that make way for an uninspired plot involving human enemies. There was a nice touch with an airship providing air support for your team of knights, but only in a cut scene and not in gameplay. Also, there are not many interesting weapons apart from a lightning rifle and thermite cannon. You use them only a couple times before you are stuck with conventional assault rifles and pistols.

The game takes place when imperialism was rampant and the main conflict involves antigovernment dissidents retaliating against a corporation with enough influence to manipulate institutions of authority. You are a part of one such institution who discovers the truth, but you do not change anything. You find the villain, learn what he wants to do, and by the conclusion he basically wins and the only agency you had was killing his lead henchman. The last time you see the villain is the moment you discover who he is an hour before the end. All you are left with after the credits is regret for wasting money.

The Order: 1886 works best as a playable movie that gets by on looks if you ignore the glaring problems. The gameplay is standard and that would not be a problem if the story were actually complete. When you are spending a lot of money on a game, you expect to enjoy at least the story or gameplay, but when the former is mediocre and the latter ruined by hubris, Order is not worth consideration.

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C.T. McMillan (Episode 169) is a film critic and devout gamer.  He has a Bachelors for Creative Writing in Entertainment from Full Sail University.

McMillan’s Codex #39 by C.T. McMillan

Mass Effect 3

Rich Evans of Red Letter Media put it best when he referred to the games following Mass Effect 3 (ME3) as a funeral march. Up until then, you had this sprawling and complex universe for which you could change at will. Your decisions in ME1 carried over to the second game and you would expect those choices to pass on to ME3 before coming to the cold realization that it was all for nothing.

First off, the combat was the only improvement of note. The shooting is smooth and responsive with the ability to modify your weapons. You can add scopes, barrels, and other items that improve fire rated and accuracy. Such enhancement is another dimension to already serviceable mechanics, but does not make up for the glaring downgrade in the narrative.

Everything is wrong when you discover none of your original team is present. At the end of ME2 it was implied the people you worked hard to recruit, form relationships with, and struggled to keep alive in the final mission would stay by your side to fight the Reapers, sentient robots that cull the galaxy of life every 50,000 years. Instead, a majority of your team shows up in cameos with about three available for your squad, another from the first game, and two who are brand new.

The new character Javik is quite interesting, but the other, Vega, is so flaccid he did not need help from the voice of Freddy Prince Jr. to be boring. The teammate from the first game, Ashley, is a one-note human I did not care for in the slightest. Those from ME2 are background characters that help with the main conflict and nothing else. You do not talk to them for very long or see them often, serving as glorified plot devices. If they die it is meaningless because you do not spend enough time together for their deaths to be impactful.

The fact you cannot use them in gameplay is more frustration as they have the most useful abilities like Kasumi’s cloak or Grunt’s charge. They are also better characters with a ton of realized personality. Mordin was the fan favorite with his quick speech and whit, and Legion had a unique naiveté. Furthermore, any romance you pursued is rendered irrelevant because ME3 separates characters. I developed a relationship with Jack and all I could do was talk to her a few times with no chance to take things further. There was, however, a downloadable add-on that let you have a reunion in a fan-service kind of way, but it did not provide adequate satisfaction and did not it matter in the end.

The story is where ME3 falls the farthest. What could have been a compelling narrative about gathering resources to save Earth in the midst of a Reaper invasion turns into an unfulfilling pay-off that does not change no matter what you did. The ending is a selection of three outcomes: Control, where you take over the Reapers, Destruction, where you kill all synthetics, and Synthesis where you assimilate with synthetics. How you get there is superfluous because it does not have any general affect on the finale. You recruit allies, attack the Reapers, and push a colored button for your desired ending.

This is another case of missed opportunity because the lead up could have been dramatic and compelling. Your goal as Commander Shepard is to gather military assets to save Earth as the galaxy itself is trying to stave off the Reaper incursion. While that is exactly what you do, you are never really involved in making a difference. You go to a planet under attack, get what you need, and leave. There is no heroism or innocence to save like you would expect as you progress in a technical manner.

What if you had to sacrifice more people to gain allies? Earth is just one of a billion worlds and you have to convince aliens to abandon their own cause in exchange for yours. If the previous team were available, the process of saving worlds by giving up your friends would have emotional weight and meaning. You have to decide if letting go of the people you care about is worth saving the galaxy, when in reality both choices lead to significant loss. The fact this is not the case makes the actual losses especially insulting when you do not spend time with those characters like you used to and the ending makes their sacrifices worthless.

Mass Effect 3 is good for the wrong reasons. The improved combat and epic scope is punctuated by probably the worst executed narrative I have ever played. Not only does this game contradict the intent of the series; this game destroys everything you loved from its predecessors. ME3 is an affront to fans and I cannot in good conscious recommend it unless you are a completionist. I would have imagined Mass Effect: Andromeda to be a return to form had the lead writer and development director not left before the game was finished.

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C.T. McMillan (Episode 169) is a film critic and devout gamer.  He has a Bachelors for Creative Writing in Entertainment from Full Sail University.