Review for Control. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the video game was released on 27/08/2019
Released in 2019, enriched by two expansions in 2020, included in the Xbox Game Pass collection and finally announced as one of the February PlayStation Plus titles; yes, we are talking about Control. But now it's time to try the next-gen upgrade for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X along with some interesting ones exclusive features for the PlayStation 5 version.
Discover the new features introduced by this Control Ultimate Edition in our review.
The Big Dilemma: Performance or Graphics?
The Ultimate Edition of Control includes the complete experience of the latest Remedy title, therefore, you will have available not only the main campaign but also the two expansions: The Foundation and AWE. It is useless to deny how the news of the inclusion of this title among the games of February 2021 for subscribers to the PlayStation Plus service caused a sensation. This will allow many players to try Control for the first time and discover the Oldest House in all its beauty. , also on next-gen.
In addition to the two expansions, the Ultimate Edition of Control will allow owners to take advantage of the free upgrade to the version for the new generation of consoles, offering two distinct graphics modes, now increasingly adopted by developers in this first phase of transition from the past to the current videogame generation: performance mode and graphics mode.
Performance mode will allow you to play Control at 60 frames per second with a native resolution of 1440p (upscaled up to 4K), which, in the version we tested on PlayStation 5, proved to be granite without any drop even in the most excited situations. The ability to see a title like Control beyond the canonical 30fps is a qualitative coefficient that most attracts the player in the whole experience, almost always represented by frenetic fights that can be better defined by the constant 60 frames per second.
Also, Control Ultimate Edition offers the player the choice of graphics mode. This option brings us back to 30 frames per second (always with native resolution of 1440p with output in 4K) but with a very interesting addition: Ray Tracing. It is good to remember that in its launch period, Control was particularly appreciated for its excellent use of Ray Tracing, even before it became known to most due to the promotional campaigns of the new consoles during 2020.
But what Control boasted, in its PC version, it wasn't just Ray Tracing, but the perfect combination of Ray Tracing and DLSS. DLSS (technology currently exclusive to Nvidia GPUs) allows you to keep Ray Tracing active without having drastic drops in frame-rate. Similar to the case of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, it still takes time to allow developers to make the most of the resources offered by the new hardware from Sony and Microsoft.
The Ray Tracing that is reproduced on the next-gen (as transparently stated by the development team) is not the same as what you would see with the Ultra settings on PC, but we can safely say that at the level of detail, the Ray Tracing used on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S versions is comparable to the Medium level that can be obtained on PC (obviously without using DLSS). As with the PC counterpart, playing Control with Ray Tracing particularly alters the Oldest House, full of floors and glossy surfaces that create captivating plays of light, capable of leaving us again bewitched by the brutalism of the Federal Bureau of Control.
The level of texture detail remains unchanged between mode changes, which, they can be played at any time without having to restart the title. In addition to Ray Tracing, the new generations enjoy an SSD and that results in a lightning start that takes us in less than 20 seconds from the PlayStation 5 dashboard to be able to freely control the protagonist, Jesse Faden.
Unfortunately for Xbox Series S owners, the choice of Ray Tracing and therefore of the related graphics mode is absent, you will only be able to play in 60 frames per second performance mode with 900p render resolution at 1080p output.
Feature for PlayStation 5
If you are one of the lucky owners of PlayStation 5 it is good to remember that Control Ultimate Edition offers some small additions available only in this version. First, the activity sheets are available for all the main missions (with relative percentage of completion) that allow you to return directly to the game with a simple button even from the main dashboard. In addition to this, integrated video guides are available to allow beginners not to get lost in the complex levels of the Oldest House.
At the end, support for DualSense. Adaptive triggers and haptic feedback are optimally exploited and we were surprised by the quality of the effects reproduced by the Dualsense which again show the potential for immersion that the new PlayStation 5 controller can transmit. In Control there are several ways to defend ourselves, first of all, the use of the service gun. As a firearm, adaptive triggers react perfectly creating the right resistance according to the shape of the weapon, failing when the shots finish. Although trivial, this function allowed us to look less at the counter of available shots and pay more attention to the clashes, since, in a certain "sense" it was the DualSense that told us when we had finished the shots.
If on the one hand we can choose to eliminate the Hiss with volleys of bullets, we can also choose to indulge ourselves with a wide range of powers that our protagonist will acquire in the course of her adventure. The DualSense will vibrate with less intensity with each step we take and increase in intensity as we run, to this are added specific effects or rather, sensations based on the type of power we decide to use.
One of the first we will receive will be the launch. In addition to being extremely fun from a mere gameplay point of view, it becomes even more fun with a reproduction of the object that comes close to our hand and gradually moves away once launched, feeling it literally slide away from our hand towards our target. Equally peculiar is the effect reproduced by the power of the shot which, fast and decisive, it will flow from the bottom to the top of the DualSense every time we decide to dodge the shots of the enemies.
What Remedy Entertainment did with the PlayStation 5 version of Control was downright flawless. Not only has the technical sector been taken care of (thanks also to a modification of the game engine, now new and only applied to the Ultimate Edition version), but also the entire ecosystem of PlayStation 5 with what is currently possible to define the best care for the effects reproduced by DualSense for a third-party. On top of that is added the fact that Control Ultimate Edition will be redeemable for free for PlayStation Plus subscribers, a golden opportunity for any PlayStation 5 owner.
A new Nortlight Engine allows players old and new to explore the Federal Bureau of Control with the option to choose between 60fps or 30fps with Ray Tracing. The next-gen is perceived more in the PlayStation 5 version, which, in addition to the activity cards and video guides, offers excellent support for DualSense. What Remedy demonstrated was a great technical test of their untimely abilities to operate on the new generation, while also offering a good compromise for the version on the Xbox Series S. The entire offering, which also includes the two game expansions, makes Control Ultimate Edition a title not to be missed on next-gen, especially if you are a PlayStation 5 owner and have an active PlayStation Plus subscription with which to redeem this title for free.
► Control is an Adventure-Action game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the video game was released on 27/08/2019
