A disclaimer: no I did not play the full game, and no the final product is not out. Obviously it is not good to judge a title permanently until the final product (Watch Dogs) and it is good not to follow unwarranted hype either due to fancy CG/Real-Game footage trailers. From what I have seen and played of Sony Computer Entertainments The Order: 1886 it is a beautiful game. Vastly and intensely beautiful in its vistas and landscape and the character detail is stunning. But ironically, the beauty is only surface-deep. The action is begrudgingly terrible/lackluster and the linear a-to-b-to-c game mechanic combined with duck and cover shooting reminiscent of the 2006 military science-fiction title Gears of War that was actually incredible for its time makes me seriously ask one question: what the hell is Sony Computer Entertainment smoking in their offices? Did no one in marketing even think: Wow
this game is incredibly repetitive in terms of its mechanics and its hardly varied in terms of doing anything new or fresh.
As if Beyond Two Souls: Beyond Garbage was not bad enough, Sony Computer Entertainment had to slate another obnoxiously terrible title that only serves to impress those deluded by its visuals and lackluster gameplay of button mashing melee and shooting mechanics. Yes, the Neo-Victorian London scape has been unexplored and largely remains so from the small maps as I have seen, and the cutscenes are beautiful but the characters lack any depth and The Order itself is an utter joke leaving more to be desired in their band of merry coat-wearing amateurs running around causing more damage than a Werewolf in the game.
At the end of the day, I remain completely and utterly unimpressed by what Sony has shown me so far. Yes, I will not win any fans in Sonys marketing department for this article (as if I really care), but that is not what it is about. It is about me being able to write the truth out there so some poor kid may not get too excited and spend his hard-earned $65 on a PS4 game that ends up being a huge mistake. Right now, The Order: 1886 looks to be nothing more than a rental and a rather lackluster rental at that. But again, I remain very careful and at bay with The Order: 1886. We will have a review out on it after 1 week of release, and I cannot wait for it to prove me wrong. But somehow, I seriously doubt it.