I got to play tonight for a good 2.5 hours or so, and here are some brief impressions for anyone interested:
Not much to be said about the graphics. The game looks amazing, best graphics on consoles, yadda yadda. The game oozes atmosphere, and the attention to detail is amazing. I'm an artist, so I spent a lot of my time just looking at all of the detail and artistry present. It truly is a technical showpiece for any platform. It's a testament to how far the industry has progressed in the 30+ years I've been a gamer. Performance and framerate was also rock solid. I think I saw a slight hiccup during one of the cutscenes. The transitions between gameplay and cutscene are perfectly executed, and many times you will be staring at the screen, wondering why nothing is happening, only to realize you are in control of the character, and the cutscene was over.
The game is VERY cinematic, as has been said. Considering that Ready At Dawn has never pretended that their game was anything else, I knew what to expect. The game is more like Heavy Rain and a Telltale game than I thought, with some TPS elements interspersed when appropriate. It's very much an interactive movie, and some people will be turned off by that. I personally loved Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy, and the Telltale Games. I'm a fan of linear games, but I'm also a fan of diversity in gaming. I can enjoy a sprawling open world, and I can enjoy a tightly controlled linear game, or a visual novel, etc, etc. So far, The Order is very linear, very controlled, very directed. I think it works to the game's favor, as I felt like I was watching an interesting TV show or movie.
The writing and acting is pretty solid as well. I think the voice work is very good, and the sound design is excellent as well.
I saved the gunplay for last. I really enjoyed it. I've only handled a few weapons, but one of the things that I was pleased with is that my concerns about the shooting at last years E3 are non-existent in the final release. The gunplay feels weighty, and reminds me of Killzone 2, even though it doesn't have quite the same impact. Headshots were incredibly easy to pull off (something that I had trouble with at E3), and going from cover to cover was smooth. I didn't have any problems with the combat encounters I experienced in my play session.
The slow pace of the game will turn off a LOT of people, and it is a slow pace, at least for the first 3 chapters. I didn't mind it, because it felt like any other well told story/movie/tv show. It established setting, characters, and premise, then slowly begins to ramp up to the real plot. Another thing that needs to be stated is that the game just isn't flashy. It's not a game of ball tightening set pieces from beginning to end. It's not Uncharted 2, or Gears of War (not a fan of the OT title, personally). It's not trying to wow you with explosions and collapsing buildings, at least not at the start.
The game is leisurely. Anyone who has watched the show Penny Dreadful might understand that (I love the show, but I feel it started out at a very leisurely pace as well, slowly layering on characters and plots, and then becoming progressively more interesting and compelling after that; I don't think I really "got" the show until about 5 or 6 episodes in, but I was interested in the setting from episode 1).
I love the setting of The Order. And the graphics certainly make the slow pace easier to swallow. The gunplay is satisfying. The story is compelling, with well written and acted characters. So far, I can't really see anything that is sub par. The game isn't trying to be Uncharted, or Gears of War, or any number of hot third person and first person shooters out there. It's The Order. It's fairly unique, and something I'm comfortable saying I have NEVER played before. It's very different from the typical TPS we have gotten before. That will upset some people who aren't comfortable with a different approach to game design and presentation.
In a post Uncharted, Gears, The Last of Us world, it's surprising to see a TPS that isn't just trying to copy that mold. I'm looking forward to sinking more time into it tomorrow, and once I complete the game (which, knowing myself, will take a while, as I play games at a snail's pace anyway), I'll be able to reflect on it more, but so far, I can't say anything is generic or standard. It's very subdued, and that is where I think its real ambition and individuality lies, not in an attempt to be innovative for innovation's sake, or blatantly copying existing formulas as a "safe" road to mainstream appeal.
tl;dr: these impressions weren't brief at all... slow paced game that isn't copying Uncharted or Gears, but has satisfying gunplay and amazing visual presentation. Risky design choices that I need more time with to determine if I find them positive or negative.