Isn't this sort of what EA is offering with it's subscription service? The ability to play games a week early, except I think it's really limited like a few hours and thats it. As loathe as I am to admit it, I'm equally as impatient and have often thought the very same thing. Right now I'm living in Europe and it's even more agonizing since games come out on fridays here and I'm used to Tuesday releases. So I see a lot of friends and GB play games from Friday and I have to wait those extra few days that go by seemingly at 1/4 speed somehow.

The game feels more like a Heavy Rain or, to a lesser extent, L.A. Noire than MGS to me. I'm only in chapter 3 but it, so far, it feels more like 70% cutscene with light QTE action and some not-so satisfying gunplay. That's not to say I'm not liking it... I like the setting, character designs and tone of the game. I'm happy with games like L.A. Noire where I can just sit back and admire the artwork on every little thing. That's why I kind of like those bits where you can pick up items and look them over even when there isn't much point to it.

I think people have had expectations that it was not that sort of game and were thinking it would be some amazing 3rd person shooter even though the devs have been saying all along they wanted it to be "cinematic"... which I guess that means not that much depth in the gameplay but an emphasis of art and story. Now, if the story ends up being complete garbage like some reviewers say it is... I'll be a little disappointed. I feel like I was in the minority that really enjoyed L.A. Noire's narrative.

because video games are serious business. it's about not letting other people have fun if you're not, and being ever vigilant of the killer-killer-app that's going to ruin all video games, a nebulously defined medium that's perpetually in its "infancy".

:\

So I think I'm gonna get this game, if not just for the amazing visuals and presentation and also to support Ready at Dawn and the game's director, who is an incredibly smart man.

Tired of the internet assholes talking down to this game because it doesn't fit their perfect subjective standards of what video games should be. Is it a great game? No. But it's not ruining video games. It's on the same playing field as everything from Super Mario to Call of Duty to Tetris to Shadow of the goddamn Colossus.

I support RAD's vision and their willingness to not give a fuck about what people hate in these oh so TERRIBLY OFFENSIVE "cinematic games." It's time to grow up. Video games can do whatever the fuck they want.

Man, this is such a backhanded insult. The implication is that they're only enjoying it because they want to like it and need to justify their purchase, right?

The amount of vitriol directed at this game, and especially towards people who like it is infuriating.

Oh calm down, I didn't intend it as an insult and if you took it that way, then you are taking this whole thing too personally. Maybe you should take a breather, dude.

@frostyryan: I think the game is brilliant. It's been so much better than I expected and I think the gunplay is superb.

Being cinematic isn't this games problem. In my opinion the problem is that when you get to play it it's just not all that fun. There's an interesting world being built here, but when you look past that all this game has to offer is the most generic third person cover shooter imaginable. More power to you for enjoying it, but I couldn't like this game less.

I liked this game and I liked/was satisfied with the ending

But I am *very* obviously in the minority

I think MGS4 is a mess in terms of writing, but at least it's an interesting, unique mess that made up for it's faults with some interesting gameplay ideas and exciting action scenes. I kind of hate MGS4, but I admit that it's pretty unique and interesting nonetheless.

The biggest problem with the Order isn't that the game is short, or the gameplay dull, it's that this story focused game has an unforgivably awful story. Calling it a story is actually being generous, as it's a collection of tropes pasted together sloppily. It really could not have been more trite. A good story alone would have made this game worthwhile. They don't even fulfill the potential of their premise. Supposedly the universe of the Order is all about the conflict between werewolves and humans, but the game is largely about shooting British thugs. Given that the developer said how story was the most important thing to them, it really doesn't inspire much confidence when they bungle their primary interest so severely.

Also, I think people trying to compare this game to Asura's Wrath is being far too generous towards the Order. Asura's Wrath, while the story wasn't necessarily something to write home about, had a great deal of bombast and variety. The Order, as a cinematic experience, never has anything even remotely as exciting, and variety is certainly not this games strong suit. And hell, they couldn't even muster up a second boss fight, since they just reuse the first with minor changes. As far as cinematic games go, it doesn't even have the decency to be as stupid and laughable as Indigo Prophecy.

So to me, that's the problem, that as a cinematic game, it doesn't have much to offer, especially compared to other, similar games. It has graphics and voice acting in it's favour, but that's not enough to make it a worthwhile experience. Actually, I guess the thermite gun was pretty cool too, but that's still not enough.

If something sucks, it sucks. The only reason this game is getting more flak than most is because of how forcefully it was being hyped. It's the same situation with Destiny, although Destiny has slightly more content.

It was difficult for me to say that last part. Destiny having content? Ha!

@mb: I really liked it and bought it just to have something to do on the Friday it came out. I was pretty sure it'd be bad too.

@privodotmenit: saying something sucks is all a matter of opinion. It sounds like generally people are unhappy with the game but it's not crazy that people are genuinely having a good time with it.

I for one am bummed at the general consensus and while I can't justify a purchase right now, from what I've seen I think somewhere around a 30 dollar price tag will get me to bite. If anythring it's a really nice showpiece to show friends and the gameplay from what I saw seems run, no matter how little there is.

If Bloodborne fails I fear for the the PS4. A 15 month drought, and still no killer app. I'm sure fromsoftware won't fail us, and i'll be raving about how amazing Bloodborne is next month.

I have not played it through the end, yet, but I'm very close I think.

The production quality is so awesomely high in this game, it even tops most Hollywood movies. It looks and sounds so damn cool and I like the whole setting, the characters and the acting is great.

Now the gameplay; it's one of the worst games I've played to date. Holy shit, do I hate those QTE's. The gears of wars sections are OK. It's a huge step back from The Last Of Us, though. The fights with the half-breeds are the worst shit ever designed. It's the same level layout every time, with 3 werewolves that can come out of nowhere and kill you in 2 hits (on hard). Frustrating to the bone.

The gameplay is just not that well designed, it's like they didn't even try and play it, just said 'get it to work and make sure it starts the next cut-scene'.
Why can't we have a game like RE4 with these kind of graphics? Or just make it a little bit less linear, like The Last of Us; where you have certain sections where you can freely move about and battle some decent AI. Even a game like Gears of War had more variety and more of a feel of actually being in a battle, instead of being stationary in cover and spawning enemies keep popping their heads up like it was Maddog McCree.

The only thing that keeps me playing is me wanting to see the ending and just more of those shiny graphics.

@sackmanjones: Couldn't agree more.

I'm fine if people say they dislike the story or the elements of gameplay that exist. But the attacking of those who do like it and the general impression that The Order is an offensive game that shouldn't exist is unacceptable imo.

Im must admit im a bit confused with Jeffs review and QL. I always got the impression he thinks that judging a game based on its lenght vs price was as stupid as putting a numbered score on a review and yet here he is doing exactly that with force. I mean all his other arguments about slow moving combat, QTEs, old time weapons wich hes never in love with and so on i get and is more than enough for him to put it at 2/5. There really seems to be no reason for him to be shitting on the $/h ratio.

@mb I didnt preorder and wasnt sure if or when i was gonna buy this game but after reading folks impression of the game and watching the QL the game turned out as i was kind of expecting beforehand and hence i bought it and im currently enjoying it.

@frostyryan: all quality issues aside, releasing very short cinematic games for full price kind of is hurting the industry. It's telling developers that we as the consumers will just eat anything up. I don't think its a terrible game, although it has a terrible story, but I think the asking price is disproportionate to what you receive and the fact the creators of the game can't take a step back and realize this makes it even worse. While you personally may not care about dropping that money to blow through what is arguably a really well made cinematic experience in two afternoons, others aren't as care free with their earnings. It's not even so much the cost as I make a decent living and this wouldnt strain my budget or anything, but it's the message that sends out to the industry about how much money they can squeeze out of consumer. At the end of the day these are games and not movies and certain "standards" should be met. How low will you go? What if the next game they make is 3hrs long and costs $60 but is a cinematic tour de force? Will you be equally as content?

I just played a stealth section in the later parts of the game where you had to get a key which knocked at least a point off of my opinion of this game. Slow plodding stealth sequence that fails to prompt the 'press triangle' to win button on the final guard then proceeded to kick me back to the start of the section. Now that shit is simply unforgivable game, also add to list of things that developers need to fuck off with 'insta-death' stealth sequences, I hope it rewards me with some astonishing lighting when I come back to it otherwise I'm going to be mad!

What are you talking about. Producing a very high quality and polished game like this is very resourcedemanding even if the game is "only 5h". Its not like the developers are getting away cheap with making games like this, while your argument is valid and i agree it is totally misdirected towards this game.

MGS 4 didnt have 10 hours of gameplay

@rethla: Although it might seem a little harsh, how the developer manages their resources is not my concern. I am here to purchase and enjoy the final product and they are in the business of making sure that product is enticing enough for people to purchase at full price. From reading comments most people, along with reviewers, are of the mind that this game is not worth the full price of admission and should rather be borrowed from a friend or bought used later on - options that don't see the money making it's way back to the developer. It honestly shouldn't be my concern how hard they worked at it because that has no bearing on my enjoyment of the game. Likewise the developer doesn't care how hard you worked for your money that you'll use to buy the game.

The reason we have all this piecemeal DLC these days is because when they started testing the water for what people will buy and overwhelming majority of consumers bought into it. This was a green light to continue the trend because there was money to be made there. What started with some innocent horse armor back in the day is now full fledged characters as seen in Evolve. It is not a far fetched idea that the moment we as the consumers start buying into this notion of really short yet extremely cinematic games, this will likewise give studios the green light to start testing boundaries of how far they can go. While I understand @frostyryans reaction to people bashing the game itself, it's the bigger picture that is more important here. Not to mention that throughout The Order one might say "it's really short and concise but at least it delivers a hell of a great story in beautiful style" but the game doesn't even do that. It's a beautiful showpiece with some decent gameplay and without going into major spoilers - a very unfulfilling narrative.

@humanity: Yeh i hear you but i still think its missdirected at this game. The example you are giving with DLC is a way for developers to get away cheap with selling stuff thats easy to produce. Making a well polished AAA game that sets a new benchmark for graphics on the console is the exact opposite of using existing recourses to create a barebone DLC wich effectivly enables them to cash in a 20% higher price for their already finished product.

Then what you describes as more money spent in delevopement doesnt equals a better product is true aswell but it kind of is irrilevant. Noone sets out to just make a bad game.

@yesiamaduck: Haha, the same happened with me. It's unbelievable that 'being spotted' just results in a cut-scene of you getting shot in the face and having to start over again. This game really reminds me of Cyberia; great looking game for it's time, but it plays like a CD-i game.
You can also shoot them with the crossbow, by the way. I shot one guy from far away and Galahad immediately stated: "Hmm, no key". What? How do you know, you're not even close to the body (Dumb stuff like that boggles my mind, really).

And how did you feel about the Werewolf parts? Those were the most frustrating to me. Every time it was an identical setup of a room full of boxes and 3 wolves that can attack out of nowhere. I failed so many times until I had that lucky strike..

Not. Fun. At. All.

@rethla: I don't see why you think it's missdirected. They made a very pretty game with average controls, monotonous gameplay and an unfinished story - one that is shorter than the status quo for these sort of titles out on the market. Sure it looks nice, thats awesome, but what about everything else? Then they go online and make comments about the internet being the new schoolyard bully, as if they thought no one is going to play this game and see it for what it actually is for themselves. Maybe it's a case of being too close to something for too long where you just can't judge it in any way. Taking the typically exaggerated online reception to the side, this game reviewed poorly across the board at most major sites. So I don't think it's very missdirected at all. I will agree that they probably didn't set out to intentionally create a very short yet flashy experience, but maybe at some point you need to step back and realize that the end product doesn't justify the end price instead of arguing online promptly before getting slammed by reviews left and right.

@wakkaflakkachimmichonga said:

No, that game was dreadfully boring until the first Raiden/Vamp fight.

The Order isnt without its problems, but I had a weekend to kill and beat it in 2 sittings. So it was Perfect. I would recommend a rental to people, but not a purchase. I get some of the issues that reviewers and people don't like, but I never got bored with it. I would've liked some more depth into the story and for it to be a little longer, but it was passable for what it is. I made one bad purchase last year and it was Destiny. It has solid gameplay, but was so boring and had no story whatsoever. The Order had more story in the first 10 mins than Destiny did across 5 planets. So maybe I'm in the minority, but I'd recommend The Order over Destiny everytime and Destiny never really ends, both "Full games"

I never said otherwise...it still sucks though, I don't think that's a controversial statement.

I think Skyrim kinda sucks because the combat is a large chunk of the game and falls flat. Now saying that is something I'd expect to be called out on.

Most people moaning haven't played it. So yeah I guess all you have to go on are the reviews.

This game is 2008 revisited. In 2008 this would have scored highly.

It looks ground breaking from a graphical standpoint but the gameplay is standard.

People keep mentioning Gear Of War but this is more of a Last Of Us clone than anything. The only things it misses is characters, structure and level design. The core gameplay is there. The shooting is good.

The problem with this game isn't that it's linear or short. It's that it's boring as fuck.

Don't insult MGS4.

I think the is the perfect summary. The game, while I enjoyed it, never really kicked into a 2nd gear(no pun intended)

I'll pay no more than $20 for a blu-ray and I won't pay more than $20 for this.

I'm sure I'll enjoy it too... when it's $25 bucks or less.

This game sounds like it has virtually nothing I liked about MGS4, so meh. Production values seem rock solid, but not much else. To me it reeks of a launch game - pretty, serviceable, and shallow. Yet it has been released long after launch. Meh. That being said, a sequel could be good. It's not impossible.

The Vamp fight? The shit was clunky as hell and Raiden in that game was glue-gargling crybaby who just was there for flat fanservice who made Raiden MGS2 look like the most human character ever.

MGS4 gave you so many open environments, tons of different, crazy weapons/items, tons of weapon customization. Each weapon had its own unique purpose, each environment it's own places to discover, and the AI made it fun too. That dropped off after the 3rd act (which appeared more linear than it really was, but it did still end up being mostly cutscenes) though.

What's different is that MGS4 had tons of interesting systems, it had a somewhat large exploration aspect to each level, it was much longer (thus giving you more time to become connected with the characters), and it was an established franchise that portrayed dearly loved characters in unique and emotional ways.

The Order is a new IP that expects people to care about these characters by tightly restricting the amount you can even play as them and ending too soon (and on a cliffhanger, at that). I don't get why you'd list and deride all the negatives that this game has, and them disregard them because it's "cinematic". MGS4 was cinematic, sure, but it had a LOT more going for it and while it had it's shortcomings, the really fun Octocamo use, the multiple ways to go about missions, unique boss battles, and the super amazing tie-ups to some characters backstories was what kept people going.

It's totally fine to like the game, but how you're explaining it doesn't make any sense. It might mislead people who really like MGS4 into thinking that this is the game for them when really the two share nothing in common other than "being cinematic".

Just because it is generally looked at negatively make it a fact, which is how your initial statement sounded. Unfortunately, I'd be willing to bet most people who are saying the game sucks haven't actually tried it for themselves.

IDK man, don't get me wrong I'm super glad you enjoyed it and got your money's worth, but I certainly did not. I love the MGS series, and am generally the first to defend short games and cinematic games alike, but I think my problem here came from this being both.

First of all I don't know what I was doing wrong, because I got just about every collectible and bet the game in just under 6 hours. When you account for the fact that nearly 70% of that is cutscene, that doesn't really leave one with much gameplay left. Then on top of that about a third of that game play is awful stealth sequences, and what your left with is at best a mediocre GoW ripoff with pretty graphics.

I loved the setting, the characters, and the concept but IMO the story itself was just one giant wet fart. In the end I feel like I just wasted so much money, especially when Gamestop would only give me $25 for it literally the day after release.

I really wanted to love this game, even after the reviews came out, but simply couldn't and didn't. Where MGS4 told an epic story that spanned huge areas and had excellent, if not limited, gameplay; The Order feels more like an extended cut of a marvel universe movie with a few excuses to tap some buttons here and there, there just isn't enough here.

Note: All this comes from someone who fully believes that MGSV:GZ, Destiny, and Evolve have enough content and replayablility to be worth their asking price. I am never one to use length/content as an infallible metric in determining the "worth" of a game. This is just an very rare case where I can't see anything else that makes up for the incredible lack of content.

I'm enjoying it so far. I feel that the reviewers expected a different game and reviewed it against what they wanted it to be and not what it was. It's like giving Tetris 2 out of 5 stars for not being Puyo Puyo. It's understandable if what the game actually is isn't for you, but not every game is for everyone.

This is interesting to me because every review I read reminded me of the faults I had with Gone Home, even though most of the reviewers liked Gone Home. I actually enjoyed Gone Home, so I figured I would probably like The Order. So far I am, but that could change.

Yeah it was fanservice and clunky. What im saying is it was the first interesting thing to happen. The rest of the game was fine, it was just up until that point, I was EXTREMELY bored.

Im probably gonna pick this up used at gamestop and then return it within 7 days after I beat it.

Disclaimer: My opinions are based on my purchase price of $50 (thank you Futureshop E3 preorder sales). Perhaps at $70 (the Canadian price), I may feel differently.

My thoughts: I enjoyed The Order quite a bit to the point that I felt compelled to go through the game a second time a few days later. I can't remember the last time I've done that (GTA IV maybe?). I for one thought the flow between cutscene and gameplay was great (although I could understand why others may not like it). I never once felt that the QTE were out of place or annoying.

I'm not sure if it's the setting, characters, production values or gameplay that's grabbed me, but I'm still drawn to it. In comparison, I also got Evolve the same day and I put roughly 3 hours into it and already felt like I've seen everything the game has to offer. This is huge coming from someone who adored the Left 4 Dead series where I spent countless hours across the 360 and PC versions.

Regarding the review scores: I do not understand those who take review scores so religiously. The fact that Gamespot gave Rambo: The Video Game a 60 score, than proceeded to give The Order 1886 a 50 just goes to show how unreliable these mega review outlets truly are. Nobody in their right mind can honestly say that Rambo: TVG is a better game than The Order 1886, and yet Gamespot said just that.

@leburn98: As a Canadian who paid the 69.99 + 13% HST it rang in at $79.09, that's just absurd for what you get in the package. I'm glad you liked it though?

Can anyone explain to me why there are two users in this thread claiming they "Loved" the game and yet had only watched recorded or live playthroughs? You can say you like the look of the game, perhaps state how the shooting looks fine...but making Qualitative statements on a game? A game that hasn't divorced you from your hard earned money? It just seems premature, disingenuous and extremely irresponsible.

Anyone else feel the scene with a certain rich fellow in the game and thrown knife are kiiiiinda stupid? No ones like... Hey Rich guy, you're weathering a thrown knife awfully well for a rich guy. What's up with you Rich guy? That one and the old guy with Perceval, what's that about? I'll tell you about it...sometime never, I don't know anything really.

This game is absolutely worth playing. For $60? Nah, most people won't feel satisfied with the value there. But it's definitely worth $40, IMO. I was lucky enough to get it on launch day and immediately signed up for an amazon trade in for $40 back, so I played it at launch for $20 (took me almost 12 hours, but I played on hard, purposely replayed sequences I liked, and really took in the fantastic atmosphere and took my time to read and listen and enjoy). I found the story really surprisingly good! It has some really neat twists and integrates a lot of folklore in very neat ways. Honestly, I'm pretty hard to impress these days. I feel like Jeff more often than not, but this game is not getting the proper praise it deserves, with the caveat of value per hour of playtime being low if that bothers you.