The Order: 1886 is one of Sony's first big exclusives of 2015. As such, expectations for the game are riding high - will it succumb to the hype, or will it rise above player expectations and deliver a true next-generation experience for PlayStation 4 owners?
From what fans have seen of the game, it looks absolutely gorgeous, and the Gears of War-esque combat fills a niche that's been empty on Sony platforms for some time.
For the longest time, The Order: 1886 looked like it would dominate the early spring release calendar.
However, following early leaks and reviews, The Order: 1886 is being painted in a much different light. The game isn't anywhere near as deep as many had believed, and the action-heavy roller coaster that many people expected just wasn't there. IGN's Brandin Tyrrel summed the whole thing up:
"...The Order's greatest struggle is ultimately its own internal tug-of-war between telling a beautifully presented story and granting the level of interactivity we've come to expect from a game. In the end, a lopsided commitment to perfecting style and plot comes at the cost of sluggish pacing, a look-but-don't-touch world, and paint-by-numbers gunplay."
From the very beginning, it's clear that the players are merely along for the ride, and The Order: 1886 is calling the shots. A surprising amount of the game's runtime is dedicated to players simply walking around - but while the vistas are gorgeous, it doesn't exactly lend itself to exciting gameplay, as EGM's Andrew Fitch explains:
"It was a good 40 minutes before I felt like the actual game had started, and it's not even like The Order sets the scene particularly well with these sequences, either-Galahad simply ambles slowly through Victorian mansions, alleys, and gates...to add ambiance, perhaps? That's the only thing I can figure."
That being said, the game's linear nature wasn't universally disliked, as some reviewers found the change in pace from open-world games like Grand Theft Auto V refreshing, despite the lack of control. From The Verge's Andrew Webster:
"The Order, on the other hand, is refreshingly linear. There are no branching paths to distract you from the main quest, and you will never find yourself getting lost - the levels are essentially funnels that keep pushing you in the right direction. But the action is so brisk that I didn't really mind...The Order feels like a much bigger game boiled down to the essentials, a complete experience without any filler."
Unfortunately for Sony, these opinions seem to be the minority, as most reviewers were disappointed by the lack of a gripping story, interactive environments and dull pacing: as it turns out, The Order: 1886 tries too hard to tell its story, and the gameplay suffers for it. When it comes down to it, the game just isn't that much fun.
GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd said it best:
"What, then, to make of The Order: 1886? It is, at best, perfectly playable, and lovely to look at and listen to. But it is also the face of mediocrity and missed opportunities. A bad game can make a case for itself. A boring one is harder to forgive."
The Order 1886 reuses the same QTE boss battle for both Chapter 4 and Chapter 16 (Final Boss). #TheOrder1886 #PS4 pic.twitter.com/DVpAzrrrUw
— REX (@TheRazorRex) February 17, 2015
Currently, The Order: 1886 is sitting at a 65 on MetaCritic - not exactly the best score for a PlayStation 4 exclusive that was supposed to ring in the new year with a bang. The problems would be easier to swallow if they were more easily fixed: broken multiplayer can be patched out, but a boring game will always be a boring game.
The Order: 1886 hits store shelves on Feb. 20.
