Analysing the ins and outs of DLSS is all well and good. But what we really want are
EXPLOSIONS! I bought Control for its destruction. And
although not perfect, I do appreciate the effort they’ve gone to to make stuff break
in a convincing fashion. Not that you’ll be able to appreciate it when in combat. But
at least you know that, hidden somewhere inside that cloud of fog, colour correction and anti-aliasing,
there are advanced and accurate physics simulations going on!
Indeed, the real enemy of the game is the atrocious post-processing. And I’m not even
talking about the anti-aliasing here! Dark corners aren’t black. They’re a murky
blue. And upping the brightness makes the whole thing look like it’s submerged in
thick fog. I feel half-blind when playing this game! But I’ll do my best to make the
destruction visible in this video. At the core of the destruction in Control
has to be these tables. Not only do a number of destructible items sit on top of them,
but they themselves are perched above destructible cabinets! It’s a delicious sandwich of destruction
just waiting to happen. And it is rewarding to pick them up and to
flip them through the air, sending dozens of individual items scattering across the
room. But that’s just skimming the surface of
what’s possible with them- shooting them will break them up, piece by piece! The destruction
isn’t quite perfect. Items have pre-set breakable areas. But there are enough of them,
and they obey the laws of physics well enough, that I’m happy with it.
If I shoot a gap on one end of the table, and then the other, the bit in the middle
will separate and fall to the floor. For this to happen though, you do have to break it
away from any of the surrounding parts. Sadly, you can’t just shoot out strategic spots
and wait for the table to tear itself apart at stress points. Anyway, the way these tables
interact with items around them is pretty decent, so I’ll give the table destruction
physics in this game a solid 8/10. Some walls are made with the same material
and get suitably smashed up during a gunfight. I won’t bother to rate these separately
since they’re practically identical to the table surfaces, but I do like the walls that
are kitted out in a destructible layer such as this one.
Onto these plastic chairs. Again, if you break a bit off, it won’t just hover in the air
but will instead fall to the ground convincingly. But if we shoot the top corner of each of
these 4 chairs off, you’ll see that the damage is identical, thanks to the pre-modelled
destruction areas. I didn’t find these chairs quite as convincing as the tables, as sometimes
they’d ignore gun shots, while having a tendency to overreact to others. The legs
can also be shot out and separated from one another, but I didn’t find it too rewarding
to do so. These chairs have potential for greatness, but sadly right now they’re deeply
flawed. 6/10. A lot of things have elaborate joints, which
will interact in unpredictable yet quite satisfying ways. Whiteboards will rotate in the middle.
These weird… satellite-y things will spin about in unusual ways and can be shot apart
if you aim at the connections. It’s pretty obvious that these things were simply made
to showcase the physics and raytracing effects, but why not.
The water dispensers in this game have an interesting, soft join between the water barrel
and the body. It almost behaves like a punching bag, flopping about like it’s about to break
away. But it’s more sturdily connected to its base than you might first imagine! The
moment you shoot or launch it, bits of this item blow up and water is poured all over
the floor. The destruction here is nowhere near as detailed as on the tables and chairs.
But credit has to be given to the water itself for making the surface deliciously reflective,
making for one of the best showcases of raytraced reflections you’ll find in this game. But
for destruction, I’ll give it 3/10. Also worth mentioning, but almost impossible
to spot, is how the ground under active water sprinklers gets gradually wetter over time.
Just the way it should! Smash stuff into walls in this game and they’ll
crack and deform quite convincingly! This is all just an illusion, though- as good as
they might look, the effect is just 2D, and you’ll never tunnel out a hole through it
like you would in Red Faction. For destruction I’d give it 2/10, but I’ve got to admit
it looks nice and passes for 3D destruction at a glance, so… nah, still 2/10.
The game redeems itself on the pillars and waist-high barriers. These are destructible
to a high degree. They first need breaking apart by you flinging something solid at them,
or by firing almost a full magazine into them. They’ll crack into parts, which can then
be shot out and which will respond with proper physics and stuff. Sometimes this rubble feels
a little bit weightless, as your character will kick it about like it’s polystyrene.
And the pillars aren’t fully breakable- they have an indestructible core, but are
coated with enough breakable material that I’ll forgive them. Some bits would repair
themselves if I ran far enough away, but other bits like the pillars remained unrepaired.
Good for them. I give this 8/10! I’m not much of a fan of these billboards.
Shoot single pieces of paper and they’ll fire out a good book’s worth of material!
The billboard behind it likes to stay in one piece until it’s ready to break completely,
too. It’s nice everything can be destroyed separately from the rest, but the execution
needs working on. 5/10. Drinks dispensers have always been a great
opportunity for destruction, but aside from smashing the front and shooting what’s behind
a bit, it’s sadly lacking in this game. Shame, Control. 2/10.
And stuff likes to produce sparks. Lots of sparks! Even where I don’t think sparks
should be. But I like sparks, so I’m okay with this.
Fire extinguishers are nice and explode-y but pale in comparison to the MEGA fire extinguishers,
which endlessly spew out black stuff. Combined with the physics in this game, you can plaster
the whole level in this stuff, though the decal count is limited and the older stains
eventually fade away. I got this lovely clip where I accidentally set off a normal fire
extinguisher immediately after, painting the level black and white.
I’ve craved breakable glass since Metal Gear Solid 2’s trailer, but sadly the effect
in Control has been done better elsewhere. Despite being everywhere, most glass in Control
is unbreakable, and leaves measly bullet holes where it’s shot. I found these strips of
glass, but it’s as though the game’s ashamed of it cos it’s almost invisible, and breaks
in disappointingly predictable ‘bits’. You’d expect the rest to fall apart when
hit with physical stuff. But it doesn’t unless hit with a huge amount of force. Sometimes,
chunks of it will fall to the floor unharmed by the process. Granted, it does shatter into
a lot of bits when shot. But I was expecting better. For a game with so much destruction,
it’s odd that the glass in Control is mostly bullet-proof. 3/10.
Let’s boot up Crysis 3, which I think did glass much better. Look at how it breaks!
It splinters, looks sharp, and falls apart convincingly. You’d better be making notes,
Control. GTA 5 is another contender for ‘best breakable glass’.
Elsewhere in Control, sliding metal drawers can be ejected and cabinet doors fling themselves
open. It’s nice to see little details like these and it helps raise the game above Max
Payne standards and towards where we’d hope games would be in the year 2019.
But plant destruction is horrible in its current state. Entire plants will disappear into nothingness
after a couple of shots. I thought this was an oversight, but now I suspect it’s a deliberate
attempt to troll players such as myself. Why? Because of this. That single, remaining plant
might as well be a middle finger. Disrespectful. Get your plant destruction sorted, Control.
0/10.