Control review in Spanish (technical analysis with nvidia rtx)

Surely many of you were waiting for Control, the game created by Remedy Entertainment and distributed in our country by 505 Games, based on action and above all mystery. This company has emblematic companies such as Max Payne, Alan Wake and Quantum Break from which this Control drinks a lot. With a very dark and mysterious setting and plot that will make us have a good time while we thoroughly investigate The Oldest House, the building where the action takes place completely and which is one more character in this story.

We will analyze especially its technical section with the Nvidia RTX 2060 and the gameplay, although we will not forget its main story, of course without Spoilers. Let's see then what this Control offers us.

Control Synopsis

In this game we get into the skin of Jesse Faden, a young girl who during childhood in Ordinary had an encounter with an object of strange supernatural power with her brother Dylan. Two evil entities emerged from within it, so to speak, coexist with Jesse and Dylan. He was kidnapped by the FBC (Federal Control Office) during his childhood and Jesse has set out to look for his brother in the central FBC building called The Oldest House or La Casa Inmemorial.

The Oldest House is the name of this building, in which all history will pass, and Jesse is not going to have exactly a path of roses in front of her in her search. And it is that a paranormal force, apparently from another world, and called "The Hiss", has taken over this building and all the FBC agents who worked in the place except a few. But Jesse is a woman of resources, and she has supernatural powers that she will discover throughout her adventure (our adventure), always aided by the Service Weapon, very special, a Supernatural Power Shield as they call her.

Precisely this FBC organization operates clandestinely for the United States government, and it is dedicated to investigating and trying to control these phenomena and Power Objects that escape the laws of physics and that are supposed to be distributed all over the world. As soon as we enter the building, we will notice that it is much larger than what we saw from the outside at first, being connected to other strange and paranoid dimensions. The Hiss makes this building constantly changing which will add an extra of uncertainty and mystery to the game. It is up to us to expel this threat and find Dylan.

Gameplay

Control is a game that due to its design and setting reminds us a lot of Quantum Break, in fact, its director Mikeal Kasurinen is the same. A substantial change in this new IP is that we have far less cinematic and much more playable section, to avoid the feeling of watching a movie. It is also based on the Nortlight graphics engine, which is owned by Remedy and has now been updated and retouched to introduce a complete section on Ray Tracing and DLSS. Its director reported that we will have one or more DLC, but not microtransactions or multiplayer elements.

One of the most significant features is also its metroidvania court, that is, it is not a linear game, but we will have to retrace our steps and visit already known places with variations and new open sections. And something we really appreciate is that the released checkpoints will allow us to travel quickly from one place to another.

The character control will be available only in the third person, with a relatively fast character at normal speed and with the possibility of sprinting. If you have played Quantum Break you will know what we are talking about, because the sensations are exactly the same. We will have basic melee options, which will also allow us to completely break the environment around us, Jesse is quite strong in that regard.

At all times except the beginning, Jesse equates the Service Weapon with a Power Item that has special abilities and that we will be able to improve throughout the game through a skill tree. This weapon may take the form of a pistol (basic) or others such as shotguns, rifles and others. Similarly, Jesse also has different supernatural abilities such as telekinesis, the control of the consciousness of some enemies or even levitation if we find the hidden improvement.

Technical section and test bench

Let us now see a little more detail some of the main aspects of Control and so we can comment on our opinion on it.

Story, characters and soundtrack

Without a doubt, one of the strengths of Remedy Entertainment is the stories they present to us, and this Control is no exception. We have one with a lot of mystery and darkness, a hallmark and really original for what we are presented with. Paranormal phenomena that invade a building, alternative realities and a Jesse that more than human, seems like another monster with his double "I" inside.

Without a doubt, the character that stands out the most will be the protagonist, with her double personality, her internal debates and the value she puts on the matter. As for the background of the characters, it is not excessively remarkable except that of the director (former director) Zachariah Trench, omnipresent on many occasions and who will help our protagonist to deal with The Hiss. The bosses we fight against leave a lot to be desired and the various NPCs aren't overly interesting either.

The soundtrack is as careful as ever in a title of this type, we have little music, and only in key moments and action. The sound effects of the weapons, characters and environment are of great quality and what stands out the most is the continuous murmur of the possessed workers who levitate around us.

Dubbing in Spanish (OMG)

Surely you will see many articles talking about this topic and videos that show that dubbing, at least in Spanish Castilian, is a real nonsense. Surely all of us who have tried the game will agree on this matter.

Characters like the one in charge of cleaning seem doubled by Mariano Rajoy himself sometimes and other times by Yoda depending on his mood. And the worst happens with Jesse, whose personality has nothing to do in his English and Spanish version. It is a shame, because while one reflects an adult girl with problems with her inner self and quite confused by everything that is happening to her, the Spanish Jesse is simply a high school girl, a bit of a pija and who seems to be talking to her friends.

And this does not improve much when we observe that the dialogues go completely out of time with the movement of the mouth and the actions of the character. This is one of the most negative points and that the 505 Games distributor should have been more careful. If we get something positive, it is that the subtitles are perfectly translated, something is something.

Environment and exploration

As we have commented, all the action takes place inside the FBC building, The Oldest House, which is connected to various space-time places due to Hiss, the supernatural entity that will be our enemy to the somewhat of the game. This building is just one more character, and it will mess us up quite a bit due to its gradual changes in structure as we progress through the story. This game implements an AI system called Encounter Director that tries to always balance the forces of the enemies with those of Jesse according to the place and the level of ability that we have. Be careful, because there is no possibility of playing in easy or difficult mode, the difficulty will go up throughout the story.

The game is based a lot on giving us information through documents located throughout the mapping, all quite strange and somewhat puzzling, but if a great difficulty to decipher them except at the beginning. The game becomes quite agile when we know the environment, and the fact of eliminating cinematics has been a great advantage for the immersion. The metroidvania style invites us to explore the environment and retrace our steps to open new sections and side quests. These will be quite important, because they will give us improvements and new powers that otherwise we will not be able to obtain.

Let's also not forget that we will have to do the odd puzzle to solve different situations. They are all quite similar, of placing blocks in a certain way or interpreting and copying a certain symbol. Not too original and quite flat in my opinion.

Enemies and combat

The Control combat system is really good and very easy to use, especially on console controls. Jesse is quite fast agile, and the powers will be accessible at the touch of a button, just like the gun.

On the part of the enemies, since the truth is that we do not have a great variety of them in terms of appearance, since all or almost all will be agents of the FBC possessed, that is, human. The only variations of them will be the fact of being able to have supernatural abilities and carry different firearms or protective shields and the like. We must intelligently combine Jesse's skills and the gun to defeat enemies, as each type will have its weaknesses and strengths.

What we must consider is that when the difficulty increases, we will be presented with quite a number of enemies simultaneously, unleashing in intense combats that force us to be in continuous movement. Both the pistol and the skills consume energy, and will recharge automatically when we stop using them, so we won't have to worry about ammunition. Of course, keep in mind that health does not regenerate, and we will have to take it from fallen enemies.

Our survival depends on our ability and the interaction with the stage to throw an object and cover ourselves. In some cases it can even be frustrating, since the save points are relatively separated and will cause them to return to perform the same combat over and over again. Another aspect that does not help anything is the use of red light to reflect stress situations, since the enemies are the same color and we will easily lose the timing of their movements. Personally I would like a greater variety of enemies, and especially bosses with a greater personality and different from the rest.

Graphics engine and performance with RTX 2060

The graphics engine used is Remedy's own called Nortlight Engine, which has been updated compared to Quantum Break adding functions such as real-time ray tracing for the new Nvidia RTX and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) capability. The game has a dynamic clearly influenced by American movies and series, both in colors and in style and appearance.

With all the action taking place inside a building, Remedy has had to do the rest in the use of light and shadow, with quite dark environments using almost entirely white and gray tones with some wood. We do not say that it becomes heavy after a few hours, but we do miss exteriors and a greater variety of textures. Of course, the feeling of oppression that the work intends to give would be eliminated.

We have tested this game with the following test bench:

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel Core i5-9400F
Base plate:	MSI Z390 MEG ACE
Memory:	16GB T-Force Vulcan Z 3400 MHz
Heatsink	Stock
HDD	ADATA SU750
Graphic card	Nvidia RTX 2060 Founders edition
Power supply	Cooler Master V850 Gold

The missions are independently re-playable, so the FPS capture was done as we progressed through the story and repeating the mission "Unknown Call." In all the captures we have selected the high graphic quality under DirectX 12, which allows Ray Tracing. We are going to separate the performance in the three main resolutions, and using RTX, RTX + DLSS and RTX disabled so you can see the differences.

Quality	Resolutions (Welcome to the immemorial house mission)
	1920 x 1080p rendered at 1280x720p	2560 x 1440p rendered at 1920x1080p	3840 x 2160p rendered at 2560x1440p
RTX OFF	67	68	63
RTX ON	39	38	37
RTX + DLSS ON	68	46	24

Overall we can see that with this high quality setting the FPS rate is very similar in 4K, 2K and 1080p, especially with RTX mode disabled. This is surprising to say the least, and surely due to the fact that you are always indoors, but it could be said that resolution does not influence game performance. Where DLSS activation is most noticeable is in 2K resolution where the rendering of the textures will be done at 1080p.

But with the activation of the DLSS in Control a rather striking problem occurs in certain areas, and that is that due to the continuous rendering performed by the system, the walls do not keep the texture fixed, which causes them to be in continuous movement, as if it were water giving a very artificial feeling. I have directly rejected this option because I do not like this effect at all.

Regarding 4K resolution, because under this graphic quality we will obtain somewhat low results when we activate RTX and especially DLSS with a texture rendering at 2160x1440p. If we put this rendering to 1080p we will only be able to match the FPS with RTX activated and without DLSS. In short, DLSS in 4K is absolutely useless for the Nvidia RTX 2060.

(data update for mission Unknown call)

Quality	Resolutions (mission Unknown Call)
	1920 x 1080p rendered at 1280x720p at RTX OFF	2560 x 1440p rendered at 1920x1080p	3840 x 2160p rendered at 1920x1080p
RTX OFF	67	65	64
RTX + DLSS ON	68	67	38

This time we see practically the same results as in the previous mission, although we have chosen to reduce the rendering resolution in RTX ON to balance the balance. in this way we have obtained more than 60 FPS in all cases except 4K.

As for the stability of the graphics engine, Remedy has a good grasp of possible bugs and we have not found any at all. Yes, there have been drops of frames in confrontation with many infected, but it is something quite acceptable and acceptable. In general, the stability of FPS is very good and constant throughout the game, we insist again, this is because we are always indoors.

Ray Tracing effect

We have taken some screenshots during the Control game to observe the differences between an environment with Ray Tracing in high quality and another normal. All of them are taken at 2K resolution in high graphic quality, although of course, rescaled so that they occupy less space on our server. Similarly, we have left the FPS present so that you can see the difference in performance.

In these first three images as soon as the game begins, we notice a difference in surface, especially on the ground. With RTX On you can see a much brighter floor due to the incidence of light and sharper edges. If we look at the far right we also see a better definition in the light of that room and in the glass door. Finally, the image with DLSS makes the definition of the character and texture somewhat worse and more blurred, and having seen that the performance does not improve, the better it will be to discard it.

In these other three images, we see practically no change, with a DLSS that has performed well, although it has reduced the definition of the walls. With RTX activated, the interpretation of light in the plant makes it look darker, being normal when under the walls.

Now look at the huge difference we see in these four images comparing the effect of lighting on furniture, walls and the floor. Especially in the first and second images the deference is abysmal, it even seems that the quality of the textures is at a different level.

Everything seems much more real, the ground, the shadows and light in the metallic objects and crystals. Even the doors and gaps where the light should be less with RTX deactivated the game illuminates them in a much more random and artificial way.

Final words and conclusion about Control

Let's treat it as a review, so we are going to give our final opinion about this Control, a game at least particular for its history and with a technical section of quite a high quality. Of course, we strongly recommend playing it in English with subtitles because dubbing Spanish is a disaster.

Without a doubt one of the things that Remedy does best is precisely the story, a dark one, of a lot of mystery that introduces us to a lonely building and possessed by a supernatural outside that gives it its own personality and is one more character. The action levels are very well carried out, although the enemies are highly repetitive and the artificial intelligence is not a wonder either.

We do not have a defined level of difficulty, so the playable experience will be the same for all users. This is very positive for the enjoyment of the story, although a disadvantage for those who ask for a little more. I personally miss a manual save, since the intervals between saves are quite large and if we die we will have to fight the same opponents again, although well, it is not easy to die in this Control either.

The technical section is outstanding, with a Nortlight Engine in very good shape, although never reaching the levels of EA's Frostbite. The graphic requirement is reflected above all using Ray Tracing, with a marked improvement in light treatment. We could almost talk about a completely different experience in using it or not, since the quality improves a lot and when all the indoor play goes through, the realism is much better. Performance is not too affected in different resolutions, and it is almost a fact that DLSS is useless except in 2K resolution.

The combat mechanics are very simple and the control is a delight, with an agile character and combining supernatural powers with firearms. We don't have to worry about ammunition, but we do have to worry about life, and we have many improvements in powers and weapons, something that is appreciated. The metroidvania cut makes it a more interesting title with a large number of collectibles, and having fewer cinematics gives it much more agility and immersion.

We hope that this analysis has served you to have a clearer idea of Control, although we have taken care not to reveal absolutely anything about the story, that's up to you, and I hate that they spoil me.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ VERY ORIGINAL HISTORY	- THE DUBBING IN SPANISH
+ DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER SKILLS AND EXPLORATION	- LITTLE DEPTH IN SECONDARY CHARACTERS
+ MUCH LESS LINEAR THAN TITLES LIKE QUANTUM BREAK	- NO MANUAL STORAGE
+ THE ENVIRONMENT IS ONE MORE CHARACTER
+ TECHNICAL SECTION WITH RTX AND HIGH LEVEL ARTISTIC
+ EXCELLENT CONTROL AND AGILE COMBATS

From Professional Review we give you a well deserved gold medal:

Control

HISTORY - 92%

GRAPHICS - 91%

SOUND - 90%

GAMEPLAY - 86%

DURATION - 84%

PRICE - 81%

87%

Impressive art setting and original story, but play it in English and with RTX to enhance the experience