Well, the opening line of the Gamespot review is something that I couldn't disagree with more if I tried! "When you're so used to games that ease you in, the confronting nature of Control is immediately compelling." Erm, no.
It's not about being 'eased into' other games. It's more a matter of finding out about the protagonist and learning about what drives them and their destination you are trying to help them achieve. Ok, not ALL games need that. It was completely unclear in Journey, for exampe, what you are doing until the end. But here, it falls flat. Games such as Uncharted introduce us to our character and helps us feel a connection to them. The goal is often clear but the path to the goal can be a little murkier. And that's fine. But Control's Jesse has zero qualities that make me want to care about her from the very beginning. Who is she? Why is she suddenly thrust into this paranormal world with abilities? Do we ever find out? Sort of. But by then it's too late to care about her as a protagonist.
The story is convoluted and at the same time shallow... for Jesse. But I sometimes thought that perhaps she isn't the most interesting character. The Bureau and the Oldest House are far more interesting (althought the oldest house is NOT constantly shifting like trailers would have you believe. It's only when you reach certain save points). In fact, a side character, Dr Darling is more interesting, although FMV footage in a game these days is jarring when developers are more than capable of creating nigh photorealistic characters. The best developments of the story either happen via Dr Darling or even the documents lying about the Oldest House, giving it a distinctly X-Files vibe. But should we have to rely on techniques akin to Destiny's Grimoire cards (remember those?) to deliver depth?
Performance wise, the game looks good. Not amazing, just good... but the performance is awful. The map can take a good 10 seconds or so to load. Pause the game mid combat at your peril. Unpausing will stutter and freeze frame you for several seconds. I didn't experience any frame drops in combat as such, but maps and pausing became something to avoid. Which, is lucky as the map is pretty poor anyway.
By the end of the game, I had a platinum but couldn't care less about Jesse, and knew even less anyway. Why was she there (other than one unresolved story strand), why has she got abilities? Why should I even care? The end feeling was the same as the beginning.
Oh and it's also only the second ever game I will be trading in. Won't be playing it again.