The Order: 1886

Game: The Order: 1886
System: PS4
Genre: Shooter
Developer: Ready at Dawn
Release date: February 20, 2015

Pros: Amazing graphics, stellar production values, first-rate weapon design
Cons: General lack of interactivity, poor aspect ratio, generic shooting gallery sequences

Last year, Dana Jan, who directed The Order: 1886, made headlines when he stated that storytelling is at the "top of the pyramid" and that everything else, gameplay included, supports that capstone. For some, who enjoy the cinematic intensity of games like Uncharted and Heavy Rain, this news was promising. For others, weaned on early-generation games in which storytelling was an afterthought, the idea of gameplay being subordinate to script was anathema. After playing The Order: 1886 for myself, I can say with confidence that Ready at Dawn achieved its mission of placing story and graphics at the forefront in its newest game. The graphics, physics, textures, and lighting are all spectacular. The story, although derivative and anticlimactic, is genuinely intriguing and presented with gusto by a talented cast of voice actors. But, by committing its workers to story and graphics at the expense of gameplay, Ready at Dawn chipped away at the agency of the player. The end result is a gorgeous, atmospheric, stylish video game in which the player is not trusted to do much of anything at all. To paraphrase Ferris Bueller, "The Order is like a museum. It's very beautiful and very cold, and you're not allowed to touch anything."

Set in an alternate history London, The Order follows an ancient order of knights who protect the world, or at least the British part of the world, from half-breed monsters like werewolves. In the fall of 1886, four of these knights run afoul of two enemies, half-breeds and anti-government rebels, and, perhaps, a larger and more sinister conspiracy.

The knights of The Order descend a Zeppelin.

The story in The Order held my interest throughout, even if, at times, it relies too heavily on the rhetorical devices, motifs, and archetypes of the genre. The characters are well sketched and superbly acted, and the twists and turns, however predictable, are convincing. By the time the credits rolled, roughly seven hours in, I wanted to know more about this alternate version of Victorian England and more about Sir Galahad, the principal protagonist of The Order.

Supporting the story are some of the most sumptuous graphics on PS4, or any other platform for that matter. The particle effects, dynamic lighting, and especially textures in The Order regularly stun. Ready at Dawn actually scanned and digitized period-accurate textiles into their graphics engine to ensure that the clothes worn by Galahad and his confederates look and move accurately. Adding to that sense of realism is a volumetric lighting and fog system that reproduces Victorian London in all its gritty, industrial glory. London is, as Art Director Nathan Phail-Liff said, "almost another character in our world."

Sir Galahad runs to cover.

The problem is that all these expensive graphics, cloth physics, and effects are merely window dressing. And the areas in which Ready at Dawn should have invested -- level design, enemy artificial intelligence, and tactical gun play -- are all grievously underdeveloped. Much of The Order is spent watching, not playing. There are hours of cut scenes, both interative and non-interactive, which, while luxuriously painted, aren't very fun or engaging. When Ready at Dawn does allow players to interact with the game world, it's often the simplest and most linear of interactions: walk from point A to point B, listening to conversations; or push a cart or open a door with the press of a button. Shooting sequences aren't much better. They came in two forms: duck-and-cover "Whac-A-Mole" shooting galleries with dumb, generic enemies; and dynamic, tactical episodes where Galahad must constantly move and readjust, picking up guns and ammo on the move, and generally improvise. This latter form is the rarer of the two, but by far the more enjoyable. More importantly, it points to the huge, and arguably wasted, potential of The Order.

When Ready at Dawn returns to make a sequel to The Order, it should drop its cinematic pretensions, including the letterbox black bars that reduce visibility in hectic firefights, and focus on gameplay. The shooting mechanics are strong; the weapons, weighty and deadly, have a satisfying pop and crack; and the characters and mythology are intriguing. What's needed is a studio willing to pull all these things into a cohesive video game experience where the most important person isn't the script writer or the art director, but the player.