Remedy's 'Control' is a disappointing game.

So when it comes to storytelling in games, it's not exactly a secret that telling a good story is not easy. Being able to tell a story (in a pc or console game) that last for 10-15 hours requires a lot of effort and attention to detail from a writer.

Indeed, in order to be able to create a game that works from start to finish, that means that you have to get things right in the story. You have to make sure that you respect the basics and the fundamentals of the craft without taking anything for granted. 

Unfortunately, over the last few years there have been attempts in 'reinventing the wheel' and not taking the craft seriously. Especially when it comes to a 'story-driven' gaming company like Remedy, these guys have been really dropping the ball lately.

By that I mean is that in Remedy's case, the biggest problem with their previous game 'Quantum Break' (a time travel game that bombed) was that they didn't pay attention to their story. They didn't pay attention to their premise, characters or storylines. 

Indeed, as unfortunate as it was, 'Quantum Break' was a game that didn't know what it was about. There was no proper introduction to the characters, the story made little sense and the game even had those 25 minute live action clips between the gaming scenes.

So based on the meltdown of 'Quantum Break', one would have thought that 'Remedy' would have learned from their mistakes. Surely they would try to correct their storytelling ship and try to come up with something that would actually make sense. 

Yet, when me and my friends managed to finish their latest game 'Control' last week, we had to admit that they didn't learn anything from their almost 100 million dollar bomb. The story in 'Control' is even worse than what it was in 'Quantum Break'. 

By that I mean is that even though 'Control' - fortunately - doesn't have those live action clips, this time those other basic elements are even worse. The story doesn't make sense and the writers are completely clueless about what they're supposed to do.

Indeed, once you start playing the game - a female character called Jesse Faden - there's zero exposition in the 'story'. Her visiting (in the beginning) some Federal Bureau office and having super powers is something that is simply supposed to be accepted at face value.

Later on, once our protagonist starts fighting the bad guys, things aren't explained either. There's some evil entity, her brother is missing, there's some scientific experiments going on in the building and she even talks to someone inside her head (!).

Story-wise, what is so unfortunate about these moments in the story (inner dialogue + protagonist talks to someone in her head) is that none of them make even remotely sense. None of the stuff is explained to the gamer in any meaningful way.

Indeed, as you kept playing the game, this 'character knows everything, gamer knows nothing' just keeps getting more and more out of control. There's no story arc, there are no stakes and you just don't know what the point to the whole thing is. 

Not surprisingly, once we finally reached the end credits after playing the game for like 13 hours or so, me and my friends had had enough. We just couldn't believe how incredibly bad every single storytelling aspect in the game had been.

After all, even though our expectations for the ending were low, the so called 'finale' that lead to the end credits was so bad that we felt like throwing things at the screen. It was such an anti-climax that you simply had to see it in order to believe it.

In that sense, when I think about this game and its problems as a whole, it's pretty clear and obvious that the game didn't do well commercially. Despite the usual hype it didn't manage to make the players excited enough to purchase the game.

After all, even though gaming critics did their best to puff up the game's reviews and its reputation (81% on Metacritic), that wasn't enough. 'Control' didn't even make the top-30 lists on any of the platforms that it was released on. 

In that sense, in the end, if you're someone who's thinking about buying the game and thinking that there's something special going on in here, you shouldn't get too excited. You shouldn't get too excited and think that this game has a story that is executed well.

After all, even though in 'Control' there admittedly were some good things about the concept (some super powers and some shooting modes), as a whole these simply were not enough. These weren't enough to offset the bad qualities that the game was full of. 

On the contrary, problems like the game not having any story, the characters & the dialogue being terrible, the pacing issues etc. were simply too much. They were too serious and made it impossible for me and my friends to enjoy the game as a whole.

'Rocketman' is a pretty entertaining film.

Like many others, when I heard that there was going to be a biopic about musician Elton John, I was pretty excited. I felt that there was a pretty solid chance that the film would be at least relatively watchable and worth my time.

After all, since I had already enjoyed 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (same director) and 'Eddie The Eagle', same director & main actor) it wasn't a difficult decision to watch the film. All the signs pointed to the movie being entertaining and enjoyable.

So having now seen 'Rocketman' with my friend this week,  it has to be said that the film didn't really disappoint. The biopic / musical turned out to be pretty entertaining, even though I do have so minor reservations about its story and how it was written.  

In any case, when it comes to the film, the biggest reason that the movie is as watchable as it is, is of course because of its 'star'. There's no question that Sir Elton John is someone who deserved a movie about him and his fascinating life. 

After all, not only is Elton (born Reginald Dwight) an accomplished musician with a long career, but he's also someone who really knew how to push the limits as a performer and who was willing to give his all to make his concerts as entertaining as possible.  

Indeed, in the film's story, it doesn't take long before Elton's (played by Taron Egerton) rare musical talent becomes obvious. Once he gets his hands on a piano as a young kid and learns his craft, it's obvious that he's going to go far.

Not surprisingly, once he finds an equally talented partner to write lyrics for him (Bernie Taupin - who has written pretty much all his lyrics), it's time to go big. The duo moves to the States and wins people over thanks to his catchy songs (and despite his outfits). 

Filmwise, what I really appreciated about the movie is that before I saw 'Rocketman', I didn't know how good of a musician, composer & piano player Elton was. I just hadn't thought about him that much - even as a somewhat fan of his.

After all, even though Taupin wrote the lyrics for his songs, it took so much talent and creativity to compose songs that were that good. His compositions ('Your Song', 'Crocodile Rock' & 'Rocketman' among others) are simply wonderful and timeless classics.

Storywise, it has to be said that even though I enjoyed, the movie, there aren't really that many obstacles for the main character's success in the story. Unlike in 'Bohemian Rhapsody', Elton becomes a superstar almost instantly (in the 1st act of the film).

The problem with this is that since that there aren't that many obstacles later in the movie, there's not that much of a story to tell. This leads to the film being padded with musical bits and being a bit anticlimactic in its final.

In hindsight, even though Elton's struggles with his addictions and not being loved by his parents are relevant and part of his dramatic arc, one could argue that they're not enough. The script could have used some additional character moments to make it stronger.

Still, when I think about the film as a whole, in my opinion the filmmakers were able to the thread the needle rather well and managed to put together a fairly compelling story. They were able to come up with a solid movie despite the flaws in the screenplay.

After all, especially when it comes to Taron Egerton's performance as Elton, he does an absolutely incredible job here. He's so good that his performance should easily earn him at least an academy award nomination - if not an outright win.

In that sense, if you're one of those who enjoyed 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'Eddie The Eagle', you should definitely give 'Rocketman' a chance and watch it. You should give it a chance and not be discouraged by some of the negative reviews that it has gotten.

After all, even though the film isn't perfect and has some issues, it's still a good movie. 'Rocketman' is a good movie and as long as you don't take it too seriously, it's likely that you'll enjoy the film and that watching it will put you on a good mood.