The Order: 1886 has been released today off the back of a wave of middling reviews. It’s uncertain yet whether the lackluster critical consensus of the game will drastically harm its sales, but it’s almost certain that Sony were hoping for a better reaction for one of their biggest first-party games of 2015. However, the game is also being prematurely defended by many who believe that The Order is the victim of some sort of unwarranted backlash, and that the games media actively wanted the game to fail for reasons that are not quite intelligible.
Pre-release problems
Two events took place prior to the release of The Order that were the subject of much debate. The first was the revelation that the game allegedly took only 5 and a half hours to complete on normal difficulty; the second was a video being uploaded to YouTube of a full playthrough of the game prior to its commercial release. The first issue swiftly did the rounds on the internet, accompanied by support for and criticisms of the then-unreleased title. Those in the former camp quite rightly suggested that a game’s quality shouldn’t be judged based upon its length, while those in the latter camp (again, rightly) made the argument that the reports also stated that at least 2 of those 5 hours were devoted to cutscenes, which would make unacceptably poor value for money considering that it’s a full-priced release.
Also See: The Order: 1886 Review – The Legend of Insufficiency
The second, and more divisive, issue for The Order was the upload of its full playthrough (which somehow managed to evade a copyright strike from both Sony and Ready at Dawn). The gameplay footage seemed to confirm all the problems that the game was said to have, including its short run time – despite arguments to the contrary, the player who uploaded the playthrough was certainly not speedrunning it – mundane gameplay, an over-reliance upon cutscenes and an agonizingly slow opening to the game which, given its length, it really couldn’t afford to have.
Before The Order had released, many apparent issues with the game were reported.
Once reports surrounding these issues began to circulate the internet, defenders of the game collectively stood to attention. Pieces simply reporting upon the playthrough existing were dubbed “clickbait” and were pointed to as being unfairly critical of the game, with there being a widespread opinion that many wanted to see The Order: 1886 crash and burn before it had even released.
We all want games to be good, don’t we?
Video games are one of my hobbies, so therefore I have a vested interest in more great video games being released. As an early adopter of the PS4, Xbox One and Wii U I have been eagerly awaiting the release of more great current-gen games to warrant my expensive (and, looking back on it, rather foolish) decision to leap head-first into the current generation of consoles, after each respective system spent a large portion of time finding its feet in the market. The Wii U has now delivered a selection of great games that stand alongside even Nintendo’s most famed classics, while the Xbox One has given me the likes of the insane D4, Forza Horizon 2, the underrated Killer Instinct reboot and a selection of other first-party titles. On the other hand, the PS4 has spent the majority of its time offering more visually intensive versions of multi-platform games.
The game is beautiful, but also dull, as was expected.
If consoles are to be judged upon the games they offer, which they absolutely should be, then the PS4 is behind the pack. Not for one second do I believe that this will always be the case, but at the moment Sony is reliant upon talk of native 1080p/60fps to bring in the sales, though great new games is what I, and I assume many other PS4 owners, want right now. All the information prior to the release of The Order: 1886 suggested that it would be what we have now discovered it is: average.
But the negative information that was being circulated was being made prior to any official verdicts being made by people who had played the game, so were they emblematic of some form of deep-rooted, unjustified disdain for the game?
A backlash against the backlash
To ask the games media to report upon only positive news regarding an upcoming release is to essentially ask them to work in public relations instead. While I fall into the camp that believes it was rather premature of people to immediately write off The Order due to the revelations about its length (some of my absolute favorite games of recent years weren’t exactly time-consuming), I also believe that if there are debated potential problems with an upcoming release, it is within the best interests of the consumer for the media to report upon those issues.
The Order: 1886 was certainly a game that received more bad press than the typical release, but it was also one of the most heavily anticipated games of 2015. That’s the nature of the beast. To suggest that the reporting focused upon it was equal to slander is to also suggest that the problems many believed the game would suffer from, which eventually turned out to be justified, shouldn’t have been addressed, and that’s simply not the way things work.
I can’t exactly comment on the opinions of the media as a whole, but by-and-large the reports I witnessed stemming from the pre-release negativity surrounding The Order were fair. The game seemed to have some issues, and these issues were reported upon. This isn’t exactly a new practice, and is one that should continued to be employed in order to help consumers decide where their money is best spent, which is the job of the gaming press in the first place, right?
The Order: 1886 isn’t the excellent first-party exclusive we wanted for the PS4, and due to the coverage regarding the matter a number of consumers likely haven’t put their money down on a game that was going to fail to live up to their expectations. That’s not a bad thing.
