To control it came out as if it were taking the latest generation of consoles to their breaking points, with many performance problems on old machines. Despite these problems, it was a great game, my favorite of 2019. Now, with the launch of the next generation of To control, many of these problems have disappeared and an already excellent game is enhanced with better performance and interesting new features.
To control, developed by Remedy, the people behind Max Payne and Alan Wake, was released in August 2019 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The PC version, after a few patches, was a fantastic way to play this scary third-person shooter full of supernatural enemies. The console ports did not work very well. On PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, the most powerful and up-to-date machines of the last generation, To control it would still struggle to maintain its target of 30 fps. During big fights with lots of flying objects and bursting particle effects, it can fall well below the target. And on older base consoles, it was more likely to hitch or become extremely slow to play. Add long load times and you’ll have a little bit of confusion.
Control Ultimate Edition, released today for PS5 and Xbox Series X / S, is a true next-generation port of the game. It features ray-traced reflections, improved frame rates, faster load times, and a higher resolution. But there are some caveats. First, if you don’t have Control Ultimate Edition you’ll need repurchase the game as the original version of To control will not upgrade to the next generation port. It’s a whole boring thing it upset many and it is still a shit situation.
Another problem: saves from the latest generation versions of the game are not transferred. Remedy says this is because the engine is so different that it would require a lot of extra work for the rescues to be transferred properly. A final problem is that on the Xbox Series S the game has no ray tracing and will run at an internal resolution of 900p, which is then increased to a 1080p output resolution. Oh, and I didn’t play the Xbox Series X version of Final edition, although Remedy says it must be visually identical to the PS5 game, and I hope it’s true.
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So, with these things out of the way, like To control in the PS5 game? In a word: heavenly.
You can choose between PS5 and Xbox Series X: performance mode and graphics mode. In performance mode, the game targets 60 fps and, mainly, hits. I saw some small drops during some larger areas full of enemies, but these were almost imperceptible and compared to the way the game ran on PS4, it is still a big improvement.
The other option, the graphical mode, is locked to 30 fps, but supports ray-traced reflections. The radius trace presents in Control Ultimate Edition not as impressive as in some high-end PC games, like Metro: Exodus. But they still add an extra level of detail to the world. Glossy walls, glass windows and reflective marble floors feature realistic and accurate reflections that enhance the game’s visual appeal.
However, in the heat of combat, I rarely noticed reflexes and missed the smooth 60fps sensation. Outside the reflections drawn by lightning, the two modes look almost identical. For example, shadows don’t look better in graphical mode or worse in performance. So it looks like the big decision you’ll have to make is whether you want a 60 fps action or a 30 fps action with ray-traced reflections. I think To control, across all platforms, already looks great, so ray-tracing features don’t seem like a noticeable improvement, especially at the cost of halving performance. Still, it is a good option to include. By the way, both modes are rendered with 1440p internal resolution and enlarged 4k output, creating a crisp and clean image.
Loading times are also much shorter on PS5, with most loading screens ending in less than 12 seconds. While this is fast, especially compared to load times on older machines that can exceed 30 or even 40 seconds, the load times on the PS5 are not as fast as I expected. However, this is mainly the result of getting used to other PS5 games, like Miles Morales, which have ultra-fast load times of a few seconds or less. Regardless, you’ll spend a lot less time looking at a loading screen on Control Ultimate Edition, which is great.
Control Ultimate Edition it also comes with all the DLC previously released, which is wonderful for me, because I never played Of control DLC, instead of choosing to wait for a next generation port. My luck!
If you are able to overcome the need to repurchase the game again and are unable to transfer the old bailouts, Final edition on next generation consoles is the best way to play To control out of an extremely powerful PC. If you didn’t like it To control When it was released, because it was too difficult or you didn’t find the world around, this new door is not going to change your mind. But if you skipped the old game due to long load times or performance issues, this may be the best time to come back.