There’s a couple things that make a good Star Wars game hard to develop. One of them is mastering lightsaber combat and making it feel both satisfying and realistic. Motion controls keep coming back as a way to emulate lightsabers, and things are steadily improving in that area. However, motion controls aren’t always great for the other aspect of playing as a Jedi: using the Force. It’s easy to swing a motion controller like a sword, but doing very specific hand gestures to use Force techniques isn’t always compelling. However, one game far outside the Star Wars mythos does everything that Star Wars games wish they did with the Force: Control.
Control was one of the biggest games of 2019, a third-person shooter starring Jesse Faden as she investigates a secret government organization responsible for researching the supernatural. Many of the game’s core mechanics revolve around Jesse gaining superpowers from various objects around the Federal Bureau of Control, and most of the powers she gains look an awful lot like the Force. By the end of the game, the only thing really keeping Jesse’s moveset from completely imitating that of a Jedi is her gun. Star Wars games might want to take note of the way Control managed telekinesis and other psychic powers.
The bread and butter of Jesse’s supernatural abilities is Launch. It allows her to telekinetically pick up an object, or simply rip a piece of concrete out of the ground, then keep it suspended until she throws it at a target. It’s an obvious parallel for the Jedi’s ability to move things with their minds. After all, one of the most iconic moments in Star Wars is Yoda lifting Luke’s X-Wing out of the swamp on Dagobah. Control’s targeting system for Launch is accurate and efficient, and it’s great that Jesse is never out of projectiles for Launch since she can just tear up the terrain.
Jesse’s defensive techniques seem like close Force parallels as well. Shield is an obvious comparison: Jesse simply holds debris up in front of her to protect her, much in the same way that a Jedi could levitate objects in place to grant emergency cover. The lightning quick Evade ability is also reminiscent of the agility that the Force instills in Jedi, who are famously capable of leaping dozens of feet into the air when necessary. Launch might already be the type of ability that Star Wars games include, but Evade and Shield seem worth borrowing from Control.
Seize is another ability that’s easily similar to a Jedi’s wheelhouse. With Seize, Jesse takes control of an enemy’s mind, making them fight for her, not unlike a Jedi mind trick. Levitate is the only ability that’s a little outside of a normal Jedi’s repertoire, letting Jesse float in midair and traverse Control‘s cavernous hallways and offices with grace and ease. Still, Levitate seems like the kind of technique that a really masterful Force user could pull off with some effort.
Control lets players live out the fantasy of using a Jedi’s powers, without the context of Star Wars. Although Jesse’s extrasensory powers are common in lots of different media, the particular abilities chosen for Control just happen to be a perfect parallel for the Jedi Order. Star Wars games really ought to look closely at what Remedy Entertainment did and try to incorporate mechanics similar to Control‘s. Remedy found a way to make these abilities strong but fair, as well as intuitive and rewarding. Every Star Wars game that lets players embody Force users should feel the same way.
So many Star Wars games put their focus on lightsaber combat. It’s understandable since that’s perhaps the easiest to design, and certainly the most iconic way of fighting in the franchise. However, it would be great to see Star Wars games put a heavier emphasis on the Force, perhaps compelling players to solely rely on the Force now and again. So long as the Force mechanics in such a game are satisfying and reliable, it could be a fun challenge. Control proves that that kind of representation of the Force can be done, it’s just a matter of replicating that success.
Control is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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