At a glance
Expert's Rating
Pros
- Creepy setting and storyline
- Enjoyable and varied combat system
- Runs on M1 or later
Cons
- Shooter action might require a game controller
- No support for Intel Macs
- Annoying auto-save system
Our Verdict
The auto-save system can be irksome, but Control is a great action game with an atmospheric inter-dimensional setting and an enjoyable combination of shoot-‘em-up action and psychic super powers.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Prices Today: Control: Ultimate Edition
We all know that most A-List games are never released on the Mac at all, and even if there is a Mac version then it will often take many months to arrive, long after the release of the PC version. However, there aren’t many games that take quite as long to reach the Mac as Control, which was first released back in 2019.
It’s definitely better late than never, though, especially as Control really is one of a kind – a super-powered shoot-‘em-up action game with some seriously weird X-Files vibes. And, hopefully, the developers at Remedy Games will now think about bringing some of their other weirdly wonderful games to the Mac as well, such as the acclaimed Alan Wake series.
The X-Files comparisons are inevitable, as the game opens with Jesse Faden arriving at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau Of Control, a government agency that investigates paranormal Altered World Events – known as AWEs. Jesse’s younger brother vanished during an AWE, and since then she has been guided by a mysterious voice in her head that leads her to the headquarters of the FBC.
Known as the Oldest House, the FBC office is strangely silent when Jesse arrives, with only a mysterious – and rather creepy – janitor to give her directions to the office of the FBC’s Director. This opening section acts as a tutorial that gives you some time to get the hang of the main controls, but also provides background to the story as Jesse conducts a helpful dialogue with her inner voice as she wanders the halls of the FBC.
When she finds the Director’s office it turns out that he is already dead, having apparently killed himself, with his hand gun lying on the floor beside him. This is no ordinary gun though. Known as the Service Weapon, it proceeds to whisper instructions to Jesse, effectively recruiting her into the FBC and assigning missions that she must complete.
Jesse’s first mission reveals that the Oldest House is somehow linked to another dimension, where she encounters some shambling alien figures and gets her first taste of combat. It turns out that the Service Weapon has some other tricks up its sleeve too, as it can magically reload whenever Jesse gets low on ammo. That comes in handy as I’ve never been very good at shoot-‘em-up games, and most of my shots miss by miles.
However, Jesse also discovers that she has some magic powers of her own, beginning with a kind of psychokinetic punch that allows her to knock back enemies that get too close. This helps to make up for my lousy shooting skills, as I find that I can let the creepy creatures get quite close and then knock them down before pumping bullets into them at close range.
Foundry
Jesse can further enhance her psychokinetic powers as the game progresses, learning how to hurl objects at enemies, and also upgrading the Service Weapon and other weapons that she finds along the way.
The game does have some rough edges – most notably an irritating auto-save feature that only saves the game at specific points. This means that getting killed by a particularly tough enemy often forces you to go back and replay the previous section a few times, retracing your steps through the Oldest House repeatedly as you try yet again to defeat that enemy.
That’s one of the few annoying features, though, and the game’s combination of shooter action and psychic powers ensures that the combat is fun and varied, even for someone with my limited shooting skills.
The way that the action keeps switching locations between the FBC and the astral plane also keeps things interesting as you try to unravel the mysteries of the Oldest House.
Foundry
The age of the game also means that you don’t need a powerful Mac to run it properly. The notes on the App Store say that Control requires an M1 processor or later running Sonoma (although there’s no support for Intel Macs, unfortunately). I played the game on a MacBook Pro with an M2 Pro and was able to get a playable 34 frames per second when running at 2560×1440 resolution with Medium graphics settings, so you should be able to get decent performance even with an M1 if you don’t mind lowering the resolution and graphics settings a little.
It’s a shame, though, that there’s no demo version available so that you can check it out first. And, yet again, the Mac version of Control is only available on the Mac App Store, so people who already own the PC version on Epic or Steam will have to buy the Mac version separately. Remedy did tell us that they were hoping to make the Mac version available on Steam at some point, but weren’t able to provide a definite release date at the time of this review.
Control is a little more expensive than we expected for a game that is a few years old, costing $39.99/£34.99 on the Mac App Store. But that is similar to the price of the PC version, and this Ultimate Edition includes two expansion packs with additional missions and stories for you to uncover.
Should you buy Control?
The emphasis on shoot-‘em-up action may not appeal to everyone, but the additional psychic powers that Jesse can learn during the game does help to keep things varied and interesting. And, of course, the conspiracies and mysteries of the Federal Bureau Of Control will appeal to fans of the X-Files as well, making it a good option for anyone who enjoys challenging and atmospheric action games.
Want to play some games on the Mac? We’ve tried out loads and our favorites can be found here: Best Games for Mac: A-list Mac games to play.
Best Prices Today: Control: Ultimate Edition
Author: Cliff Joseph, Contributor, Macworld
Cliff Joseph is a former editor of MacUser magazine and a freelance editor with 30(ish) years experience of Mac and PC technology. He first used a Mac working as a magazine sub-editor and found it so much better than using scissors and a pot of glue to make the words fit on the page that he become a convert to the Mac overnight. He has spent the rest of his career following the ups and downs of Apple (and is old enough to remember the time Apple came close to going bust). Cliff writes many of MacWorld’s games reviews - and is currently exploring options for getting Diablo IV to run on a Mac…