Control Resonant review: Manhattan cocktail of weirdness and whomping

Not since Arnold Schwarzenegger went from baddie to goodie in Terminator 2 has there been a greater change of heart. Resonant is the sequel to 2019's nightmarish Control from Finnish developer Remedy, a studio also known for its equally mindbending series Alan Wake. The original Control resembled the paranormal love child of The X Files and Twin Peaks, riffing on a Scully-like agent named Jesse Faden under siege from the supernatural in a purgatorial New York office building. Her brother Dylan was revealed to be the antagonistic architect of this outbreak of the monsters known as the Hiss but it seems he was just a misguided soul. In Resonant, a contrite Dylan wants to redress his error and spearhead the fight against a renewed wave of spectral demons overrunning Manhattan. Jesse's last act before inexplicably disappearing is to bestow Dylan with a hammer-like weapon, albeit by stabbing him in the chest with it. Being supernormal himself, he survives and resolves to save New York while searching for Jesse. As you do. Read more Wolverine review: Not all superheroes are created equal This abrupt metamorphosis from villain to hero is not the strangest thing about Resonant. As per the Remedy blueprint, this version of Manhattan is refracted through a distorting lens, a near-unrecognisable city where gravity shifts capriciously, streets end in voids and grotesque entities spawn in hungry packs. The developer takes a commendably revisionary approach throughout this sequel, not content merely to swap one Faden for another and tweak a few knobs. Where Jesse liked to use a gun and keep her distance, Dylan wields his hammer with a vengeance and gets in close to whomp his foes. His startling agility seems almost god-like, capable of double-jump, double-dash, gliding and vertical boost. Combined, these abilities make Dylan the most acrobatic hero since the likes of Crackdown and Prototype in the late 2000s. In combat, he becomes a whirling dervish, the street battles resembling a psychedelic storm as he ping-pongs between airborne and ground enemies. With no parry move to block incoming attacks, Dylan's last-second dodge becomes the fulcrum around which tackle to the larger Hiss and their sizeable health pools. You must enable social media cookies to see this content. You can change your cookie settings under the link below. Change settings There's room for subtlety here, but not much. Weapon combos rely chiefly on a couple of moves but a drip-feed of upgrades such as a ground-pound broaden the strategic approach. Even if these moment-to-moment fights lack a little variety, Resonant rarely stops pushing something new at you. The Manhattan cityscape begins as a compact few blocks of low-rise streets but you're regularly encouraged to vanquish bizarre and oversized bosses, with victory yielding a traversal or ability upgrade. 1 / 2 Control Resonant © Remedy Games 2 / 2 Control Resonant © Remedy Games This Metroidvania approach, as also seen in the original Control, unlocks new sectors by, for example, enabling Dylan to walk up walls and generally defy gravity. It's the developers at their most inventive and playful, something that also feeds creativity into the combat. Read more Wolverine review: Not all superheroes are created equal This being a Remedy game, the storyline goes to all kinds of weird places, dancing on your synapses with a bewildering melange of satire, dream sequences and straight-up horror. It may not be completely coherent nor hit all its targets but it's quite the trip. Resonant is the rare sequel that dares to demand something different from the player of the original, rewiring the gun combat into crunchy melee with style. It's perhaps more conventional than the 2019 game but executed with such flair that it's irresistible. VERDICT