VERSION: 0.1
Attempting to analyze and, by extension, review a game so early in its development as Losing Control is much akin to judging the quality of a forthcoming meal via a brief glimpse into the chef's shopping cart. The meat may be a subpar cut, the vegetables limp and a few too many canned goods in evidence, yet a talented cook can pull together a succulent dish from even the most meager of circumstances. Similarly, any criticism levied against this build is not entirely reflective on the finished product and, with time, may be mitigated by further development.
Criticism, however, is merited in that it may allow for any potential shortcomings to be addressed.
As with many amateur productions, Losing Control boasts a variety of grammatical errors but never so much as to be genuinely distracting. The choice of font is another matter altogether, the cartoonish appearance clashing with the sans-serif employed for character names and the otherwise realistic standard of assets throughout the game. The overall quality is further impaired by the UI itself, that uses a semi-transparent background atop which the dialogue is layered, by no means unique but the development team repeatedly opts to use black text which is extremely difficult to interpret; indeed, the first input field, wherein the player registers a name for the protagonist, utilizes this selfsame black-on-gray theme.
The UI, across the board, is something of a haphazard mess. The interaction pane, which includes options for talking, inspecting and so forth, appears instantly on the right-hand side of the window when a character or object is selected, yet the icons are thin wireframes and appear illuminated strictly when moused-over; consequently, there's an unnecessary delay as the player waits for the black background to appear such that the icons can be more readily discerned. There's also something rather redundant about a "talk" option that transitions to a screen wherein the player must select "talk" again to accomplish said interaction.
Graphically, several assets are of objectively lower quality than others; the taxi and mailbox appearing in the initial scenes, for instance, are each flat and lacking in sufficient detail to seamlessly blend with the other models. Characters are well composed, though, adequately detailed and naturally posed.
This attention to detail also extends to the animated elements, sadly alongside the inadvertent motif of inconsistency: a scene briefly features motion simulated with a smattering of intercut frames, two or three at most, a passable attempt but one that leaves an afterimage as each static frame transitions to the next. This is immediately followed by a smooth and significantly more natural animation of a young woman striding across the deck of a ship; the only detracting element is the lack of facial animation, as her eyes remain fixed in an unblinking stare. Further still, the next scene introduces idle animations to the character portraits that are displayed in dialogue, gently moving and blinking in a fairly normal fashion.
The composition is erratic and, as such, detracts from the presentation.
Which leaves only the plot, a medley of tropes and pop-culture references that appears to favor the buffet approach: serve a little of everything and hope to garner an audience. The player is introduced to the protagonist through a relatively disarming and amusing bit of visual comedy, followed immediately by his mother who reveals both her body and apparent career as a scientist in a number of rapidfire scenes; from there, the protagonist embarks aboard a luxury vessel to a recently discovered "pleasure island" in the company of a robotic, emotionless woman with glowing blue eyes; the family's arrival, despite their relative wealth and sophistication of the society, is unheralded and thus the children ride in the back of a moving van, arriving at an underground bunker that will serve as their mother's laboratory, led by a rather lecherous old man in stereotypical attire for his profession. From there, a quick trip into town segues immediately into a zombie-apocalypse scenario as hordes of the undead swarm the city, forcing the protagonist and his ragtag band of chance companions aboard a recreational vehicle.
The line between homage and plagiarism is a thin one at the best of times, a line Losing Control treads at its own peril.
It is the protracted nature of this sequence that is most troubling, however, as one scene after another of blunt exposition is unceremoniously dumped before the player for roughly ten minutes, following which they are finally permitted to explore a limited area of their camp to accomplish simplistic goals (click a machete to "arm yourself" for a quest, etc). The lack of volition may prove detrimental in the long term, particularly given that so much of the game seems geared toward conveying a passive narrative, as with more cinematic mediums, rather than an interactive one such as traditional video games.
Finally, though no doubt subject to extreme change in later iterations, the game features no genuine erotic content of which to speak. Two brief images of the mother's bare breasts, and one glimpse of her exposed crotch after she hikes her towel too high, but otherwise nothing. Hopefully this isn't indicative of a trend, but for now players seeking any immediate titillation are cautioned to look elsewhere.
GRAPHICS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 / 10
+ Character models are of consistent quality and generally appealing. Fair diversity of archetypes.
+ Idle animations are well implemented and react according to the dialogue.
- Animation quality and presentation is wildly inconsistent, often separated by mere moments of playtime.
- Font choice is objectively poor, unsuitable for dialogue and tonally discordant.
- Certain assets are of lower quality than others and clash with the realistic aesthetic.
DIALOGUE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 / 10
- Minor grammatical errors throughout, chiefly regarding punctuation.
- Font is prone to kerning issues that impair its legibility.
GAMEPLAY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 / 10
- UI elements are difficult to discern and rely on a delayed background-element to be read.
- The "Talk" interaction requires a redundant confirmation of the same choice to proceed.
- Linear introductory sequence is protracted and contains no interactivity.
INNOVATION ------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 / 10
+ Idle animated character-portraits in the dialogue pane are exemplary.
SCORE ============================================= 19 / 40
UNMISTAKABLE POTENTIAL, CONTINGENT ENTIRELY ON CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT
Presently, the dearth of content and extremely early version invalidates almost any attempt at forming an impartial judgment. Provided the player finds the models attractive, and the general premise hasn't left them shaking their head in consternation, Losing Control is arguably worth following. Having said that, the hodgepodge of graphical assets and narrative inconsistencies make for a distinctly discordant experience that is unlikely to garner universal acclaim.
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