The Order: 1886 is the most stylish and visually spectacular game of the new generation.

The PS4-exclusive third-person shooter's richly detailed presentation of Victorian London, its gorgeous graphics and the overall sweetness of its eye candy are head and shoulders above anything else seen on the platform.

This darkly sombre adventure, which boasts awesome sound effects, music and voice-acting as well as aesthetic quality, provides a properly cinematic experience that pushes the boundaries of what the console can do further than what's gone before.

On top of its beauty, it's also one of the most imaginative games with its alternative take on the Jack the Ripper times featuring Knights of the Round Table using steampunk-style technology in a centuries-old battle against dark forces.

With such a great premise and amazing production, it's a shame The Order is let down slightly by the game within.

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It's not that it's a bad game, far from it - it's just there’s not that much actual gaming in the true sense.

The Order does play well as a proper game in places, mixing cover-based shooting, stealth and some tense creepy horror.

It can be very exciting in moustachioed hero Galahad's shoes, especially during shootouts with human rebels who are the most frequently encountered enemies.

While not innovative at all, the combat works very solidly and smoothly. Although AI is rather limited, there is some meaty action involving fun weaponry and brutal melee takedowns. Of the weapons, the high-voltage arc gun and the explosive thermite rifle are two standouts from a powerful assortment.

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Influences of other games poke through at times. One I've noticed is Assassin's Creed, not for its open-world exploration because The Order is heavily scripted and linear but for its style of alternate history with a dark secret lurking in the background. Another is The Last Of Us in terms of the style of combat and the scariness of the enemies - the mutated werewolf-like half-breed creatures are pretty fearsome when first met.

The problem is The Order spends too much time behaving like a movie and not enough time being a game.

It seems developer Ready at Dawn was either tasked with creating the best possible technical demo to showcase the power of PS4 or it really wanted to make a film but was contractually obliged to add in some gaming elements here and there.

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The Order suffers from a lack of interaction. The player is often reduced to the role of spectator, forced to sit through long cutscenes that can’t be skipped. The story for the most part is an interesting thriller but at various intervals there is too much emphasis on the narrative.

When the player is given something to do it’s often just a simple button prompt to pick up an object or perform a basic task such as picking a lock. Quick-time events are rife throughout The Order. Sometimes they need a good sense of timing but usually no other skill at all.

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As well as the issue of how much pure gaming enjoyment there is to be found in The Order, there is also a question mark over its overall length and whether it represents value for money. Most people should complete it in a single-digit number of hours, even allowing for a few deaths during the gunfights. This means for your £40-50 you’re only getting the equivalent entertainment of two or three movies or half a TV boxset. There is no real replay value and, while I don’t weep for its absence, there is no multiplayer to get stuck into after completing the adventure.

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One minor gripe before finishing – while The Order is very much a leading light in some respects, it still fails to completely cure the issue of awkward camera angles in third-person shooters, with combat and movement being trickier than they ought to be at times.

Overall, The Order is a visual and audio masterpiece which does storytelling and gameplay to very high standards in places. Unfortunately, it holds players at arm’s length too often and when it does welcome them into the experience it keeps them on too tight a lease to prevent them feeling like they are really in control of anything.

If the balance and pacing can be addressed in the sequel that’s almost certain to appear (The Order: 1887?), this could establish itself as a top exclusive franchise on PS4. For now at least, it’s a case of style over substance.

6.5 out of 10

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