It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussion (archive)Games with unfortunate controls(54 posts)(54 posts)
(54 posts)
Pages:
1
2
3
4
This is my favourite topic
Posted May 12, 2012
avatar
Austrobogulator: Grim Fandango. Luckily the fantastic story makes up for the awful controls =(
avatar
Gazoinks: This. Tank controls need to stay with survival horror and tanks. Manny looking at things is a nice touch though.
Tank controls are responsible for me giving up on Little Big Adventure after trying it for 20 minutes.

I think they should leave the survivor horror genre as well.
Posted May 12, 2012
avatar
Gazoinks: This. Tank controls need to stay with survival horror and tanks. Manny looking at things is a nice touch though.
avatar
kalirion: Tank controls are responsible for me giving up on Little Big Adventure after trying it for 20 minutes.

I think they should leave the survivor horror genre as well.
At least they have the excuse of it purposely being bad to make it more survival-y, but I agree.
Posted May 13, 2012
avatar
orcishgamer: The first Gothic must have had the controls designed by someone who was very, very high...

I see now that I've actually read the thread that Gothic is the most popular example;)
Yeah, agreed. I literally tried to play that game at least 7-10 times and gave up each time less than 10 minutes in. But then I mapped everything to a gamepad, and it was heaven, and I discovered there was one of the most wonderful games I've ever played underneath those awful controls.

It's still one of my all time favorites. And I still marvel at how close I was to never realizing it due to the controls.
Posted May 13, 2012
I've tried Fable 1 and that Dragon knight saga thing and I didn't buy or play them because of the controls. If they just have had controller support. Especially knight saga, too many hotkeys in a hurry.
I almost didn't play crysis 1 because it had different keys to crouch and prone and quite many other buttons, good thing that I got over it because it still is one of the games that I fondly remember.
Posted May 13, 2012
I haven't gotten past the tutorial from Die by the Sword simply because of control aversion. Add to that that I'm not the greatest at precision controlling (I can't time jumps in platformers or do curves well in racing games for the life of me) and you get a very frustrated gamer. I'm far more inclined to Strategy games (not that good at them but at least there's more thinking involved) RPG's, Action RPG's and shooters. Any game that forces my character to turn and look back at me instead of strafing when I press the left or right arrow keys makes me grumble.
Posted May 13, 2012
avatar
orcishgamer: The first Gothic must have had the controls designed by someone who was very, very high...

I see now that I've actually read the thread that Gothic is the most popular example;)
avatar
OldFatGuy: Yeah, agreed. I literally tried to play that game at least 7-10 times and gave up each time less than 10 minutes in. But then I mapped everything to a gamepad, and it was heaven, and I discovered there was one of the most wonderful games I've ever played underneath those awful controls.

It's still one of my all time favorites. And I still marvel at how close I was to never realizing it due to the controls.
I had that problem with AC as well. But, once I got an xbox 360 controller the game played quite well.

While we're at it, MDK had controls so bad that I gave up pretty quickly. I'm sure now that I have a controller and the ability to remap buttons that it's probably a better game. Why they don't let people remapped the buttons is beyond me.
Posted May 13, 2012
I abstain from playing action-heavy games on certain consoles, because I hate using a game controller for things that require precision (like shooting someone in the head). I find Nintendo's consoles (from N64 and up) to be really user-friendly, while the PS controller has been a drag since PS1 and still is. I never understood how people can actually use that thing to play action-heavy games. The Xbox I don't know anything about.

EDIT:
I guess "certain consoles" basically means the Playstation consoles...
Post edited May 13, 2012 by Reveenka
Posted May 13, 2012
avatar
hedwards: [ I had that problem with AC as well. But, once I got an xbox 360 controller the game played quite well.

While we're at it, MDK had controls so bad that I gave up pretty quickly. I'm sure now that I have a controller and the ability to remap buttons that it's probably a better game. Why they don't let people remapped the buttons is beyond me.
Yep. Also the same thing with Fallout 3. I tried playing that thing with the keyboard, and as usual, it's just a mindboggling stupid adventure, and never got anywhere near out of the vault.

Plugged that XBOX 360 controller in, and 300 hours later..... AWESOME GAME.

I'm no longer buying any WASD based movement games that don't come with gamepad/controller support. There's a reason all of the consoles have a controller instead of a keyboard. Testing has proven they're easier for most to use and learn on. But that macho "gamepads are for kids" attitude is still prevalent in the PC gaming community and it's a shame.
Posted May 13, 2012
avatar
orcishgamer: The first Gothic must have had the controls designed by someone who was very, very high...

I see now that I've actually read the thread that Gothic is the most popular example;)
It was actually designed with a console controller in mind. The transition was... less than ideal. Still, when you get used to it (if you can stomach it for that long, that is), you don't really notice it anymore.

The second one had better controls, but not by a long shot.

Indiana Jones and the infernal machine had some awful controls, made worse by the platform stile of the game.
And who can forget Die by the sword? Numpad sword fighting? Ugh!
Posted May 13, 2012
avatar
hedwards: I've noticed that some games seemed to have controls selected by people that have never played the game.

Probably the most notable example is The Ultimate Doom, the copy you get from Steam. Moving to WASD isn't necessarily wrong when you're playing a game that naturally uses a mouse. I mean that's why they moved to WASD in the first place. But, splitting the movement between both hands and forcing the player to find another way of hitting the fire button is rather poorly considered.

I'd be really curious as to what was going on in their heads when they made that decision. Doom allows one to use a mouse, but due to the mechanics involved there's no advantage at all to it and ultimately you end up with an extremely clumsy method of controlling the character.
The attached picture is the actual way I used to play Doom back in the day. Our DOS mouse driver (or something) allowed us to manually set the sensitivity for each axis. By setting the vertical axis to 0, turning with the mouse became a huge advantage in deathmatch. We also used to stick a piece of paper down by the run key, so we didn't have to hold it down.

Right now I've got Doom setup in dosbox with a WASD layout, and use an application called novert to disable the vertical axis.
Attachments:
doom.jpg (91 Kb)
Posted May 13, 2012
Tomb Raider, I have a love/hate relationship with these games because of the awkward controls. :o)

And yeah, GTA 3/Vice City\San Andreas ports, I thought the PC ports had lousy controls until I got to play the PS2 versions I instantly changed my oppinion.
Posted May 13, 2012
It's been awhile since I played Tomb Raider games. I can't remember the controls being bad. What exactly is it that you guys feel like they suck?
Posted May 13, 2012
avatar
mrtophat101: It's been awhile since I played Tomb Raider games. I can't remember the controls being bad. What exactly is it that you guys feel like they suck?
The fact that you need to be on the exact spot when you do a jump, run, it is all animation based, so it means that when you press the jump key you don't (necessarily) immediatly jump but after the animation of the runup has been done. It can be compared with a platform game like Flashback which also has those mechanics, but in 2D. To the games credit I have to say that it allows for this, you just have to prepare your movements, but in some boss fights it can be very frustrating.
Posted May 13, 2012
avatar
mrtophat101: It's been awhile since I played Tomb Raider games. I can't remember the controls being bad. What exactly is it that you guys feel like they suck?
avatar
Strijkbout: The fact that you need to be on the exact spot when you do a jump, run, it is all animation based, so it means that when you press the jump key you don't (necessarily) immediatly jump but after the animation of the runup has been done. It can be compared with a platform game like Flashback which also has those mechanics, but in 2D. To the games credit I have to say that it allows for this, you just have to prepare your movements, but in some boss fights it can be very frustrating.
Oh yes, I do remember that! Some shitty jumps in TR 2. :D
Post edited May 13, 2012 by mrtophat101
Posted May 13, 2012
avatar
mrtophat101: Oh yes, I do remember that! Some shitty jumps in TR 2. :D
They sure do take some getting used to. :)
My least favorite part about the Tomb Raider series is that it's easy to accidentally run into the wall when you're trying to round a corner, and that prompts her to stop. Then you have to turn her around or take a step back and then semi-turn her to get moving again, both of which take forever when a crazy bull is trying to charge you. (Or generally when anyone's trying to kill you.)

I still find that the slow movement of Tomb Raider actually suits the game, and (rather surprisingly) think that the newer games feel a little less Tomb Raider-ish because of their improved controls. I guess it's just a severe case of nostalgia.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Games with unfortunate controls(54 posts)(54 posts)
(54 posts)