Tank controls were a godsend in the corridor escape, when the camera kept changing angle and you just had to keep pressing forward to run. With standard controls every camera angle change could result in a involuntary turn into the pursuers.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
For the life of me, I find it very hard to understand how people might not like tank controls.
- Thread starter SofNascimento
- Start date
I understand why people don't like them, but I think they exaggerate when criticizing them. It doesn't take that long to get used to and the camera angles can provide some beautiful shots.
It's amazing how many times I had beat RE4 before realizing it used tank controls lol
It's amazing how many times I had beat RE4 before realizing it used tank controls lol
I think tank controls work okay in a 3rd person over-the-shoulder camera setup. But they are jarring and disconcerting in a game like Resident Evil where the camera abruptly switches angles. The angle switch means you have to suddenly adjust and re-orient yourself in a way that is frustrating.
People want controls to be relative to their own viewpoint, not relative to the character's perspective. "UP" should always mean that the character is moving away from the player....."DOWN" should always have the character moving towards the bottom of the screen.
The more action-oriented a game is, the more annoying tank controls are. For an adventure-style game they can be okay, but if you need quick reactions and fluid movement they are bad.
People want controls to be relative to their own viewpoint, not relative to the character's perspective. "UP" should always mean that the character is moving away from the player....."DOWN" should always have the character moving towards the bottom of the screen.
The more action-oriented a game is, the more annoying tank controls are. For an adventure-style game they can be okay, but if you need quick reactions and fluid movement they are bad.
I see. I've recently played remastered on gc and ps4 and switching to mode c (order d, not sure) was a liberation. You should try it if you have the chance.
I'll try to give the most reasonable answer as someone that started the series with 4, and later went back to the older games, starting with RE2:
From a inexperienced point of view, it simply takes a lot of time until it clicks for you.
It's a slow learning curve that's very frustrating, a complete different experience if you're used to more modern games. Which is weird because, as i said, once it clicks it really stays with you.
Playing HD REmaster for the first time felt so much better with the modern scheme, but after getting used to tank it just didn't worked for me anymore.
I guess it just takes a lot of time for yor brain to adjust and register why it works, that's all.
From a inexperienced point of view, it simply takes a lot of time until it clicks for you.
It's a slow learning curve that's very frustrating, a complete different experience if you're used to more modern games. Which is weird because, as i said, once it clicks it really stays with you.
Playing HD REmaster for the first time felt so much better with the modern scheme, but after getting used to tank it just didn't worked for me anymore.
I guess it just takes a lot of time for yor brain to adjust and register why it works, that's all.
Tank controls are absolutely substandard and only became bearable thanks to creative thinking (and technological advancement).
After Resi 4 put the camera behind the character (this is a cheat engine mockup, not an actual mod), things became much less awkward. Leon moves exactly the same as classic fixed camera protagonists, the camera makes that big of a difference.
Even then, RE5 improved things substantially by letting you strafe walk left and right (like Gears). RE6 improved the gameplay even more by letting you just spin 360 degrees in place without being forced to move the entirety of the camera view (like Vanquish).
Trying to walk around everywhere by pivoting on a central point like an actual tank would be a huge pain. That's not how we move, its no wonder people can't wrap their heads around that shit.
After Resi 4 put the camera behind the character (this is a cheat engine mockup, not an actual mod), things became much less awkward. Leon moves exactly the same as classic fixed camera protagonists, the camera makes that big of a difference.
Even then, RE5 improved things substantially by letting you strafe walk left and right (like Gears). RE6 improved the gameplay even more by letting you just spin 360 degrees in place without being forced to move the entirety of the camera view (like Vanquish).
Trying to walk around everywhere by pivoting on a central point like an actual tank would be a huge pain. That's not how we move, its no wonder people can't wrap their heads around that shit.
First part would be big ass circle, second part would be a big ask without tracking/targeting a central reference point.
Last edited:
it was fine for its time, but even then there were better implementations (MGS style controls in RE1,2,3 would have been better). But nowadays, if i looked you in the eyes and asked you, do you want to go back to tank controls? and you said yes, i'd either think you are fucking crazy or lying.
Tangential, but when I hear tank controls I think left stick = left wheels, right stick = right wheels. Like the controls on an actual tank :p
Edit:
Edit:
Yeah, this! But either you have it backwards or the game has a weird setup.
Yea its weird but I guess most people just have shitty spatial awareness or something. It's really no harder than driving RC car. And if a game has static camera angles it is pretty much the best solution on how to control the character. With '2D' controls you need to be constantly adjusting your movement direction and your character spins in place everytime angle changes. In worst case you end up going back to the previous angle and have to spend time on trying to just progress through an angle change.
Human movement is characterized by the ability to look and move independently in a fast, fluid and responsive manner.
Modern controls generally allow you to move a player character in a way that approximates this. Tank controls do not.
Modern controls generally allow you to move a player character in a way that approximates this. Tank controls do not.
Hold diagonal, if I'm understanding properly.
You don't without some sort of button assist that breaks from pure tank. Pure tank control allows for movement along the z-axis and rotation about the y-axis; what you're asking for requires movement along the x-axis.
I don't know about you, but I don't control a human in a video game expecting them to act like an RC car.
They don't act like RC car though. They move like most humans would.
Old Resident Evil games for example.
It is not an intuitive control scheme.
I skipped playing RE until 4 arrived due to this, so, fight me, OP
I skipped playing RE until 4 arrived due to this, so, fight me, OP
Most humans can start moving in the direction opposite the one they're facing without laboriously turning on the spot first.
You're right.
Just missing an animation. It's not like humans can't spin in place in real life.
Good thing most games with tank controls have quick turn too.
I'm glad that's the case, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a band-aid solution to a fundamental problem.
I don't really see what is a fundamental issue. You can change direction while moving forward and going opposite direction requires small pause. This isn't really any different from most modern games.
I don't mind you enjoying them, but this idea that they are somehow deserving of love now that we've moved on is...strange. Like, people don't enjoy them. People can like and dislike different things.
The fundamental issue is that tank controls simply don't offer the range and flexibility of movement that modern controls do. It's the reason developers stopped putting tank controls in their games.
The goal of most good control schemes is to map the player's intent to the character using the most intuitive, simple means with the least amount of abstraction. Exceptions are allowable where the controls are intended to simulate something else (e.g it's why vehicle controls have a dedicated brake button instead of just holding down to stop).
Tank controls aren't intuitive because they don't map to how we expect human characters to maneuver in space. To use a bipedal example, they make more sense for mechs as a simulation of how inadequacies in mechanical interface design would inhibit a user's ability to control it.
Tank controls have some unintended positive side effects like increasing tension in action sequences but that's caused by poor user experience. You don't want players fighting the controls unless the controls are intended to be part of that mastery (e.g with vehicles). But no one wants to have to re-master human walking in a game when it's literally one of the first thing toddlers learn to do. One of the reasons the balancing mechanic from Death Stranding looks like busywork to me as well.
It has to be the camera angles cause I don't see anybody complaining about stuff like Gears which is basically tank controls in the same fashion as RE except you turn with the right stick. So like RE5 tank basically.
Not all games need modern style controls. The reason why we have so homogenized controls now is because games overall are being homogenized. There would be a place for tank controls if someone made a game that could use them.
Tank controls are intuitive though. One direction moves character forward depending on which direction they are facing and left right directions are also mapped wrt which direction the character is facing. There isn't really anything difficult with these controls or something inherently wrong.
Yeah, I guess that's it. Strafing is so fundamental to human movement that a complete inability to do so - or minimum needing a special instance to do so - is almost hard for me to remember just how bad it all was. I thought tank controls precluded most things besides spinning and place and straight lines? I've blocked so much of them from memory.
This too! I instantly think of Katamari when someone says "tank controls" but that's something completely different.
You have to rotate on your own axis instead of just moving in the desired direction. I grew up with them so it doesn't bother me but I don't see what's so hard to understand here. It's clunky and impractical.
In the AAA space, maybe. If you include indies, gaming has never been more diverse.
You could absolutely do it, but the only people who'll like it are people who already like tank controls.
Humans do move more like tanks than typical 360 controls though.
I thought they were difficult when I was 10 for like 2 hours before I got used to them.
They're really not that big a deal. Never understood all the tank controls whining.
They're really not that big a deal. Never understood all the tank controls whining.
Frankly, I'm not too sure what the specifics of the term are; I'm relatively young compared to this board (I got a GameCube when I was 4). Isn't Metroid Prime considered tank controls? You can walk while turning in that.
I got used to tank controls with Alone In The Dark and even back then it was obvious they were the result of technical limitations (trying to create a 3d environment with 2d pictures). It was an ok compromise to have games that looked like movies, but I certainly don't miss them now, they made every action feel stiff and awkward.
What do you mean? What is back? Is it contextual based on where the character is facing or are you referring to the left button?
I'm with ya OP. They aren't the most intuitive control scheme at first but they don't take long to click.
People in the thread seem to have amnesia:
- in the Resident Evil games, you can move forwards and turn at the same time to smoothly go around a corner for example. You don't stop -> spin -> move.
- starting with RE3 and up, a quick 180 degree turn was implemented. This was also ported over to the RE1 port on DS.
On how humans move:
- stand up and turn 90 degrees. You'll see that you simply just move one foot over another and spin. You don't go around in a circle like the enemies in Turok or Mario in Mario 64.
As an aside I've been playing the GC version of REmake and the type C controls are sooooo nice. You move forward with the Right trigger and a half press is a walk and a full press is a run. Then you use the analogue stick or the d pad to turn left and right. It's a bit like driving games. Makes it a lot easier to do turns.
People in the thread seem to have amnesia:
- in the Resident Evil games, you can move forwards and turn at the same time to smoothly go around a corner for example. You don't stop -> spin -> move.
- starting with RE3 and up, a quick 180 degree turn was implemented. This was also ported over to the RE1 port on DS.
On how humans move:
- stand up and turn 90 degrees. You'll see that you simply just move one foot over another and spin. You don't go around in a circle like the enemies in Turok or Mario in Mario 64.
As an aside I've been playing the GC version of REmake and the type C controls are sooooo nice. You move forward with the Right trigger and a half press is a walk and a full press is a run. Then you use the analogue stick or the d pad to turn left and right. It's a bit like driving games. Makes it a lot easier to do turns.
Last edited:
This is my issue with the thread. I can't stand tank controls but I totally get that people can like them and have a lot of love for classics that use them. The idea that tank controls are so good and perfect and so actually totally fine that it's impossible to understand why someone wouldn't like them? Ridiculous.
That's definitely the first time I've seen tank controls praised as "precise". If anything they're a real struggle when mixed with the fixed camera angles of old school Resident Evil, and they definitely aren't more precise than the current scheme. The reason people dislike tank controls is because in most ways they are less responsive, less fluid, less natural and less dynamic than contemporary control schemes. Different strokes though, I guess!
I'd say "push the stick in the direction you want to go" is more simple than that.
Classic RE controls perfectly, REmake and RE0 play worse using the modern controls, and classic Tomb Raider has better more consistent reliable and predictable controls than modern Tomb Raider.