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Games With Controls So Bad That You (Nearly) Quit

Stat

Stat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,158
Were there any games that had such bad controls that you wondered who would design such a thing? Why?

Had my own experience and if the game wasn't only a few hours long, I would have quit.

The Game: "The Room" For the Switch

What made them bad?

Gyro + Aim was just so bad. You had to point the Joycon on the screen with a little small cursor. Felt very inexact and took some insanely steady hands to get the cursor where you wanted it.

Then you needed to rotate your wrist repeatedly to turn keys and objects which again, sometimes didn't work. There were a couple puzzles I solved, but didn't actually "solve" them because I didn't rotate my hand properly or pull the item because it was janky as heck.
 
nrtn

nrtn

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
1,562
RDR2, at first. After a couple of hours I got used to it.

Prey plays like shit on the PS4.
 
Opposable

Opposable

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,367
I began Jet Force Gemini on the Xbone the other week, oh boy.

They even had to patch in more modern controls, and they're still something.
 

Raccoon

Member
May 31, 2019
15,896
Polybridge on Switch was such a slog. Stick controls were awful and gyro wasn't much better
 
Couleurs

Couleurs

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,350
Denver, CO
RE4

Not trying to be a contrarian when I know it's such a beloved title, but tank controls in general have absolutely not held up over time. They were fine in the 90s when we didn't really know a better way to deal with 3D movement, so I didn't mind it with RE1/2 back in the day (the only other REs I had played previously). But when I played RE4 for the first time on Game Pass a while back and saw the controls, I instantly uninstalled as tank controls are completely unfun to me.

I'll play the hell out of a RE4 remake with modern controls (if it happens), but fuck all games with tank controls.
 
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JustALurker

JustALurker

Member
Feb 12, 2019
1,018
Driving around in Deadly Premonition. I almost burst out laughing when the number of control inputs were shown for the first time.
 
halfjoey

halfjoey

Member
Nov 26, 2017
882
Dragon Age Inquisition.
After playing Origins and DA2, I wasn't expecting the drastic change in controls for Inquisition. I played it for 4 hours then had to put it down. I never picked it back up. I think there is a mod that makes them more like the first two games though so maybe I'll give it another chance.
 
NoKisum

NoKisum

Member
Nov 11, 2017
4,913
DMV Area, USA
Funny enough, on a franchise level, I can say Monster Hunter.

I played the very first game when it first came out on the PS2, and hoo boy did I rage quit when I learned that the attacks were on the right analog stick. I mean what kind of shit is that?

Deserted the series for a long time and then came back mildly in 3U on 3DS when I learned that they don't do that anymore. Gave another try to 4U to finally get comfy, and dived deep in MHGU and World.
 
Platy

Platy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
27,642
Brazil
Stat said:
Can you explain to why? Never played Star Fox
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StarFox is a series of rail shooters that you also control the character on the screen like Sin & Punishment, Kid Icarus Uprising, Panzer Dragoon and After Burner

They tried to make a VR like thing with the gamepad and didn't work AT ALL

Like the ship control and where you shoot are completely separated and you had to look at the tv to control the ship and at the gamepad to fire and it was a HUGE mess
 
djplaeskool

djplaeskool

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,735
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Holy shit... (and this is coming some someone who played a lot of PSP Monster Hunter)
 
Kneefoil

Kneefoil

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,446
NGL, I dropped Kid Icarus Uprising because of the controls. I try picking it up again maybe once a year because I really want to like the game, and then I quit after playing a single level.
 
Dinjoralo

Dinjoralo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,142
I gave Rage 2 a try on Gamepass, but the way the camera moved, both with the mouse and the controller, was just so screwed up. It's hard to describe, the controller camera felt super sluggish and smoothed out while the mouse had a ton of acceleration as well as smoothing.
 
Fiocca

Fiocca

Banned
Feb 1, 2019
101
Started RDR2 two nights ago as it's on gamepass (wouldn't have played it otherwise), and am finding the controls unnecessarily over complicated. Last night the first bartender i came across got his head blown clean off by a shotgun i forgot was equipped when all i wanted was a drink! Felt like dropping it but slowly getting used to it.
 

Deleted member 2772

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
632
I always thought the GTA games have awful controls and I haven't been able to stick with them. But then I got hooked on Red Dead Redemption so it would appear that I will put up with controls if I enjoy the setting of the game.
 
Tigress

Tigress

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,143
Washington
Stat said:
Were there any games that had such bad controls that you wondered who would design such a thing? Why?

Had my own experience and if the game wasn't only a few hours long, I would have quit.

The Game: "The Room" For the Switch

What made them bad?

Gyro + Aim was just so bad. You had to point the Joycon on the screen with a little small cursor. Felt very inexact and took some insanely steady hands to get the cursor where you wanted it.

Then you needed to rotate your wrist repeatedly to turn keys and objects which again, sometimes didn't work. There were a couple puzzles I solved, but didn't actually "solve" them because I didn't rotate my hand properly or pull the item because it was janky as heck.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

For me it was Parasite Eve. Honestly, I understood why it was made the way it was (the controls I could deal with it weren't really in existance when the game came out). But, I just can't play a game that is a shooter (and while it was turn based and action mixed it required a lot of same type aiming as shooters but maybe not quite as exact) without a second thumbstick. I loved the game story when it came out and watched some one else play it but quickly hated playing it myself when I tried. At the time I blamed it on turn and action based mix but years later when I tried to replay it on the Vita, I realized it was the controls and shooting I hated.
 
Voxy

Voxy

Member
Dec 3, 2019
231
Heavy Rain

Who had the great idea to control the character with R2? And the motion controls are not accurate, at least not for me.
 
hikarutilmitt

hikarutilmitt

Member
Dec 16, 2017
11,404
I expect there to be a lot of salty Skyward Sword players. Maybe some GunValkyrie ones, too.

Marcus Aurelius said:
Anything with tank controls. Just.....No.
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This basically swore me off from Pre-CD Tomb Raider. I played the first 2 hoping to see why people enjoyed them (if it were beyond the ridiculous Lara design) and I didn't actually play another one until Legend, when they went to normal controls. The same can be said about RE, though somehow I enjoyed RE2 enough to play through both scenarios.
 
dstarMDA

dstarMDA

Member
Dec 22, 2017
4,289
Among other things, I quit playing Outer Wilds (PS4) because it was really painful to play. Too bad because it was a game I wanted to love in the first place.
 
Android Sophia

Android Sophia

The Absolute Sword
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,096
Skyward Sword's controls straight up did not work for me, and actually caused me to quit the game.
 
hikarutilmitt

hikarutilmitt

Member
Dec 16, 2017
11,404
Tigress said:
For me it was Parasite Eve. Honestly, I understood why it was made the way it was (the controls I could deal with it weren't really in existance when the game came out). But, I just can't play a game that is a shooter (and while it was turn based and action mixed it required a lot of same type aiming as shooters but maybe not quite as exact) without a second thumbstick. I loved the game story when it came out and watched some one else play it but quickly hated playing it myself when I tried. At the time I blamed it on turn and action based mix but years later when I tried to replay it on the Vita, I realized it was the controls and shooting I hated.
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Are you talking about The 3rd Birthday? There's definitely no need for a right stick in PE.
 
hydro94530

hydro94530

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,851
Bay Area
The Last Guardian, holy shit that game controls horribly and has a terrible camera to go along with it. Fought through and beat it, but this almost ruined the game for me.
 
Bear

Bear

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,862
I quit GTA4 because of a main storyline quest involving driving a shitty car that I could just not do despite trying a dozen times. The vehicle handling in that game was complete garbage.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,505
Until Dawn. I know it wants to replicate 80's slasher movies, but no need to walk like real actors.
 
Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

Banned
Apr 25, 2020
3,418
hikarutilmitt said:
I expect there to be a lot of salty Skyward Sword players. Maybe some GunValkyrie ones, too.


This basically swore me off from Pre-CD Tomb Raider. I played the first 2 hoping to see why people enjoyed them (if it were beyond the ridiculous Lara design) and I didn't actually play another one until Legend, when they went to normal controls. The same can be said about RE, though somehow I enjoyed RE2 enough to play through both scenarios.
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RE can get away with it because somehow they made it tolerable with the level design, but fuck me if tank controls are some of THE most un-salvageable game mechanics ever seen.
 
Video Kojima

Video Kojima

Banned
Apr 5, 2020
2,541
Gonna sound weird but:
God of War (PS4)
The game was just too difficult for me to play with the controls :(
I quit! I never finished the game past the first 1 hour.
 
Big G

Big G

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,604
Kid Icarus: Uprising. The game was so entertaining that I forced myself through it, but not gonna lie, I hated nearly every second of actually playing it.
 
Kazooie

Kazooie

Member
Jul 17, 2019
5,013
I am pretty sensitive to controls and hardly tolerate anything not giving me full control. Just some examples of games I quit or almost quit because of their controls:
- Resident Evil 1(almost)
- Wave Race Blue Storm (almost)
- Croc (almost)
- Wipeout
- Dark Souls 3
 
Tigress

Tigress

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,143
Washington
hikarutilmitt said:
Are you talking about The 3rd Birthday? There's definitely no need for a right stick in PE.
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Click to shrink...

No, parasite eve. Or at least 2 (I hated 1 too but I didn't try to replay it). Who from what I could tell had similar combat to 1. And sorry, you may find it ok, but I can't deal with having to aim without a second thumbstick. It's also why I'll never play Monster Hunter on a machine that doesn't have one.
 
Foxnull

Foxnull

Alt-Account
Banned
May 30, 2019
1,651
Kid_Icarus-Uprising_logo.jpg


Literally had to quit the game because it wasn't made for left-handed people at all.
 
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