Worst. Controls. Ever.

[evildead2099]

What games feature the worst play control you've ever experinced?

As much as I love Haunted Castle (A coin-op take on Castlevania), I must admit that it features some of the most ultra-stiff control that I've ever shaken a joystick at!

E.T. (Atari 2600) This game is notorious for many things, chief among them is its abysmal control system (Read Sean Baby's review to get hilarious idea as to how bad this game controls)

A Boy & His Blob (NES) can be difficult to control due to the extent to which the boy slides uncontrollably when you get him to take three or more steps forward.

[njiska]

I though P.N.03 had pretty stiff, shitty controls. It's just terrible.

Conker's Bad Fur Day (and Live and Reloaded) has pretty stiff controls as well.

[Damaramu]

As much as I love the series, I gotta say the controls for Armored Core makes me wanna scream at times.

[davidbrit2]

Ever tried playing XBox Silent Scope with one of the light guns? Cripes, it's awful. You have to crank the game brightness WAY UP so that it can track the gun across the "black" areas of the screen (which pretty much end up being light grey). And the sight is all sluggish and laggy behind your movements. So it ends up being a muddy looking uncontrollable mess. Stick to the PS2 versions with a USB mouse.

[hegyak]

Any console FPS for me. Can't see how anyone does it. Give me a keyboard and a mouse.

[youruglyclone]

although the concept is pretty cool. the controls of total overdose sucks.

I'm still willing to trudge through it though.

[evildead2099]

although the concept is pretty cool. the controls of total overdose sucks.

I'm still willing to trudge through it though.

What are you talking about?

Any console FPS for me. Can't see how anyone does it. Give me a keyboard and a mouse.

Try to be more objective (and specific) than that.

[dreamcaster]

The Tokyo Highway Challenge/Xtreme Racer games. I love the gameplay, but the stiff controls make it a chore to play. :/

[swlovinist]

Captain Novalin for the SNES

I TRIED playing this turd...no thanks, now give me my minutes of life back!

[Aussie2B]

Well, the worst controls belong to games that were programmed like shit, but as far as decent games go, I'd have to say Mischief Makers. I don't know what was up with Treasure on the N64, but they would try to go for the most ambitious complicated control scheme they could think of, even though they could have easily made it MUCH more intuitive. Sin & Punishment also has wonky controls, but good god, Mischief Makers is hard to play. My thumbs hurt like hell after just 20 minutes of that game. With one hand, I'm dealing with the N64's crappy D-pad, and with the other, I'm having the C buttons dig into my right thumb. x_x It's so frustrating because I DO like the game.

[JamesAmbrose]

I had a real difficult time controlling my character in Hybrid Heaven for the N64. Sharp turns required me to absolutely strain the control stick either left or right. Shitty game as a whole I might add...

[punkoffgirl]

I'll second Conkers, although I think it has more to do with camera control than actual gameplay.

[whoisKeel]

Any console FPS for me. Can't see how anyone does it. Give me a keyboard and a mouse.

Try to be more objective (and specific) than that.

I feel similar. For me, any FPS that is fast paced/PC oriented (deathmatch, etc), like Halo for instance. Something like Metroid Prime on the other hand feels fine with a controller. I spent too many years playing Quake3 and Unreal, these console FPS games seem slow and limiting control-wise...

I dunno, in retrospect I think the first Mortal Kombat is pretty weak in the controls department (at least snes version...i should try another I suppose)

I never liked the way the resident evils controlled, but that was alot of the way it was setup.

NES Bad Dudes

I'm drawing a blank, I know there's alot of games I don't like controls for...I just don't have them in my collection anymore so I can't remember them off hand

[Dr. Morbis]

E.T. (Atari 2600) This game is notorious for many things, chief among them is its abysmal control system (Read Sean Baby's review to get hilarious idea as to how bad this game controls)

ET, isn't a bad game if you give it half a chance (that doesn't mean turning it on, falling in the first pit, smacking the power button to the off position and declaring "truly though art the worst game of all time"). Have you ever played it? My guess is that 99% of the people who say this games sucks have either never played it, or have done what I just described in parentheses above. For the record, I don't like ET myself, but it's quite clear to me that there are piles and piles of games on the VCS alone that have much worse control than that game.

As for the topic, I'll pick Death Race for NES. It's a cool idea, but you have the turn radius of a whale among many other control issues that make it absolutely impossible to play.

[DonMarco]

I can't play the GBA Super Mario games. The NES/SNES port ones. I'm obviously the only one in the world with this problem, so pay me no heed...

[mr_pollock]

Forza Motorsport had horrible controls for about 2 days until I got used to them.

Halo, Halo 2, Splinter Cell, any game where I have to aim a gun at a dude and fire. They all have horrible controls on PS2/XBOX/GCN, whatever.

[evildead2099]

E.T. (Atari 2600) This game is notorious for many things, chief among them is its abysmal control system (Read Sean Baby's review to get hilarious idea as to how bad this game controls)

ET, isn't a bad game if you give it half a chance (that doesn't mean turning it on, falling in the first pit, smacking the power button to the off position and declaring "truly though art the worst game of all time"). Have you ever played it? My guess is that 99% of the people who say this games sucks have either never played it, or have done what I just described in parentheses above.

Hell yes, I've played E.T.; I wouldn't have bothered claiming that a game has poor controls if I had yet to play that game

I've given E.T. much more time than it deserved, and even the time that I'm currently spending whilst talking about E.T. is more than E.T.'s gameplay (or lack thereof) warrants. E.T. is a shitty game and an example of licensing at its worst. E.T. features some of least responsive controls I've ever experienced (again, I'll refer you to Sean Baby's review).

[quote]For the record, I don't like ET myself, but it's quite clear to me that there are piles and piles of games on the VCS alone that have much worse control than that game./quote]

Fine; name 5 of them. :P

[Nez]

I though P.N.03 had pretty stiff, shitty controls. It's just terrible.

So true evading lighting fast shots is damn near impossible. I'd say it give Ninja Gaiden a run for its money on difficulty. Shame PNO3 has no redeming features. Its just boring and frustrating.

[Valhalla]

For recent games I loathed the controls for Metroid Prime, FPS style games have had as perfect controls as they can get with whats available on consoles for years, but this game tried to be different and was 2 steps back from shooters on the N64.

Hated having an auto lock on feature, made they game fairly lame, and the boss battles I've played so far a walk in the park, that is only about the first 5 or so bosses though. Would've been a great game for me other than the controls.

[hu6800]

What games feature the worst play control you've ever experinced?

As much as I love Haunted Castle (A coin-op take on Castlevania), I must admit that it features some of the most ultra-stiff control that I've ever shaken a joystick at!

E.T. (Atari 2600) This game is notorious for many things, chief among them is its abysmal control system (Read Sean Baby's review to get hilarious idea as to how bad this game controls)

A Boy & His Blob (NES) can be difficult to control due to the extent to which the boy slides uncontrollably when you get him to take three or more steps forward.

Way of the warrior for the 3DO