Games with bad cameras

[j_factor]

Although games with camera issues still come out (Ninja Gaiden II, I'm looking at you), it was a much bigger problem when 3D games were newer. I have noticed that a lot of old 3D games have fairly stationary cameras, and thus don't really have camera problems (Bug! and Crash Bandicoot for example). But anytime they tried a "dynamic" camera (a trend especially started with Mario 64 and Tomb Raider), there were always issues. And then there were also games with static backgrounds (like Resident Evil), which poses its own problems, but that's not really what I'm talking about.

What games had cameras that pissed you off? How many games have you died in just because the camera was acting goofy? Alternatively, what are some early examples of games with well-functioning cameras?

One of the worst offenders, to me, was Sonic Adventure. There were many times when the camera caused me to miss a jump, or accidentally fling myself off the edge of the level. I had the same problems in Mario 64 as well.

[Sonicwolf]

I found that Donkey Kong 64 was an utter disaster with camera angles. It hindered gameplay more than a few times during the quest. Lots of botched jumps and levels which took longer due to falling off of things and missdirected attacks.

I agree that Sonic Adventure's camera system was a hinder to many levels and jumps. It was a bit too twitchy and suffered a similar lack-of-movement-in-the-right-direction-when-you-need-it problem too.

[izarate]

Red Ninja has a pretty bad camera. It wouldn't be so annoying if it the camera stick wasn't so sensitive. All the movement range seems to be in the first third of the stick's travel distance.

After a few playthroughs I've learned to rely more on the radar and don't need to adjust the camera so much. I think that's one of the main reasons of why the game got low scores. The game is decent but the camera will put people off.

[Reverend JagDiesel]

Mario 64. Oh my God, I remember that game giving me massive headaches when I first played it. I'm not sure if it was the terrible camera angles, the straight edges that came and went on the characters, or the colors in the game combined with the other 2 I mentioned. I think it was a common issue on early N64 games, as the developers were not used to the technology...

[Daltone]

I have to say that I didn't find the Mario 64 camera quite as bad as most people, the same goes for Sonic Adventure, although I will conceed that that was pretty poor. In recent times Sonic Rush has actually caused more annoyance than Sonic Adventure!

A lot of early 3D games seem to have had slightly troublesome cameras - even the good ones. Burning Rangers, for example, has annoyed the hell out of me more than once!

[Daft Punk]

Madden 08 on ps3 .

I own it also for 360 and Im not sure if it's just me but every time after a play when the camera changes to close up's it focuses on the players in the back even though there are others up front and it just makes everything look out of focus.

It only does this on the ps3. Im using a component cable and have it set to 1080I . The 360 in on a vga cable.


I second that Mario 64 , I found myself constantly having to adjust the camera just to see .

[Push Upstairs]

The "Futurama" game had a horrible camera that I had to fight most of the time.

[Haoie]

The Tomb Raiders.

Believe me.

[Steve W]

The "Futurama" game had a horrible camera that I had to fight most of the time.
Seconded. The part of the sun level where Leela has to jump from pillar to pillar while they're sinking into lava pissed me off to no end. I had been playing the game on easy mode, and I had something like 17 extra lives in reserve. I lost them all on that one stage because the damn camera wouldn't keep up, and I ended up jumping into lava over and over. I gave up after I lost all but two lives.

[Gamebrain]

The Tomb Raiders.

Believe me.

Seconded

[OMF2097]

Resident Evil.

[CosmicMonkey]

I found the camera in Mario 64 to be ok, especially as it was the first of it's kind. Yeah, there's moments when it gets stuck or simply won't go where you want it to, but for the most part it's pretty damn good. And certainly much better than efforts in later games, like the shit that is Tomb Raider.

[MarioMania]

No one said Sonic Adventure...

I had Problems with playing in one level with Knuckles

[bangtango]

No one said Sonic Adventure...

I had Problems with playing in one level with Knuckles

The original poster of the thread said Sonic Adventure. Look down there :)


One of the worst offenders, to me, was Sonic Adventure. There were many times when the camera caused me to miss a jump, or accidentally fling myself off the edge of the level. I had the same problems in Mario 64 as well.

Sonic Adventure's camera stunk but it was still better than Mario 64.

For me, any basketball game which does NOT use what is commonly referred to as the "Action" cam has a shitty camera. "Action Cam"= A point of view which is generally behind the player who has the ball. The best immediate example would be the NBA 2K games on the Dreamcast.

Because I friggin' hate last gen basketball games which use the old Genesis NBA Live isometric view or the sidescrolling Double Dribble style perspective. I loved it back on the 8-bit/16-bit consoles and still love it on those platforms only but NOT on newer systems.

[MissingNo_1231]

Croc on PS1 has some awful camera angles (and bad controls too).

40 Winks on PS1 can get annoying.

Mario 64 is certainly one that was frustrating, but I felt that Super Mario Sunshine was worse.

Oh, and Gex: Enter the Gecko on N64. Loved that game, but those camera angles were horrid.

[dairugger]

silent hill- the bobbing and weaving of the camera made me sick to my stomach.

[c0ldb33r]

The "Futurama" game had a horrible camera that I had to fight most of the time.
Yupp. Futurama. That camera had NO interest in what you were doing. It was off daydreaming and doing its own thing.

My vote goes to Indigo Prophecy. It has this annoying habit of switching views and throwing you completely off kilter.

For instance, you'll be running to the right and the view will switch. If you keep pushing the stick to the right you will all the sudden be heading in the wrong direction (sometimes back where you came from)

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Xena: Warrior Princess on the PS1 used to drive me - as Harlan Ellison would put it - bugf$&k crazy with its completely random camera angles that would swing out, in, or right through crap to favor God only knows what. Which is sad because otherwise, I kinda liked the game and its bizarre sense of humor.

[XianXi]

The original Tomb Raider had some really bad angles when you had your back to a wall.

[exit]

Castlevania 64 had some pretty awkward cameras, it sometimes got to the point where I was fighting the camera more than I was fighting the actual enemies around me. Then again, most 3D games from the PSX/N64 era had pretty bad cameras from what I remember, it was just an acceptable thing at the time.

I'll third, fourth and fifth Futurama. If I didn't love the show as much as I do, I would have never bothered to beat the game.


Seconded. The part of the sun level where Leela has to jump from pillar to pillar while they're sinking into lava pissed me off to no end. I had been playing the game on easy mode, and I had something like 17 extra lives in reserve. I lost them all on that one stage because the damn camera wouldn't keep up, and I ended up jumping into lava over and over. I gave up after I lost all but two lives.

There was a simple trick for that level that I learned after losing countless lives. If I remember correctly, you could just stay standing on the first pillar and easily jump across somehow.

[mnbren05]

All these suffered from poor camera angles or just bad camera controls:
Spyro
Conker's Bad Fur Day
MediEvil
Futurama Game
Family Guy Game
Duke Nukem Zero Hour

[Wraith Storm]

Nothing comes to mind. I know that I have played some games with bad camera angles but I have always managed to deal with it... so it's never bothered me that much.

[p_b]

Super Mario Sunshine: Ferris wheel level. I nearly stopped playing there.

[sebastiankirchoff]

Tomb Raider Games.
Super Mario 64.
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes for N64.

[Push Upstairs]

There was a simple trick for that level that I learned after losing countless lives. If I remember correctly, you could just stay standing on the first pillar and easily jump across somehow.

That doesn't help fix the camera for the rest of the game. Even in the early Fry levels I managed to die a few times (damn exploding pigs) because of that camera.

Why do I have to fight the camera just to see enemies?

[Cinder6]

I remember a few parts in Devil May Cry where it was a pain, but they were largely static camera areas. These don't bother me in Resident Evil, but in DMC, an action game, it got really frustrating at times.

SM64 is an easy one to get mad at. Not having full camera control makes me angry to this day. But I think SMG can be worse, at times.

[Gameguy]

Just about every 3D game I've ever played had bad cameras, which is why I hardly play any 3D games.

In Insecticide for the DS, there was a part where I had to walk on a narrow edge and then jump to a platform. The camera went right behind the character so I couldn't see her feet or the edge of the platform that I was jumping off of, I died numerous times at that part.

Right now I'm playing Fossil League for the DS, the camera stays still regardless of which way I'm walking. I often can't see enemies until they're right in front of me. It's like I'm walking backwards to look at the character, instead of always following behind and seeing what's ahead.

[RARusk]

To me "Godzilla: Generations" for the DreamCast had the absolute worst camera I have ever seen. It would be either too far away or way too close to see what you are doing or destroying.