All games are not created equal. Some might have awesome gameplay at the expense of the story and then there are these: What would otherwise be excellent titles saddled with awkward controls, barely understood and other unpleasantries. Got any games in mind that might fit the bill?

Metal Gear Solid 3. Most of the series would apply, but 3 was the most egregious imo. The analogue buttons (having to press lightly for a different function) suck and having to press so many buttons at once for simple commands is ridiculous. Splinter Cell came out around the same time and proved that you can pull off a similar if not even greater depth of control with a much simpler layout.

The 360 port is my favourite version just because it at least does away with the pressure sensitive buttons and just maps separate commands to separate buttons.

I haven't revisited it in years but I remember MGS Portable Ops being as bad as well. Actually any PSP action game that just pretended it didn't need a second analogue was pretty bad.

Some others:
-The original layout for System Shock 1
-Dark Souls on PC without a controller. A lot of japanese PC ports would be relevant actually.
-Any PC port that keeps context-sensitive keys
-Any first person shooter on a phone or tablet, literally all of them

Shout out to Kid Icarus Uprising as well, I haven't actually played it but it was so prone to causing hand cramps that they released a stand just for the game.

Also in b4 some dip says Resident Evil.

WASD was pretty awkward for me after playing most early shooters with the arrow keys.

At 12/27/17 11:44 AM, BronzeHeart92 wrote: All games are not created equal. Some might have awesome gameplay at the expense of the story and then there are these: What would otherwise be excellent titles saddled with awkward controls, barely understood and other unpleasantries. Got any games in mind that might fit the bill?

Sonic 06.
You know why.

GLitChEs!1!!!11!!!

Megaman Legends. What's with the tank controls trend that's been going on at the time?

Witcher 3 had a very strange feel to it, the controls are a bit out of flow, and sometimes interacting with objects can be a pain.

Sonic and the Secret Rings controls were awkward mainly because of the wii remote. Being constantly forced to move forward because the god awful motion controls. You something is wrong when doing something simple as moving backwards is so tedious. In order for the controls to be somewhat bearable is to get more skills. I shouldn't have to keep playing the game to get better control.

Any game where the controls change according to the camera angle and have a free moving camera!

At 12/28/17 12:06 PM, NekoMika wrote: Not sure if it counts but games where the controls are intentionally inverted to keep you confused.

Don't forget about the moment when after you play a game like that, you play a game where the controls aren't inverted on purpose, so you get confused even more.

As much as I love the Ultima Underworld games, the controls of those games are awkward as hell. At least to me they are.

At 12/27/17 01:06 PM, Jackho wrote:

:.

Shout out to Kid Icarus Uprising as well, I haven't actually played it but it was so prone to causing hand cramps that they released a stand just for the game.

I'm probably just the minority, but I actually thought it controlled fairly well, It took getting used to at first(especially for the on foot sections),but by the time I got to the 10th chapter I was already acuastomed to it. Although it could have just been me only playing the game Indoors and not in public. You could also change the control sceme if you wanted to, but I found the default to be the best for me.

At 12/27/17 01:06 PM, Jackho wrote: Metal Gear Solid 3. Most of the series would apply, but 3 was the most egregious imo. The analogue buttons (having to press lightly for a different function) suck and having to press so many buttons at once for simple commands is ridiculous. Splinter Cell came out around the same time and proved that you can pull off a similar if not even greater depth of control with a much simpler layout.

The 360 port is my favourite version just because it at least does away with the pressure sensitive buttons and just maps separate commands to separate buttons.

I haven't revisited it in years but I remember MGS Portable Ops being as bad as well. Actually any PSP action game that just pretended it didn't need a second analogue was pretty bad.

The pressure sensitive controls were one of the best things about MGS3, and added an additional layer of depth and realism that encouraged careful aiming and stealth overall. Same with Portable Ops. You're an idiot.

Also, Gunvalkyrie, but that was intentional. Keep in mind that some of these supposedly "awkward" control schemes exist for a reason, and not exclusively for the purpose of being arbitrary.

At 12/27/17 01:06 PM, Jackho wrote: Metal Gear Solid 3.

literally the first game that came to mind. the finger gymnastics you'd have to do just to peek around a corner, let alone fire a weapon around a corner, were downright comical. it was hard to keep mental track of how much pressure was needed for which buttons, and which order to press and release them all in. it was like doing a puzzle.

i hope for the dsy when MGS3 gets a modern remaster with MGS4 (or even 5) control scheme. one can dream.

Too Human. Decent story. Freaking impossible to play.

Mass Effect on PC takes a lot of getting used to, especially if you only have a track pad. Swapping between installments will have you throwing grenades in celebration after battles trying to put your weapon away, too.

Virtually every Japanese PC game as @Jackho pointed out.

I also had an interesting time with Vanquish, though to be fair part of that is just the game mechanics themselves of jetboosting around in a third person shooter. It's also worth noting that it's a Jap game.

TenchuZ's controls were unwieldy at best. Great for melee, absolute ass for ranged anything.

I also have an interesting time with any game that doesn't have me click a stick to sprint. Mass Effect's hold A button, Skyrim's hold ... left bumper? TenchuZ's whatever ungodly button you set it to... Eh, sprinting in games is just weird and I've grown accustomed to that.

Let's not even talk about the driving mechanics of Mass Effect's Mako, Saints Row's shitty drive by shooting controls, or, God forbid, Skyrim's unwieldy fighting on horseback.

And then there's the obvious QWOP.

Literally every single console exclusive shooter.

Resistance 3 is probably the most egregious example. That game had a ton of fun weapons but was crippled because I had to use them with a pad, which makes everything slow and rubbish.

At 1/3/18 01:48 AM, MPPlantOfficial wrote: Controllers have become awkward for me after having played with a keyboard exclusively for 10 years.
Also I hate this pressurized L2 and R2 bullshit that started with the PS3. The PSX/2 controller was perfect.

I find aiming with a controller to be extremely difficult, unless I use the auto target (or whatever it's called) function found in GTA VC and newer games.

But most shooters I play with KB&M.

At 1/13/18 11:10 PM, SirWaffleThe3rd wrote: Most N64 games where a bit wonky to control because of the 64's awful controller.
The Just Cause Series has some pretty terrible controls as well.

Yeah, I'm still stumped why Nintendo decided to make the controller like that... To stand out perhaps?

NES games

The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants, The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World, and The Simpsons: Bartman meets Radioactiveman. In all cases you do this weird kind of movement. A jumps, but also B jumps and sometimes you had to press A and B at the same time to do the right kind of jump, as well as get a running start. A also runs as well as jumps. But also B uses weapons, so you'd also be wasting ammo due to trying to get a jump but having to hold A with a direction then to press B and A while running for that long jump.

Double Dragon, Double Dragon II: The revenge, Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones. In all cases you do weird stuff like A punches, B kicks, except press A and B at the same time jumps, or press A and B at the same time while at a certain height does a tornado spin kick. But also you had to earn moves via points, and they were all obscure stuff. Also the second game inverted controls depending if you were facing right or left.

All of the Dungeons and Dragons NES games. No freaking idea how to even play them. You can try button mashing but that'll get you nowhere.

Conan. There were two jump buttons for different kinds of jumps. I think one of them was down jumps. Yes pressing down jumps! Also you had to pause the game with one button (I forget which) to then select items but then you unpaused with a different button. And you had to use certain exact items/weapons in some exact complicated way to get anywhere.

Just as a comment I play Dark Souls games with my index finger on circle (or B) to run and use my middle finger on R1 (or RB) to attack while controlling the camera to effectively turn at any point to strike.

Anyone else who does this is awesome. Like me!

South Park on the N64 was pretty wonky. If I remember correctly, you had to use the C buttons to move and the Z trigger to shoot. Still, I had a blast once I got used to the controls.

Pretty much anything for the old X Box.

At 2/5/18 08:39 AM, Cyberdevil wrote: Pretty much anything for the old X Box.

Yeah, that console pretty much had a very unconventional controller for sure. I suppose much of it's caused by that weird decision to have black and white buttons instead of a second pair of shoulder buttons. Thankfully Microsoft learned that lesson and added those come Xbox 360. Long story short, make sure your controller's easy to understand.

At 2/5/18 02:58 PM, BronzeHeart92 wrote: Yeah, that console pretty much had a very unconventional controller for sure. I suppose much of it's caused by that weird decision to have black and white buttons instead of a second pair of shoulder buttons. Thankfully Microsoft learned that lesson and added those come Xbox 360. Long story short, make sure your controller's easy to understand.

Well maybe that too, though to me it was pretty much just the size of the controller that made it awkward to control. Unnaturally clumsy and blocky compared to all others I've tried, though they definitely improved it with the sequel!

Speaking of awkward controls though, best not forget the infamous Jaguar, though fortunately a bit before my time...

At 2/5/18 03:05 PM, Cyberdevil wrote:

At 2/5/18 02:58 PM, BronzeHeart92 wrote:

Well maybe that too, though to me it was pretty much just the size of the controller that made it awkward to control. Unnaturally clumsy and blocky compared to all others I've tried, though they definitely improved it with the sequel!

Speaking of awkward controls though, best not forget the infamous Jaguar, though fortunately a bit before my time...

Man, it looks like somebody jammed a Sega Mega Drive controller with a telephone pad... Definitely unconventional as well when pretty much none of it's competitors featured a controller that strange.

At 2/6/18 04:35 AM, BronzeHeart92 wrote: Man, it looks like somebody jammed a Sega Mega Drive controller with a telephone pad... Definitely unconventional as well when pretty much none of it's competitors featured a controller that strange.

Yeah. XD Unconventional and probably not all that useful considering how badly it sold...

At 2/6/18 05:47 PM, TheQuietGamer wrote: The N64 controller has always given me problems.

I definitely would still like to know the exact reason why Nintendo decided on something that unwieldy...

At 2/7/18 01:07 PM, BronzeHeart92 wrote:

At 2/6/18 05:47 PM, TheQuietGamer wrote: The N64 controller has always given me problems.

I definitely would still like to know the exact reason why Nintendo decided on something that unwieldy...

Second to the GC the N64 controller is probably my favorite one though. Other than the joystick getting worn down a bit too quick it was just perfect IMHO. Comfortable, creative, well-balanced and with an easily distinguishable set of buttons to top it off... color-coded > vague symbols and numbers any day!

Wonder in what ways you deemed it unwieldy?

At 12/27/17 11:44 AM, BronzeHeart92 wrote: All games are not created equal. Some might have awesome gameplay at the expense of the story and then there are these: What would otherwise be excellent titles saddled with awkward controls, barely understood and other unpleasantries. Got any games in mind that might fit the bill?

the game "alone in the dark" is apparently really good, but i have trouble progressing because of really terrible controls.