Multi Classic Resident Evil Controls

[Fool's Requiem]

I don't think there's a control system more frustrating than Resident Evil's tank controls. Ignoring the slow turning, which is super frustrating it's own right when you get immediately surrounded by zombies like the beginning of RE2, Resident Evil's lack of directional controls is suuuuuuper frustrating. I find it super odd that it doesn't work like many other games with no camera controls/strafing controls, where when you press in a certain direction, that is where your character moves. Best example is the Crash Bandicoot series. Crash has stationary cameras, but the game's controls are set so that if you press left, Crash moves left. In the RE series, when you press up, your character moves forward in the direction they're pointing. So, if Jill is pointing at the camera, and you press up, she walks towards the camera. It makes a lot of sense for games where the camera is always behind the character (like Syphon Filter or Tomb Raider), but for stationary cameras, it is super frustrating. It sucks, because I would like to get to play the original RE games and get to experience some of the silly stuff (like the Jill sandwich line) in person, but the controls are totally unwieldy. Parasite Eve 2 is like that as well. I'm assuming Dino Crisis is the same because when I tried it forever ago, I had the same issues with it I did with RE back in the day.

More confusing, Capcom did end changing the controls for games with stationary cameras. Devil May Cry and Haunting Ground both use directional controls instead of tank controls. I'll be able to actually play those games. The Gamecube RE remake and RE Zero also stick with the crummy tank controls. It's pretty sad that Capcom didn't change the controls when they added Analog usage for the Directors Cut of RE and then for RE2 and RE3. I don't know if they did it because there was concern that people would complain about the updated controls being different or what, but it makes their games impossible to play.

 

[Smacktard]

I played an original RE game for the first time in like more than 20-some years this past summer -- REmake on the Gamecube. I found the tank controls really frustrating sometimes too, but eventually you get... sort of used to them.

The reason tank controls are used, I found out, is that the game uses pre-rendered backgrounds with different perspectives, so what is "forward" in one scene might be "left" in another, which would be really disorienting.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Devil May Cry gets around that by just letting Dante move in the direction you're already pointing until you change directions.

 

[Smacktard]

Devil May Cry gets around that by just letting Dante move in the direction you're already pointing until you change directions.

It's a newer game than RE 1-3. They were still figuring out movement in 3D spaces in that era.

 

[Kat]

A lot of older games have garbage controls. I often try to replay games I loved as a kid and find them completely unplayable due to the controls. I don't know how we ever put up with it.

 

[Quagmire]

A lot of older games have garbage controls. I often try to replay games I loved as a kid and find them completely unplayable due to the controls. I don't know how we ever put up with it.

We didnt know better and sometimes better controls hadnt been figured out yet.

Resident Evil though was always bad, even for its time

 

[Ben]

I'm fairly sure Resident Evil came out before analog sticks were a thing. Yes, they could have found some other option, but when you've only got "up down left right" as inputs, it's not too wild to see how they went with "up is forward, left/right turn, down backs up"

I imagine if you'd tried getting overly complex with 3d camera controls without any true diagonal input controls, you'd be moving on just the X/Y axis and feel even more locked in.

Didn't the first Tomb Raiders play in the same way?

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I'm fairly sure Resident Evil came out before analog sticks were a thing. Yes, they could have found some other option, but when you've only got "up down left right" as inputs, it's not too wild to see how they went with "up is forward, left/right turn, down backs up"

I imagine if you'd tried getting overly complex with 3d camera controls without any true diagonal input controls, you'd be moving on just the X/Y axis and feel even more locked in.

Didn't the first Tomb Raiders play in the same way?

Tomb Raider's camera followed Lara.

The first RE had digital only controls, but the Director's Cut added analog controls, and RE2 also used analog controls.