I just don't get how they seem to be unplayable or completely impenetrable to so many people. I'd say it's a generational thing but even many people who grew up playing PS1 games act like trying to figure them out in 2024 completely short circuits their brains

Now, would I want to play some hypothetical fast paced 3D action game from the 90s where they used tank controls because they didn't know any better? No, but they work perfectly fine in slower-paced games like Resident Evil-style survival horror or the first five Tomb Raider games (though the camera kind of sucks in those, but it took a long time for 3D games to figure out how to handle that in general)

Maybe I'm just weird for enjoying tank controls. Some survival horror games that came out in the PS2 era like Silent Hill 2 and 3 gave you the option between 2D and 3D (tank controls) movement and I always pick the latter if I get the chance

  • FourteenEyes [he/him]
    ·
    9 months ago

    Because they're bad. Period. I grew up with them. They suck. The transition to over the shoulder saved the genre in a time of nadir.

    • Yurt_Owl
      ·
      9 months ago

      They're fine in fixed camera angle games when you need forward to be absolute not relative to the position of a camera that changes every scene. Relative controls in a fixed camera angle game like silent hill will have you running in the wrong direction a lot by accident. Those games have a relative control option but I always struggled to not constantly fuck up my movements.

      Also tomb raider tank controls and its climbing are just better than modern uncharted climbing mechanics period. One actually requires thought and the other is just a boring spectacle

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Is your issue with tank controls or fixed camera angles or both? What do you think of fixed (or semi-fixed) camera angle survival horror games without tank controls like Haunting Ground? Because the transition to an over the shoulder camera also marked a change to more combat-focused action horror in the vein of Dead Space or Evil Within, and I'd argue that fixed camera angles are a perfect match for that older style of Resident Evil-derived key-collecting style of game.

      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
        ·
        9 months ago

        Eternal Darkness had fixed camera and no tank controls, it was fine. I'm good either way and to me the main factor is whether it's ayed with a dpad or control stick. Dpad, tank good. Control stick, tank bad.

      • FourteenEyes [he/him]
        ·
        9 months ago

        That specific combination can add greatly to the confusion, especially when the angle changes while you're moving. It was a stopgap born of hardware limitations and it stuck around way too long.

        • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
          ·
          9 months ago

          Do you just think the entire style of game is obsolete? I'd argue the fixed camera survival horror is a genre onto its own and that there's a lot of cool mood setting and artistry that is specific to fixed camera angles and can't be replicated with a third person shooter camera

          • FourteenEyes [he/him]
            ·
            9 months ago

            I'd argue that the success of Signals shows that top-down is probably the way to go for the genre even if you're trying to channel the OG survival horrors.

            They're clunky and counterintuitive and when you're playing a horror game you don't want the most dangerous enemy to be the camera or controls.

            • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
              ·
              9 months ago

              I disagree, the horror in a horror game is a function of every system together, and depriving the player of intuitive controls and information through inconvenient camera or inefficient controls is not just valid but extremely effective.

              Giving the player perfect controls and agency over their information can very easily lead to them outpacing the horror of the game simply by being able to perfectly handle the enemies, who no matter how freaky they look or scary they sound, will be less scary if they objectively are less of a threat.

              Theres also the point of immersion into an actual role, if you have controls that let you do just about anything, your character kind of has to be able to also do just about anything in the world or just stop being a particularly coherent character, this kind of thing was commented on all the way back in Half Life with Gordon Freeman, academia dork, being able to inexplicably outfight anyone and anything thrown at him.

              Silent Hill 2 remake is gonna have James Sunderland in the cutscenes and then in gameplay he's gonna turn into Jim "Silent" Hill, action man.

            • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
              ·
              9 months ago

              A static fixed top-down angle is really constricting though and doesn't give the devs much room to play with.