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I beat Resident Evil 4 for the first time. I still don't like tank controls.

Ok let's just edit OP's Tank Controls to awkward, lumbering controls and move the conversation along. I agree about your assertion on the controls though OP. They do no not age well and they shouldn't be used anymore. It also makes it hard to go back and play one of my favorite games of all time MGS3. Games are great. Controls not so much.
 

I Wanna Be The Guy

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
TBH I'll never get why it wasn't called 'radio controls' if you want to describe the perspective more than the inputs.



I just said, he doesn't move forward when you push forward if you're pushing the right stick to control the camera.
No it should be VHS controls. Over the shoulder camera is DVD controls. Freely controlled camera is blu-ray controls. I'm waiting for 4K controls to be invented.
 
That's not an unreasonable point; it's a much more implicitly-meaningful frame of reference for the layperson.

Having said that, MGSV has 'radio control' horse control option which confused me a bit, was hoping you could remotely manoeuvre the horse around but it just means horse relative.
 
You seem to be very hung up on the perspective. Leon controls like a tank. A tank can't strafe. Leon can't strafe. A tank moves forwards and backwards. Leon moves forwards and backwards. What does the perspective have to do with it?
Probably because the perspective and the way it makes the game control are the defining characteristics of tank controls and why people separate them from any other third person shooter controls.
 

Cels

Member
Funnily enough, the actual controls never bothered me at all. The QTEs, though, were very nearly a dealbreaker for me.

that krauser knife fight qte on professional was a huge pain

i think i died a few times on the laser wall too
 

Raptomex

Member
Ok let's just edit OP's Tank Controls to awkward, lumbering controls and move the conversation along. I agree about your assertion or the controls though OP. They do no not age well and they shouldn't be used anymore. It also makes it hard to go back and play one of my favorite games of all time MGS3. Games are great. Controls not so much.
Yeah, this thread got derailed on a subject I thought was common knowledge. Wow.

I agree. However, I never liked tank controls, even in the original Tomb Raider games back when that was in its prime. I do find this game interesting though since the entire experience is designed around it. Any change to the controls and the game would be broken.
 

mclem

Member
I think there are a number of people who regard 'tank controls' as 'turning is sluggish', which isn't unreasonable, if a bit of a misnomer.

Maybe that's the key; Classic RE had two control traits - static cameras and sluggish turning - and both together are regarded as 'tank controls' - but for some it's just the static camera, for others it's just the sluggish turning, and for a third group it's just the combination of both those traits.
 

Renna Hazel

Member
Ok let's just edit OP's Tank Controls to awkward, lumbering controls and move the conversation along. I agree about your assertion on the controls though OP. They do no not age well and they shouldn't be used anymore. It also makes it hard to go back and play one of my favorite games of all time MGS3. Games are great. Controls not so much.

They should still include the option for the RE4 control setup. RE5 had both.
 

kikiribu

Member
RE6 had better controls, including moving while aiming. I actually really enjoyed that game, QTEs aside. No game should have QTEs, it's cringeworthy and takes no real skill.
 

Boney

Banned
Probably because the perspective and the way it makes the game control are the defining characteristics of tank controls and why people separate them from any other third person shooter controls.
Tank Controls are a by-product of fixed camara angles, since they allow for players to have controls of their characters at all times despite the quick camara shifts. For fixed camara angles, tank controls are a necessity. But fixed camara angles aren't a necessity for tank controls.
 
I played a lot of games with tank controls back then (Because there were a lot of them around.) and a lot of games without them and I never really thought much of it until years later when I saw a lot of people on the internet hated these kind of controls. For me they were always just "Like Flashback, but in 3D." (This especially applied to Tomb Raider.) which was fine to me.

lol I came in to say it doesn't have tank controls but everyone beat me.

You missed all the people who'd call you crazy though.
 
lol at all those wrong first responses

Sort of. They add enough movement options that it doesn't feel like more traditional tank controls.

It doesn't have any more movement options than the classic games unless you're counting the context sensitive actions like jumping out of the occasional window.

It only doesn't feel like tank controls because of the camera.
 

Raptomex

Member
Probably because the perspective and the way it makes the game control are the defining characteristics of tank controls and why people separate them from any other third person shooter controls.
If anything, perspective defines what buttons to press to move the character in whatever direction. You can rearrange the buttons anyway you want, he still controls like a tank. Top down, static, isometric, over the shoulder, whichever, it doesn't change the fact Leon controls like or similar to a tank. No strafing and he rotates to turn.
 
Tank Controls are a by-product of fixed camara angles, since they allow for players to have controls of their characters at all times despite the quick camara shifts. For fixed camara angles, tank controls are a necessity. But fixed camara angles aren't a necessity for tank controls.
If tank controls are a by product of fixed camera angles, then they're a necessity for tank controls. Something being a by product of something else means that the second thing wouldn't exist without the existence of the first to be a catalyst.

It's like saying that cheese is a by product of milk, but you don't need milk to make cheese.
If anything, perspective defines what buttons to press to move the character in whatever direction. You can rearrange the buttons anyway you want, he still controls like a tank. Top down, static, isometric, over the shoulder, whichever, it doesn't change the fact Leon controls like or similar to a tank. No strafing and he rotates to turn.
By this logic, doesn't every FPS in history have tank controls then?
 

Paragon

Member
Tomb Raider for PS1 the camera is the reference for movements... so it is not tank controls...
You need to go back and play Tomb Raider again.
Up always makes Lara run forward relative to the direction she is facing, regardless of what the camera is doing. Same thing as Leon in Resident Evil 4.

"Tank Controls" are character-relative controls, rather than camera-relative controls.
Silent Hill games have the option to switch between "2D" controls (camera-relative) and "3D" controls (character-relative).

Tank Controls make a lot more sense for games that use fixed camera angles, because it means that the camera can use dramatic angles and it doesn't impact the player movement at all. (up is always forwards)
It doesn't change the fact that they're still Tank Controls if the camera changes.

That's not an unreasonable point; it's a much more implicitly-meaningful frame of reference for the layperson.
Is it? I have no idea what relation a radio has to the control scheme that "Tank Control" games use.
 
Okay, to those that say this game doesn't have tank controls please explain this to me.
rvqci5K.jpg

Same exact game but the camera was shifted. Controls exactly the same, up is still move and so on. How the hell isn't it always control like a tank?
 

ethomaz

Banned
If the camera moves with the character view it is not tank controls because the controlling a character doesn't fell like a tank.
 
You're lucky to be playing the Ultimate HD edition. Loading in and out of the menus is instant when playing on PC. Previous versions would need a second or two to reload the area after exiting the case menu.

*Shitty PS2 based versions

If tank controls are a by product of fixed camera angles, then they're a necessity for tank controls. Something being a by product of something else means that the second thing wouldn't exist without the existence of the first to be a catalyst.

It's like saying that cheese is a by product of milk, but you don't need milk to make cheese.

....what

Protip: We call it, "Tank Controls" not "Tank Camera"

EDIT EDIT
Okay like seriously that's dumb. That's like saying, "Well, the fog in Silent Hill is a by product of the PS1's limitations, so it isn't fog if it's not on the PS1."
 

myco666

Member
Just play RE5 in coop OP. Quick weapon slots, no baby sitting and not too much Krauser but all you need Wesker.

As for the tank control discussion. Doesn't RE4 work so that if you move the camera to either side and press up/foward Leon will go towards where he is facing instead of to the direction of the camera? RE4 totally has tank controls.
 
i think independent of being tank or not, the controls in RE4 are definitely stiff and that is the perspective from OP, i don't understand why people are getting attached to the term "tank controls".
 
Yea.. you writing "tank-controls" was what made me click. I havent tried the extended-stuff. Maingame still holds up and I even like the protect-ashley-parts. Can be frustrating at times but its the right amount of frustration/reward-ratio imo.
 
i think independent of being tank or not, the controls in RE4 are definitely stiff and that is the perspective from OP, i don't understand why people are getting attached to the term "tank controls".
Because it is tank controls and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
 
So tank control means, to some, that the camera is static (i.e. not following the character) while the character only moves forward in a direction the character is facing?

Hmm... I think RE4 technically does have tank controls. Camera perspective be damned. It's a pretty accurate description of the controls.

I disliked the controls, for sure. Not a fan at all.
 
I don't think you understand what tank controls means.

No that would be you and others. RE4 getting rid of tank controls is that weird myth that's simply false. The angle has changed, but you still move like a tank would control - i.e. turn into the direction you want to go in and then push forward.
 

Afrocious

Member
lmao @ the people railroading OP in the beginning posts about how RE4 doesn't have tank controls.

I mean I like the controls but damn yall
 

Ralemont

not me
If the camera moves with the character view it is not tank controls because the controlling a character doesn't fell like a tank.

It's tank controls. Tank controls mean buttons/joysticks function relative to the character, not the camera. In tank controls, pressing down backs the character up. In non-tank controls, the character moves towards the screen, or down in a fixed perspective. That type of thing.
 

Sephzilla

Member
What crazy alternate universe did I walk into where people think Resident Evil 4 doesn't have tank controls? The only major differences between how RE4 plays compared to the previous games is that the camera is now over the shoulder and you have more precision aiming. If Resident Evil 4 doesn't have tank controls then literally no game does.
 
lmao @ the people railroading OP in the beginning posts about how RE4 doesn't have tank controls.

I mean I like the controls but damn yall

I think people for some reason have come to the conclusion that the term "tank controls" really means "prerendered background".
 

Roni

Gold Member
What the fuck is wrong with people saying RE4 doesn't have tank controls?

In classic RE you could go forward, backwards and turn sideways. RE4 is the same. It's only in RE5 we lose tank controls.
 
First half of the first page of this thread was shocking for me!
It's like someone make a thread about Gran Turismo 5 menus and you see first posts about amazing menus in GT5!
 
RE4 has tank controls. We've been discussing them since it came out, even here on gaf, and I've never seen someone saying that it doesn't have tank controls. This thread really does feel from an alternate reality where RE4 tank controls weren't controversial. So weird.
 

ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
People think RE4 doesn't have tank controls?? bwahahahahahahaa I GIVE UP

As someone who played RE1-4/CV and fucking hated them back in the day because of those controls I have to say....the fanbase for that RE4 is my biggest gaming mystery....I don't get you people at all...I'm getting to the point of going tin foil hat and thinking this is some kind of mind control shit or Capcom paid people off.....I don't know man...
 

Semajer

Member
RE4 has tank controls. We've been discussing them since it came out, even here on gaf, and I've never seen someone saying that it doesn't have tank controls. This thread really does feel from an alternate reality where RE4 tank controls weren't controversial. Weird.

Keep in mind you're on a website that has multiple users that didn't know RE4 has a run button.
 

depths20XX

Member
I like how all the people telling OP they don't know what tank controls are don't actually know what tank controls are.
 
I think people for some reason have come to the conclusion that the term "tank controls" really means "prerendered background".

When people were celebrating RE4 for "modernizing" the series and changing the formula back in the day, the notion that they dropped tank controls always snuck into the overall narrative. Probably because the old concept (and the problems people had with it) were so connected with that term.
 
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