DeathoftheEndless
Crashing this plane... with no survivors!
lol really?
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I beat Resident Evil 4 for the first time. I still don't like tank controls.
- Thread starter Raptomex
- Start date
lol really?
They finished the game too. Boggles the mind.
AcceptableGhost
Member
Resident Evil 4 uses tank control guys. You move in the same exact fashion as the old games. The only difference is the camera angle - the actual controls are the same.
I did not expect to come into this thread and find people claiming RE4 doesn't have tank controls.
Anyway, I also recently completed RE4 for the first time and basically agree with OP. The Ashley parts weren't as bad as I expected, since telling her to stay at the beginning of any area (or hide in a dumpster) made the "escort" part trivial. The only time that bit me in the ass was in the castle where you meet the chanting boys for the first time. They came from behind and snatched Ashley before I could run back.
Everything else felt 100% intended. Adding quick weapon switching or reloading while running would've made the game easier and taken away from the intensity of fights.
Anyway, I also recently completed RE4 for the first time and basically agree with OP. The Ashley parts weren't as bad as I expected, since telling her to stay at the beginning of any area (or hide in a dumpster) made the "escort" part trivial. The only time that bit me in the ass was in the castle where you meet the chanting boys for the first time. They came from behind and snatched Ashley before I could run back.
Everything else felt 100% intended. Adding quick weapon switching or reloading while running would've made the game easier and taken away from the intensity of fights.
To the OP, your'e not really supposed to like the tank controls, just the game Capcom designed around them. This is coming from someone who has beaten RE4 more than a dozen times. The controls are very much of their time, but the game is still praised because of its excellent pacing and variety.
You have to understand that in early 2005, the "standard" third person shooter hadn't really been established. RE4 is one of the main games that established it. Fixed camera angles and tank controls were still pretty common in Japanese third person action games up until around 2004. There had been third person shooters here and there with real-time cameras and non-tank controls (Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider, Mega Man Legends, 007 Everything or Nothing, Enter the Matrix, Winback, Kill Switch, etc.) but their format hadn't really been standardized. RE4's over-the-shoulder camera felt like a revelation compared to the then-common fixed cameras, so much so that the game's choice to stick with tank controls was glossed over a bit. The inability to aim and shoot simultaneously was a source of criticism at the time though. I think that was just a staple of many Japanese third person action games back then though. Capcom's other excuse was to make players feel more vulnerable, though even back then I thought that was a flawed excuse once you got away from the fixed camera. RE4 is one of my favorite games of all time but I would not design a game with its controls in 2017.
Gears, Evil Within, and Dead Space are pretty much the modern successors to what RE4 established. Despite that, I still don't think any of those games has pacing and encounter design quite like RE4. Maybe Gears 3 got close, and Evil Within has some really good moments.
As for RE4's post-game content, the OP's exhaustion with that is probably due to playing it all back-to-back at once. The original Gamecube version only had Assignment Ada and Mercenaries after the main game, each being clearly a non-canon remix of main game content built simply to provide more unique challenges. Separate Ways came later, in the PS2 version and all later versions, so a lot of people probably didn't play that until long after the other stuff. Krauser was kind of a cool remix surprise in Assignment Ada but was definitely unnecessary in Separate Ways. Actually I don't even like how Separate Ways tries to weave itself throughout RE4's main plot. I hate when concurrent sequels and side-stories try to do that.
You have to understand that in early 2005, the "standard" third person shooter hadn't really been established. RE4 is one of the main games that established it. Fixed camera angles and tank controls were still pretty common in Japanese third person action games up until around 2004. There had been third person shooters here and there with real-time cameras and non-tank controls (Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider, Mega Man Legends, 007 Everything or Nothing, Enter the Matrix, Winback, Kill Switch, etc.) but their format hadn't really been standardized. RE4's over-the-shoulder camera felt like a revelation compared to the then-common fixed cameras, so much so that the game's choice to stick with tank controls was glossed over a bit. The inability to aim and shoot simultaneously was a source of criticism at the time though. I think that was just a staple of many Japanese third person action games back then though. Capcom's other excuse was to make players feel more vulnerable, though even back then I thought that was a flawed excuse once you got away from the fixed camera. RE4 is one of my favorite games of all time but I would not design a game with its controls in 2017.
Gears, Evil Within, and Dead Space are pretty much the modern successors to what RE4 established. Despite that, I still don't think any of those games has pacing and encounter design quite like RE4. Maybe Gears 3 got close, and Evil Within has some really good moments.
As for RE4's post-game content, the OP's exhaustion with that is probably due to playing it all back-to-back at once. The original Gamecube version only had Assignment Ada and Mercenaries after the main game, each being clearly a non-canon remix of main game content built simply to provide more unique challenges. Separate Ways came later, in the PS2 version and all later versions, so a lot of people probably didn't play that until long after the other stuff. Krauser was kind of a cool remix surprise in Assignment Ada but was definitely unnecessary in Separate Ways. Actually I don't even like how Separate Ways tries to weave itself throughout RE4's main plot. I hate when concurrent sequels and side-stories try to do that.
Dragon1893
Member
WTF at the first page? Didn't see that coming.
DeathoftheEndless
Crashing this plane... with no survivors!
They probably also didn't know about slamming doors open and just sat there during the door-opening animation lol.
johannesbergcrantz
Member
I haven't given it one minutes thought, to be honest and much less been in control of an actual tank.
With that said though, tank-controls is how I move myself pretty much. At least there is no strafing going on in my everyday life.
Weltall Zero
Member
"Tank controls" means "pressing up moves the character forward, as opposed to up moving the character in the direction the camera is pointing". For the term to even make sense, those have to be different directions to begin with. Otherwise every single first person game also has tank controls.
Saying "it's only the camera that's changed" makes little sense when the entire definition rests on the camera pointing in a different direction than the character. It's like saying "my blue car is still a blue car, it's only its color that's changed".
"Tank Controls" means that the character controls like a Tank. Left does not move you left, but rotates the body in place left. Right does not move you right, but rotates the body of the player to the right. Up always moves the character forward based on the direction the character is facing, not the camera. Back moves the character in reverse, unlike traditional controls where back runs the character towards the camera. These movements are the same as if you were controlling a tank, hence "Tank Controls".
RE4 Leon has no directional movement that corresponds with the camera. The camera reorients itself behind the character. So yes, RE4 does use the same "Tank Controls" as previous RE games. Modern TPS games normally have directional movement of the character dependent on orientation of the camera, or a hybrid.
Regardless, RE4's reorientation was revelatory for third person shooters when it first released and created the template for how modern TPS control. They were great back in the day, but I completely understand how they can be jarring to those mainly used to modern TPS controls and mechanics. I'd also say that RE4 just doesn't feel the same on controllers other than the Gamecube controller.
RE4 Leon has no directional movement that corresponds with the camera. The camera reorients itself behind the character. So yes, RE4 does use the same "Tank Controls" as previous RE games. Modern TPS games normally have directional movement of the character dependent on orientation of the camera, or a hybrid.
Regardless, RE4's reorientation was revelatory for third person shooters when it first released and created the template for how modern TPS control. They were great back in the day, but I completely understand how they can be jarring to those mainly used to modern TPS controls and mechanics. I'd also say that RE4 just doesn't feel the same on controllers other than the Gamecube controller.
Raptomex
Member
Separate Ways just felt like a gauntlet of going from area to area and clearing rooms. I guess the whole game is somewhat like this but it's not paced well in SW or something. I didn't hate it but I was basically blasting through baddies like butter by the time I got to the Castle.
People are obsessed with the camera. He controls/moves like a tank. That's it. That's what I meant by tank controls and I thought it was common knowledge. You can have the camera up his ass but he would still control like a tank.
MGS3 is another excellent example. Great game due to level design, pacing, variety, etc., but saddled with very dated controls.
The difference though is I actually don't think more modern controls would break MGS3. The 3DS version at least tried to modernize the aiming controls. MGS3 with more modern controls would be my ideal Metal Gear game.
Roni
Gold Member
Tanks strafe in your dimension?
If you put gameplay over image quality, as I do, MGS3D is the definitive way of playing that game. Frame rate can drop a lot though... and playing without the C-stick or Circle Pad Pro takes some practice.
Did you play MGS3: Subsistence?
giancarlo123x
Banned
When I push left in an fps I strafe, tank controls don't do that.
Astral/H3X
Member
Well, uh, hate to tell you this, but Leon is separate from the camera.
If you press the C Stick, you'll see the camera turn left or right, but Up is still making Leon move in the same forward direction.
Omnii-chan
Member
Controls in RE4 don't bother me. You just can't move and shoot. Original RE's are a lot more rigid with their movement too.
Easton Dark
Member
Tank controls are not defined by a camera in a video game, they're defined by how a tank can only have momentum forward or backward. They stop to turn.
This isn't tank science, here.
SebastianM
Member
EDIT: Wait, it does have tank controls? what the hell? that actually kinda makes sense...
The only thing Subsistence changed was the camera. The aiming controls were still the same old thing from MGS2, which at that point had become horribly convoluted. The 3DS version changed that system to be more like Peace Walker and MGS4. It also added a crouch walk. Oh, and MGS3's CQC system is still baffling.
re_fan1996
Member
This is exactly right, and with the introduction of the quick turn in RE3, RE4 essentially controls identically to RE3.
Spieler Eins
Member
In RE4 you need to stand still before you move to the left or right, in a FPS you don't. If you control the game well (or older REs too), you can make it look like you're changing directions seemlessly, but that's not actually true .
giancarlo123x
Banned
So resident evil 3 has tank controls but 4 does not?
Yeah I was about to say... The camera change in Subsistence made MGS3 a blast to play through.
ResidentWeevil13
Member
Come to think of it, doesn't Metroid Prime have tank movement controls as well. When you hold left or right on the analog stick, you don't move. You pivot.
giancarlo123x
Banned
The fact that they got called out after trying to jump op and haven't returned makes it better.
MP doesn't have tank controls. It basically has standard FPS movement except having a lock-on that allows you to strafe around a target, and a c-stick that isn't meant to be relied upon for aiming.
Berserking Guts
Member
Of course RE4 has tank controls. Tank controls are holding up on the stick to always run forward, hold down to walk backwards and left or right to turn.
Astral/H3X
Member
Metroid Prime 1 and 2 on GC, yes, but 3 and the Wii versions are a bit more typical of FPS's, in the sense that you can strafe independently of locking on anyway.
giancarlo123x
Banned
I find that game more fun due to its amazing coop, different strokes.
Cheat Code
Member
Yeah technically RE4 does have tank controls, just from a different perspective and with OTS aiming.
Turning with left stick instead of strafing is a signal of tank.
It's fuckin great though, most of the panic in RE4 comes form it.
Turning with left stick instead of strafing is a signal of tank.
It's fuckin great though, most of the panic in RE4 comes form it.
Raptomex
Member
Yeah, I usually gave up during the sequence after you meet the first merchant. But I pushed through this time.
GameCube Primes have tank controls. Wii versions do not.
Well I'll be damned. I remember it transitioning much faster.
You're god damn right.
DeathoftheEndless
Crashing this plane... with no survivors!
It does. A lot of early dual-stick shooters do, like the PS2 007 games.
ResidentWeevil13
Member
In a standard FPS you can move sideways and diagonally using your movement controls (analog stick or WASD), but in Prime for GameCube you pivot in place when you move your analog stick to the left or right. That's how a tank moves. It's got strafing if you use the lock on button, so that adds a wrinkle to the debate. But at its core I think one could classify the movement controls in Prime as tank controls
Tawney Bomb
Member
I just started replaying this over the weekend and am noticing the controls have not aged well.
PleaseDontBanMe
Banned
RE6 is the better game
yeah i said it
yeah i said it
giancarlo123x
Banned
In my opinion no but I can see why one would say that. Its an amazing action game no doubt about it.
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Yes you did indeed say something incorrect.