While we enjoy the Wii's motion controls most of the time, they can ruin a game if they're not implemented properly. Have you played any games on the Wii that had horrible controls? If so, what were the worst offenders?
While we enjoy the Wii's motion controls most of the time, they can ruin a game if they're not implemented properly. Have you played any games on the Wii that had horrible controls? If so, what were the worst offenders?
Reader Comments (65)
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 10:43AM (Unverified) said
driver parallel lines by far the biggest upset it blows all around
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 10:53AM (Unverified) said
Tony Hawk Proving Ground
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 7:13PM Ghen said
seconded, I tried to get through the TUTORIAL and it just didn't work... 2 hours later I gave up crying.
After playing almost every other tony hawk game before this the control scheme for the wii was going to be something different and new.. A nice shiny sparkly new thing for the old franchise... But no, it wasn't even usable!
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After playing almost every other tony hawk game before this the control scheme for the wii was going to be something different and new.. A nice shiny sparkly new thing for the old franchise... But no, it wasn't even usable!
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 10:54AM (Unverified) said
The BIGS. Such horrible batting and fielding. I'd much prefer MLB Power Pros(!) every time.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 1:47PM (Unverified) said
I agree, I struggled with "The BIGS" controls as well.
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 11:03AM Chyld989 said
I haven't played a lot of the ones that I expected to have bad controls, but of the ones I've played Red Steel was the worst. I threw the game down in a fit of rage about 20 minutes after picking it up, and refuse to ever play it again due to the controls.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 11:13AM (Unverified) said
Sonic and the secret rings was the worst offender for me so far. I tried to play it for about two hours, but in the end I just gave up. I couldn't get sonic to run at the right rate. Either he'd run too fast and get hurt by my inability to steer quickly, or he'd run too slow and get hurt by things chasing him. No-win situation there. Haven't touched the game since. I kind of want my money back.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 11:12AM vidguy said
Call of Duty 3, which had so much potential as an early FPS for Wii, was difficult to control on any setting. Red Steel had a great storyline premise but didn't deliver; the controls made it so aggravating that I didn't play long enough to see if it redeemed itself later on.
I'd say the best game with sometimes wonky controls is Zack and Wiki. 90% of the motions worked as expected, but sometimes I'd be moving the controller sideways to activate a vertical switch or waving it around to make it do /something/.
The controls of Tiger Woods 07 are fantastic, though I know many disagree. It actually requires some skill and practice to get the swings down, but on the right settings the game's control is VERY realistic.
I'd say the best game with sometimes wonky controls is Zack and Wiki. 90% of the motions worked as expected, but sometimes I'd be moving the controller sideways to activate a vertical switch or waving it around to make it do /something/.
The controls of Tiger Woods 07 are fantastic, though I know many disagree. It actually requires some skill and practice to get the swings down, but on the right settings the game's control is VERY realistic.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 11:17AM (Unverified) said
Medal of Honor Vanguard, and COD3 were awful, to bad these games rocked on the PS2 and Xbox360.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 11:46AM (Unverified) said
Rampage for the Wii is easily the worst. Controls are terrible and extremely confusing. The game doesn't even tell you to plug in the Nunchuck despite the fact that you can't move your monster around properly without it.
The game's saving grace is its inclusion of Rampage World Tour (excellent) and the original Rampage (also excellent). Both of these just use a sideways remote to control and work very well.
The game's saving grace is its inclusion of Rampage World Tour (excellent) and the original Rampage (also excellent). Both of these just use a sideways remote to control and work very well.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 11:47AM NO DOUBT GET LOUD said
Zelda Twilight Princess. After 5 minutes of playing it, I swapped it for the Cube version.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 11:53AM NO DOUBT GET LOUD said
Arrows, awesome.
Boomerang, awesome
But shaking your hand does not replace the friggin B button! It was so damn imprecise that it turned me off.
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Boomerang, awesome
But shaking your hand does not replace the friggin B button! It was so damn imprecise that it turned me off.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 12:17PM (Unverified) said
Although I must admit that I couldn't stand TP (due to story, environment, music, etc.) and eventually stored it in my shelve without completing it, the controls and responsiveness was something they did right. shrug.
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 9:02PM NO DOUBT GET LOUD said
Don't get me wrong; Twilight Princess is amazing...
...just on the Gamecube.
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...just on the Gamecube.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 10:21PM CJLopez said
It's a matter of preferences
For myself, I thought the control were amazing, i did loved shaking my wrist to simulate the sword playing, aiming the boomerang and the bow, just feeled like beign there, also de the hookshot!!!
TLOZ:TP had amazing control, i did loved em a lot!!!!! it's a shame not everyone thinks like this
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For myself, I thought the control were amazing, i did loved shaking my wrist to simulate the sword playing, aiming the boomerang and the bow, just feeled like beign there, also de the hookshot!!!
TLOZ:TP had amazing control, i did loved em a lot!!!!! it's a shame not everyone thinks like this
Posted: Mar 31st 2008 2:05PM (Unverified) said
I agree I couldn't stand Twilight's controls but the worst that I've played was Splinter Cell double agent thought I might get carpal tunnel.
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 12:17PM (Unverified) said
Some of the (far too many) mini-games in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz were almost unplayable, Disc Golf had particularly wretched controls if I remember. And any game which has required me to do that sort of horrible demented drumming action with the remote and nunchuck (Mario and Sonic I'm looking at you), I can't abide. Even the grinning actors in the ads don't make it look fun.
When Wii controls are implemented well (Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Excite Truck, etc) they are absolutely fantastic and improve on the gameplay in wonderful ways, but sadly when implemented badly they render the game almost unplayable. Galaxy, TP and MP3 should set the blueprint for third-parties for great Wii controls in a variety of genres.
When Wii controls are implemented well (Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Excite Truck, etc) they are absolutely fantastic and improve on the gameplay in wonderful ways, but sadly when implemented badly they render the game almost unplayable. Galaxy, TP and MP3 should set the blueprint for third-parties for great Wii controls in a variety of genres.
Posted: Mar 31st 2008 2:56AM (Unverified) said
SO agree, especially on the mention of Disc Golf. God, the whole thing was really disappointing, and yet the reviews were all YAY MONKEY BALL DOES IT RIGHT. What the hell.
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Posted: Mar 31st 2008 12:15PM (Unverified) said
Agree totallyAgree totally. The main game had pretty good controls, but the mini games were AWFUL!
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 12:19PM (Unverified) said
Worst game I've played with bad responsive controls (or perhaps, sucked overall): Excite Truck. Ew.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 1:51PM (Unverified) said
Out of the box, the controls were rough. But I actually liked Excite Truck's controls once I got used to them.
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 2:08PM (Unverified) said
I remember when the Wii released, I stood in a GameStop for about an hour playing the Excite Truck demo. That game is what finally sold me on the Wii, because the controls were so good and the action was so frantic. I'm surprised to hear you didn't like the steering.
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 3:05PM (Unverified) said
I just could not get the hang of excite trucks controls. It felt so unresponsive. It felt like any minor corrections in my steering were completely unrecognized which often caused me to crash. It seemed like completely identical actions (ie turning the wiimote a certain amount of degrees) yielded wildly different results each time. I guess if I took the time to make every single movement perfectly precise then it might work better, but I'm pretty sure that's near impossible considering what a fast-paced game this is.
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 4:57PM (Unverified) said
The controls for Excite Truck have a high learning curve, but once you get the hang of them, there is nothing better than racing with the Wii remote sideways.
As a result Excite Truck has become one of my favorite Wii games and has made the wait for Mario Kart almost unbearable.
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As a result Excite Truck has become one of my favorite Wii games and has made the wait for Mario Kart almost unbearable.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 7:28PM seenew said
No way! Excite Truck was awesome, once you got the hang of it! Everything was so smooth and fast, it made me really crave a new F-Zero..
Mario Kart will no doubt rock hard, but it seems they've turned the controller upwards so it won't handle quite the same..
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Mario Kart will no doubt rock hard, but it seems they've turned the controller upwards so it won't handle quite the same..
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 12:28PM (Unverified) said
Definitely Tony Hawk's proving ground. Terrible controls.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 12:36PM (Unverified) said
I would have to say Farcry: Vengance was the worst motion controls I've experienced. Really jerky anda bit delayed. I wasn't too pleased with Red Steel either. But, Zelda Rules! You guys are f__king crazy!
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 12:44PM samfish said
Dewy's Adventure by far. It ruined the game for me and I like platformers usually, no matter how crappy they are.
Mercury Meltdown Revolution's controls sucked, too. I gave up on it after about 20 minutes, I'd guess.
And as much as I loved it, Sonic & the Secret Rings' controls could have been a LOT tighter. Once you got about 3-4 hours into the game it got much better to control, but there were still things that were hard to do, like backing up, stopping and timing Sonic's jumps.
Mercury Meltdown Revolution's controls sucked, too. I gave up on it after about 20 minutes, I'd guess.
And as much as I loved it, Sonic & the Secret Rings' controls could have been a LOT tighter. Once you got about 3-4 hours into the game it got much better to control, but there were still things that were hard to do, like backing up, stopping and timing Sonic's jumps.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 12:54PM jceggbert5 said
Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz,
The Main Game was Okay, but I didn't like very many of the minigames on it. If they would have made the main game multi-player, the game would not be a dust-house.
The Main Game was Okay, but I didn't like very many of the minigames on it. If they would have made the main game multi-player, the game would not be a dust-house.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 1:04PM (Unverified) said
I rented Sonic and the Secret Rings and could barely get past the first level. I eventually gave up. Every time I see people talk about the "great controls," I start to wonder what I was doing wrong.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 1:10PM (Unverified) said
In no order:
Red Steel: The sword controls were literally about as reliable as those old wireless controllers that used IR instead of RF. BUT, the shooting-mode controls were by far the best FPS controls on the Wii (with the only possible exception being Call of Duty 3, NOT Metroid. Metroid's turning/aiming was always either too sensitive, or not sensitive enough, I beat the game and it still never felt right).
Zack & Wiki: Most of the controls in this were fine, but there were a few things that were absolutely horrid, like the retarded decision to use gesture recognition instead of IR pointing for moving levers (like in the fire boss's stage). What a fucking mess that was. Literally even LESS responsive than the old IR wireless controllers. Total shit. The controls in the music mini-game were terrible, too.
Mario Galaxy: Good level designs, but Mario's movement controls (ie, analog-stick) are as nimble as a tank. Specifically, getting Mario to start moving and stop moving. Luigi's even worse. And most of the time, the camera control is outright broken. Even Mario 64's mediocre-at-best camera system was better.
FarCry: Literally about half the time I tried to regenerate health (wave wiimote horizontally), I'd also end up jumping off of a cliff (move wiimote vertically). Plus, zoom in/out is so completely screwed up it makes Red Steel's questionable zooming look great. Also, it takes sooo long to look up/down that half of my deaths were the direct result of staring at the ground/sky too long without being able to do anything about it (Metroid has the same problem, but to a much lesser extent).
Sonic Secret Rings: Worst jumping controls I've ever seen. Tilting was OK, by by the time you get halfway through the game, the imprecision in all of the controls ends up being a major problem. Also, backing up required you to tilt the controller back SO far that it was literally upside-down before that blue bastard would finally back the hell up (and even then, he'd do it REALLY SLOOOOWLY).
Wii Sports Boxing: Again with the unresponsiveness. Plus, the nunchuck's way-too-short cord becomes a problem in this game.
Smash Bros 3: Even with all the bragging and back-patting they did at the Dojo about the supposedly ultra-configurable controls ("We really thought of everything!"), they STILL refuse to let you use the D-Pad for movement (unless you use sideways-wiimote style), which would have been far better.
Mercury Meltdown: Not a major problem, but in the menus, the '1' and '2' buttons are backwards from what they should be. A small annoyance.
Zelda TP: The whole assignable-button system just seemed rather awkward for the first time in any Zelda game.
Splinter Cell: The ONLY game where aiming/turning actually seems to work better with dual-analogs.
I think the bottom line is: Tilting and IR pointing are usually fine as long as they actually put some thought into the tweaking. But gesture recognition is almost always complete and total shit, and really needs to be eliminated outright.
Red Steel: The sword controls were literally about as reliable as those old wireless controllers that used IR instead of RF. BUT, the shooting-mode controls were by far the best FPS controls on the Wii (with the only possible exception being Call of Duty 3, NOT Metroid. Metroid's turning/aiming was always either too sensitive, or not sensitive enough, I beat the game and it still never felt right).
Zack & Wiki: Most of the controls in this were fine, but there were a few things that were absolutely horrid, like the retarded decision to use gesture recognition instead of IR pointing for moving levers (like in the fire boss's stage). What a fucking mess that was. Literally even LESS responsive than the old IR wireless controllers. Total shit. The controls in the music mini-game were terrible, too.
Mario Galaxy: Good level designs, but Mario's movement controls (ie, analog-stick) are as nimble as a tank. Specifically, getting Mario to start moving and stop moving. Luigi's even worse. And most of the time, the camera control is outright broken. Even Mario 64's mediocre-at-best camera system was better.
FarCry: Literally about half the time I tried to regenerate health (wave wiimote horizontally), I'd also end up jumping off of a cliff (move wiimote vertically). Plus, zoom in/out is so completely screwed up it makes Red Steel's questionable zooming look great. Also, it takes sooo long to look up/down that half of my deaths were the direct result of staring at the ground/sky too long without being able to do anything about it (Metroid has the same problem, but to a much lesser extent).
Sonic Secret Rings: Worst jumping controls I've ever seen. Tilting was OK, by by the time you get halfway through the game, the imprecision in all of the controls ends up being a major problem. Also, backing up required you to tilt the controller back SO far that it was literally upside-down before that blue bastard would finally back the hell up (and even then, he'd do it REALLY SLOOOOWLY).
Wii Sports Boxing: Again with the unresponsiveness. Plus, the nunchuck's way-too-short cord becomes a problem in this game.
Smash Bros 3: Even with all the bragging and back-patting they did at the Dojo about the supposedly ultra-configurable controls ("We really thought of everything!"), they STILL refuse to let you use the D-Pad for movement (unless you use sideways-wiimote style), which would have been far better.
Mercury Meltdown: Not a major problem, but in the menus, the '1' and '2' buttons are backwards from what they should be. A small annoyance.
Zelda TP: The whole assignable-button system just seemed rather awkward for the first time in any Zelda game.
Splinter Cell: The ONLY game where aiming/turning actually seems to work better with dual-analogs.
I think the bottom line is: Tilting and IR pointing are usually fine as long as they actually put some thought into the tweaking. But gesture recognition is almost always complete and total shit, and really needs to be eliminated outright.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 1:54PM (Unverified) said
Wii Sports Boxing: Ugh! Those are by far, the WORST controls for any Wii game I've played. There is hardly any connection between the way you punch and what actually happens on the screen.
My 4 year old beats me on that game just by going crazy with his fists with no rhyme or reason, and I can beat my friends by twirling the controls over my head like a helicopter.
Glad it's a freebie game and not one I actually had to go out and purchase separately.
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My 4 year old beats me on that game just by going crazy with his fists with no rhyme or reason, and I can beat my friends by twirling the controls over my head like a helicopter.
Glad it's a freebie game and not one I actually had to go out and purchase separately.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 2:27PM Mr Khan said
I'd also agree with Wii Sports Boxing and the Nunchuk, I've practiced enough that i can get it to punch when i want it to, but i still have no idea about how to aim with that side
In No More Heroes, two of the controls were poorly done. The first was downward finishing blows, I always got the high precision with the other 3 directions, but striking downwards needed one or two tries
Second was the baseball bat controls in NMH, i still haven't figured those out, I hold it like a bat, swing in time, and never make a hit. I got two hits in a row Friday night, but i don't know what i did.
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In No More Heroes, two of the controls were poorly done. The first was downward finishing blows, I always got the high precision with the other 3 directions, but striking downwards needed one or two tries
Second was the baseball bat controls in NMH, i still haven't figured those out, I hold it like a bat, swing in time, and never make a hit. I got two hits in a row Friday night, but i don't know what i did.
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 2:38PM Nigeria said
I'm so glad you mentioned No More Heroes and the downward strokes. I thought I was doing something wrong or my controllers were busted. During the more intense fights it was really irritating to see myself repeatedly fail that final downward slash. Frustrating.
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 3:13PM (Unverified) said
Wait, in TP are you talking about the assignable d-pad buttons? They introduced that concept in Ocarina of Time with the C buttons (where it worked great in my opinion). Maybe I misunderstood you.
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Posted: Mar 30th 2008 6:31PM (Unverified) said
That's pissed me off more than any other controller issue, so far.
I got a Classic Controller for Brawl, as I'm not so fond of the analog stick on Wiimote. And they prevent you from using the d-pad for walking?! You mean someone specifically designed the d-pad for use with other commands....just not movement?! WHAT?!
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I got a Classic Controller for Brawl, as I'm not so fond of the analog stick on Wiimote. And they prevent you from using the d-pad for walking?! You mean someone specifically designed the d-pad for use with other commands....just not movement?! WHAT?!
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 10:30PM CJLopez said
I hand't find a problem with No More Heroes, I found the control pretty easy to use and the game amazing, the down strike, why are you having so much troubles??? mostly of the time i got the strike down finishing move and I has never failed to perform it, didn't even need to shake it to much, just a little wrist movement and that was it. In the baseball part... Am, i just used like if I was playing Baseball on Wiisports and hit a lot. Never had a problem here
For the D-Pad, well, with the introduction of the analog stick on the game consoles, the d-pad wasn't meant anymore for the movement as was in the start of the videogames, so it's kinda normal that developers see's the D-Pad for another function instead the movement and leaves the task to the analog stick.
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For the D-Pad, well, with the introduction of the analog stick on the game consoles, the d-pad wasn't meant anymore for the movement as was in the start of the videogames, so it's kinda normal that developers see's the D-Pad for another function instead the movement and leaves the task to the analog stick.
Posted: Apr 1st 2008 3:08AM (Unverified) said
@CJLopez:
Yea, but what Nintendo apparently hasn't figured out is that analog sticks are total shit for certain types of games - like fighting games.
@andy:
Zelda games have had assignable buttons since the original. What I was talking about is three details that have changed:
1. The D-Pad is up too high (ie, too awkward to reach) to really use it the same way as the ocarina C buttons. Nintendo then attempted to work around it with the following kludge:
2. There's TWO different levels of assignments you need to deal with. First you assign items to the D-Pad buttons, as usual. Fine. BUT, for most items, in order to actually use them, you can't just hit the D-Pad button you assigned. Instead you have to push the D-Pad button just to swap it with the B-button item. THEN you can use it. But then when you want to use what had been assigned to B, you have to go swap it back to B again. And the more you switch between D-Pad items, the more the damn things keep getting rearranged.
3. Like I said: "MOST items". That means a blatant inconsistency in the interface. For some items, pressing the D-Pad will use them, but for other items it'll just swap with A instead. Makes me want to yell at Nintendo: "Just pick a damn method and stick with it!"
As long as I'm ranting about TP's interface I have three other specific complaints:
4. There's an inconsistency in what button is used for "back/cancel". In most of the menus, the "action" button is A and "back/cancel" is B, as is normal (Whenever there's a back button, it's typically B). But then in the item selection screen and in aiming-mode, they're switched around: Action is B, which moves "back/cancel" to A. So in TP, which button is "back"? Either A or B - it depends! Great! So I keep hitting to wrong damn button when I'm trying to do such a simple thing as "back/cancel", just because it keeps switching around.
5. On the item selection screen, everything's tossed into that damn circle formation instead of the usual nice, clean, ORGANIZED grid. As an added bonus, everything shifts position every time you gain/lose an item.
6. Yet another inconsistency: In IR-aiming mode, the controls for turning the camera left/right are completely different from tilting the camera up/down. For up/down, you point to the top/bottom edge of the screen, but you CAN'T use the analog stick. For left/right, you use the analog stick and CAN'T just point to the edge. WTF? "Pick a damn method and stick with it! (Or better yet, just allow both)."
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Yea, but what Nintendo apparently hasn't figured out is that analog sticks are total shit for certain types of games - like fighting games.
@andy:
Zelda games have had assignable buttons since the original. What I was talking about is three details that have changed:
1. The D-Pad is up too high (ie, too awkward to reach) to really use it the same way as the ocarina C buttons. Nintendo then attempted to work around it with the following kludge:
2. There's TWO different levels of assignments you need to deal with. First you assign items to the D-Pad buttons, as usual. Fine. BUT, for most items, in order to actually use them, you can't just hit the D-Pad button you assigned. Instead you have to push the D-Pad button just to swap it with the B-button item. THEN you can use it. But then when you want to use what had been assigned to B, you have to go swap it back to B again. And the more you switch between D-Pad items, the more the damn things keep getting rearranged.
3. Like I said: "MOST items". That means a blatant inconsistency in the interface. For some items, pressing the D-Pad will use them, but for other items it'll just swap with A instead. Makes me want to yell at Nintendo: "Just pick a damn method and stick with it!"
As long as I'm ranting about TP's interface I have three other specific complaints:
4. There's an inconsistency in what button is used for "back/cancel". In most of the menus, the "action" button is A and "back/cancel" is B, as is normal (Whenever there's a back button, it's typically B). But then in the item selection screen and in aiming-mode, they're switched around: Action is B, which moves "back/cancel" to A. So in TP, which button is "back"? Either A or B - it depends! Great! So I keep hitting to wrong damn button when I'm trying to do such a simple thing as "back/cancel", just because it keeps switching around.
5. On the item selection screen, everything's tossed into that damn circle formation instead of the usual nice, clean, ORGANIZED grid. As an added bonus, everything shifts position every time you gain/lose an item.
6. Yet another inconsistency: In IR-aiming mode, the controls for turning the camera left/right are completely different from tilting the camera up/down. For up/down, you point to the top/bottom edge of the screen, but you CAN'T use the analog stick. For left/right, you use the analog stick and CAN'T just point to the edge. WTF? "Pick a damn method and stick with it! (Or better yet, just allow both)."
Posted: Mar 30th 2008 2:19PM Rocketboy said
How about the awful controls in Sega Superstar Tennis. Hell, even the developers thought the motion control was so bad that they didn't let you use it for the minigames/challenges.
Note to developers - Rip off the controls from Wii Tennis, but make it a full game.
Note to developers - Rip off the controls from Wii Tennis, but make it a full game.
