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Splatoon's motion controls have spoiled me.

Submitted by kmeisthax on Thu, 07/02/2015 - 14:52 in Rants

Yesterday I found myself made to play the latest in a long series of fighting games based off young adult Japanese comic book series, most of which I don't particularly care for. It felt like what I imagine non-Nintendo fans feel trying to play Super Smash Brothers, except in a world where Mario never was a household name. The game itself, "Jump Super Plus Victory Versus Ultra Stars" (or whatever), I wasn't particularly interested in to begin with, and it didn't redeem itself with gameplay. It felt stiff, clunky, and unresponsive; not to mention the various user-interface and technical issues I and a friend noticed during the whole experience.

But there was one thing in particular I had a problem with: camera controls. You see, I've been playing Splatoon at a heavy pace, and more specifically making use of the optional motion controls. In this mode, the gyroscope within the system's tablet controller allows fine control over where the camera looks, while the right stick allows coarse aiming over only one axis. So naturally, playing this other game with standard twin-stick motion and camera controls, I instinctively tilted the controller up and down in order to aim and wondered why Bo-bobo had his eyes glued to the floor.

(I mean, to be fair, does Bo-bobo need a reason to glue his eyes to the floor during a fight?)

I've gotten so used to getting across-the-map headshots with my E-Liter 3K that I can't really adjust back to console shooter controls. I get near-keyboard-and-mouse accuracy with motion controls now. In fact, I want to buy a Steam Controller just so I can configure it to have the same control scheme for shooters, and I want every other game developer targeting motion-enabled controllers to support something like this. (Or Wii Remote controls, those were great too.)

Tags
videogames
game consoles
steam