It shouldn’t be neccesary to explain this, but bad controls equals bad games. You can’t get to say “despite its’ bad controls, it’s still a very good game.” You can praise other parts, but it’s still broken nonetheless.
But even seasoned game pundits seem to accept touch screen games for being naturally inferior and then simply continue to praise them to the heavens, for just the effort.
I bought N.O.V.A for the iPhone and I tried the demoes of Modern Combat and Modern Combat 2. I even paid for Battlefield 2. There is no reason to try and sugarcoat this. The controls are bad. Unresponsive and not the least bit tactile.
All reviews note this. And praise them nonetheless. “Oh it’s so amazing to see something like this on a cellphone!” they say. No. No it’s not. The iPhone is a technical beast and less than the iPhone is also capable of 3D shooters.
But when the Nintendo DS and Wii had poorly designed games released, the hammer dropped. Why? Because these were stated game systems.
Well guess what? When a game is released for a device, it’s a game system. And a broken game that only costs a dollar is still broken game.
Two days ago, Dead Space was released for the iOS devices. Unanimously, the controls are criticized. Well obviously. It’s the same controls as Battlefield 2 featured. But the overall game is still praised. At least it tried.
It’s not about criticizing just to be critical. It’s about demanding developers to do the effort that is required of them. I know it can be hard to put words to game design. We aren’t as trained in enunciation what, how and why a game works, as we are when it comes to films. But never before have games been as big a part of our lives.
We owe it to ourselves to understand when we aren’t being respected by the designers, whose creations we invest our time in.
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