Legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario, Zelda, etc.) has said in the past something along the lines of “if your game isn’t fun to play in a box test room, then it will never be fun in a fully fleshed out level.” Unfortunately I can’t find the exact quote but he is touching on one of the most important aspects of a videogame, if not THE most important – player control. When the mapping of a user’s actions on the gamepad to the motion of the player’s avatar on screen feels good it appears transparent. When the controls are poor it becomes obvious very quickly. What Miyamoto was getting at was regardless of the content of you game, if the player does not feel empowered or joyful from the controls your game will be hamstrung right out of the gate.
In game reviews, bad controls are abhorred and review points are deducted while good controls are often not commented on. Perhaps it’s seen as a given that player control must be good, or perhaps it’s just a more subtle aspect of a game than the in-your-face particle effects and pixel shaders. Regardless, I am in full agreement with Miyamoto and wish that player control was focused on at a more fundamental level in all games. At work recently I’ve been given the opportunity to be involved with the majority of the player control programming but due to project schedule I feel like I can’t always focus on player control as much as I should. I’d be interested in hearing from other developers what kind of priority is given to player control.
For the record, here’s a short list of some of my favorite games purely from a player control standpoint: Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Ninja Gaiden (Xbox), Winning Eleven / Pro Evolution Soccer, Halo 2, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Street Fighter 2, and Devil May Cry 3. In any of these games I can move my character around without engaging in any parts of the main gameplay while still enjoying myself. If I made a mistake while playing any of those game s it was clear that it was my fault and not poor control programming which caused the mistake. Those are the marks of great controls.