So, as many of you may have heard, Good Old Games .comhas cut a deal with Electronic Arts to widen their library. As their silly ad (found via Rock Paper Shotgun) says, this is huge. Right now they're releasing Dungeon Keeper and Privateer, and will soon include games like Alpha Centauri. I was especially interested to see Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 being released as a single package for like 6 bucks, as the discs we had are lost to history, and I loved the mid game of 2 so much it probably colored how I looked at the potential of fantasy games forever after that. But as I was reminded the last time I played UW2, the controls are not as intuitive as modern schemes.
I remember learning controls for just about any game, and after getting over the hump of acclimation, they would usually become second nature to me, no matter how weird. Star Raiders, that game that I gushed about back when Giant Bomb was first made, has several keyboard controls that had to be memorized in order to play the game effectively:
Game controls are NOT like riding a bicycle; the analogy breaks down when you realize that a lot of what goes on when you do ride a bike has to do with balance instincts and coordination, not necessarily learning each time what the handlebar and the pedals do. The complexity of game controls lie in the versatility of the controls themselves, and so memorization is a lot more esoteric. You sort of have to wait for the old patterns of a game you just played to be supplanted by the habits needed for the new game, and this can take a bit of time.
For instance, in KotOR I'm still hitting buttons I used for Jade Empire (the running roll, especially, since it takes forever to get around in KotOR). The games are close cousins, so I guess whatever training I gave my brain still needs to be overwritten by the KotOR controls.
But with these old games, habits of game designers to put controls in certain, well-tested spots just weren't there, and control interfaces were still coming into common use. The mouselook, which we now consider a staple of first-person views on home computers, just isn't there for most older games, especially without mods, and when I look at the Ultima Underworld package, having to learn the control scheme all over again is probably the biggest problem I might have with getting the thing.
Yet, why does this stop me? I was able to play the thing before just fine. My memories of the game aren't of my struggling with the controls; they're of dimension hopping and seeing strange lands, figuring out puzzles, sliding around on ice, swimming away from betentacled lurkers, and hanging out with Iolo. So obviously I did get past that old control hump and get on with enjoying the game. Is it because I'm getting old? Is it because the idea of going back to a typewriter after using a computer and printer means added work for little added benefit? What's going on?
I guess it is ultimately a question of efficiency. If the controls add something, if they're indispensable even when they're complex or their particular configuration somehow enhances the game, then as long as you get used to them they're fine. But if a better way comes along that makes the old systems obsolete, it feels like the world has moved on, and that learning a complicated control scheme that ignores (or was made before) later innovations is an exercise in anachronism and not much else.
I will probably get Ultima Underworld, but I'm secretly hoping some intrepid modder will add mouselook to the mix. I think this is because I still feel that there's a great game in there, with some nifty physics and interesting worlds to explore. That I have to learn a few extra commands and be a bit slower when I'm looking around shouldn't kill my enjoyment.
That said, maybe I should toughen up a bit and remember that learning a control scheme isn't the end of the world. As long as it's not famously bad, it wouldn't hurt to meet the game on its own terms. Who knows, maybe I'll learn that at least some older control methods just went out of style, and we're really "obsolete" at all.
Any thoughts on control schemes over the ages? I'm pretty sure some of my readers are happy with modern changes, but I'm curious if there's anyone out there that misses some of the old conventions. Any old control schemes that were easier to (re)learn than you thought? Or harder? Any of them so weird and arcane that they cut you off from a childhood experience that was perfectly acceptable the first time around? Lemme know.
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