I picked this game up and I'm absolutely adoring its completely wacky... well, everything,  but the biggest fault of the game seems to be the fact that I have to play this game with a 360 controller. That d-pad is incredibly terrible, and for whatever reason using the analog stick doesn't seem to be much better. I'm constantly getting stuck, or moving in directions I swear I'm not pressing. It would hardly matter in a slower game, but I've only got 30 seconds to save the world, dammit! 
 
Anybody else frustrated with how this game controls? Anyone have a solution besides buying the $65 controller with the better d-pad?

My biggest piece of advice is to just not run into walls, that seems to be the cause of this.  Whenever I run into a wall I seem to bounce off in some random ass direction that the game decides.  Other than that I don't have any problems, assuming I'm using the d-pad.  If I'm using the analog stick though, shit, I might as well just be blindfolded for all the good it does.

I don't understand how people have problems with the d-pad, I never have any of the problems people claim :\

I don't understand how people have problems with the d-pad, I never have any of the problems people claim :\

The only thing I don't like about the 360 D-pad is the placement of it.  It makes playing games with the D-pad, for extended periods of time, pretty uncomfortable.  Having said that, I don't know where else you could move it.  I need those analogue sticks where they are since I play way more games using the left analogue stick than using the D-pad.  The thing is, the PS3 doesn't have a much better D-pad, it's just in a more comfortable place, but the trade off is that using the left analogue stick on the Playstation controller is less comfortable than the 360 controller.  It's kind of lose-lose if you think about it.  IF only the left analogue stick could somehow be interchangeable with the D-pad, then you could switch them around based on whatever the game you are playing calls for. 

It's pretty bad but it's served me better than the analog stick in this particular game.. I could try using my arcade stick though.

@ViciousReiven: I've always found it to be clunky when I'm using it as the primary control of a game. Weapon/special item selection works just fine, but when I'm using it to move a character, it just feels sluggish and inaccurate. If you haven't ever experienced that, my hat is off to you. 
 
Oh, and just curious, have you played this game in particular? Because it seems like an especially heinous case to me.

@GilbertMordinAndSullivan said:

@ViciousReiven: I've always found it to be clunky when I'm using it as the primary control of a game. Weapon/special item selection works just fine, but when I'm using it to move a character, it just feels sluggish and inaccurate. If you haven't ever experienced that, my hat is off to you. 
 
Oh, and just curious, have you played this game in particular? Because it seems like an especially heinous case to me.

Not yet, but I used it primarily in SotN and had little problem, in some instances I found it more precise than going analog. I guess I'm better at adapting, sort of, I still can't for the life of me play a game without inverting the Y-axis :(

INVERT 4 LYFE. Never played flight sims much (just some Wing Commander), but I still have the inverse controls drilled into my brain. 
 
On-topic: Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to try the game yet. Are we talking unplayably bad or just semi-annoying? I'm really looking forward to giving it a shot, especially after Brad's review!

In my experience the 360's D-pad can vary from controller to controller. I own about eight 360 controllers and some have decent D-pads while a few have pretty bad D-pads. I have the silver controller as well and while it's definitely better, it's still not quite as good as a D-pad having separate buttons for each direction like the DS3.

Wait, this game is on 360? I'm fucking buying this now.

INVERT 4 LYFE. Never played flight sims much (just some Wing Commander), but I still have the inverse controls drilled into my brain. 
 
On-topic: Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to try the game yet. Are we talking unplayably bad or just semi-annoying? I'm really looking forward to giving it a shot, especially after Brad's review!

@Bumpton: You probably won't notice a thing if you don't have a problem with the d-pad in the first place, it's an excellent game and a steal at 800MP.

I just picked up one of the new limited edition controllers with the twisty d pad and it is a definite improvement. If your main controller is a bit worn down anyway I would get one

The stick is far worst but you're right, during Hero 300 where every second counts, the imprecisions with the pad can really cost you. And it gets worst in hero 3

I'm shuddering once I get to Hero 3 since you need to be really precise on that mode and can't say I find the 360 dpad to be really precise compared to the PSP's dpad.

Buy a Razer Onza or a Madcatz Black Ops controller if you can afford it. They both have considerably better d-pads than the piece of engineering fail that is the original controller's dpad.

I don't understand how people have problems with the d-pad, I never have any of the problems people claim :\

                    Buy a Razer Onza or a Madcatz Black Ops controller if you can afford it. They both have considerably better d-pads than the piece of engineering fail that is the original controller's dpad.

                   

               

The 360 d-pad is the worst. Or at least the ones of five year old controllers (like mine), especially when the wear and tear of being used does not help.  
 
Makes me wish the PSP version of this game would go down in price. Or that they'd put this new version on PSN (which seems odd to me that they haven't, unless Microsoft started throwing money hats around). 

I've always hated the 360 d-pad. It's placement feels awkward to continuously use and the thing itself just feels one big button with a d-pad glued on top of it.

While reviewing it my first observation was that moving the D-pad was obviously (and I expected this) not as tight as the PSP version.

This is probably the only 360 game I've played where trying to use the stick was even worse than the d-pad.

Just started playing this and I totally agree. The D-pad sucks but the stick is even worse. I love the game but getting stuck on walls can really kill the mood sometimes.