There is an option you can set, so that holding down the L1 button will put you in first person mode without having to press the tirangle button. If you set that option you don’t need to hit the triangle button ever again to shoot in first person mode.

They gave people the option to change the control to fit their play style, but I guess going into the option menu takes more work than just do nothing and rant about it.

Next time try playing a game first before you get all worked up about it.

As for MGS4, the camera didn’t improve in that game. This was already implemented in MGS3: Subsistence.

Look, you put up a valiant theoretic effort researching the controls layout, but it’s all moot. You haven’t played the game. It changes this whole discussion. There are still many nuances that you still don’t know that an article or video would ever tell you.

Play the game. Finish the game. Then we’ll talk. ;)

Actually, the controls have not been improved greatly. It’s the *camera* that’s better.

Control-wise (layout), MGS4 is very similar to previous titles. FPV is mapped to a separate button. Lean is mapped to buttons, rather than a joystick. You’ve got the requisite Item Select, Weapon Select, Fire, CQC, Crouch, and so on. There’s not much difference.

But what really has me scratching my head is Square, the D-pad, and L3.

Square turns on/off Auto-Aim? Was there truly no important gameplay function for Square? Square couldn’t have been used to deploy Metal Gear Mk II?

The D-pad being used to Zoom and Lean is just absurd.

For any shooting component in a game, you don’t get much more antiquated than the D-pad Up/Down being used to Zoom. Most developers learned early on that a simple click of L3 or R3 is perfect. Halo/Gears did it right. You click the right joystick and you zoom. Easy, streamlined, straightforward. Halo’s approach kept your thumbs where they needed to be: on the joysticks.

Leaning is just as asinine. D-pad Left and Right? Again, this is something that most developers have already learned: you don’t map important movement/combat-related functions to the D-pad. The D-pad requires you to take your thumb off of the joystick. Big no-no, especially in shooters. Better implementation: figure out a way to use a joystick for it. Better yet, Six-Axis it.

L3 is unassigned. Why? Why not follow the “Western” tradition and give it a Crouch function? Again, it would allow you to avoid taking your thumb off of the joystick.

Mike, my arguments and “points of game theory” are not made irrelevant by me not having played MGS4, because game theory is where a game begins. And MGS4 was built around shoddy game theory when it comes to controls.

By the way, if you want to fire in FPV, you are still using three buttons. You may not be using them at the same time. You may not be holding all three. But you’re still needing to use three buttons to fire a weapon in FPV.

Also, I have plenty of issues with RE4’s controls. I just never saw the need to mention them, since rarely, if ever, have I seen anything substantial about RE4 here. With that said, RE4’s combat issues can mostly be attributed to the fact that Leon STILL moves like a fucking TANK. lol. Like MGS4, the controls themselves aren’t improved; it’s the *camera* that makes them feel better.

Regarding the recall option, the very fact it was included in the game confirms to me that the developers were at least minimally aware of this control issues, which begs the question, why include an option and instead of addressing the fundamental issue? The option itself is a Band-Aid, nothing more.

It does matter that you haven’t played it. How can you comment on something you know nothing about? How can you say that any part of the game is archaic? No matter how many articles you read about MGS4, no matter how many videos you watch, no matter how many points of gaming theory you argue, if you haven’t played the game in question, then all your arguments mean diddly squat. Nada. Zip. Zero. Nothing. Niets. Nul.

Your best theoretical argument is that we need to use three buttons, but this statement alone is erroneous because it implies that the three buttons should all be pressed at the same time, which is untrue. The game only requires only two buttons to fire, just like Resident Evil 4. And you know what? We never heard any complaints about THAT one’s controls.

This use of a third button that you keep attacking is a mere option that makes the gameplay more varied than it already is. When you say option, that means it’s just there. You don’t have to use it. Maybe the definition of the term “option” would help you understand.

Like I said, the controls have been improved greatly and many people (people who have actually played it) agree that the control scheme does work. If you want proof, just do a search on Google.

Let me ask you: would you believe me if I proclaimed that Duke Nukem Forever sucks? NO. Why? Because I haven’t played it. And you know what? The very notion of making an uninformed comment/s wouldn’t speak very well of me, would it?

MGS’ clunky controls should have been increasingly streamlined over three sequels. We should not have to use three buttons to fire a weapon in this generation of games. Period.

Game options that “remember” your preferred firing method (FPV or TPV) are not improvements; they’re merely confirmations that a serious problem exists.

The recall option is nice, but too little, too late, because there should never need to be an option, because the issue should have been addressed a long time ago. Recall doesn’t fix the problem; it just mitigates how annoying it is. Still at the core of the recall option is the need to press three buttons to fire a weapon in FPV.

No matter how you slice this, we’re still playing with a fundamentally archaic control scheme.

As for your second point–yes, you would have to press three buttons to fight in FPV. However, I’ve said that Triangle is a toggle. Therefore, you don’t have to keep pressing it. Just press Triangle once, and you’re done.

In fact, there is an option to “recall” what view you previously used (FPV or TPV), so you don’t have to keep toggling the button.

If you don’t believe that this control scheme works, then I reckon that you haven’t played MGS4–something which you haven’t admitted to until now. If this were the case, then you’re merely arguing semantics because you’ve never played the game.

If you search the forums for people that share your opinion, you’ll find that yes, there are a handful that do but they are greatly outnumbered by those that found the controls very agreeable. While it may not be as scientific a proof as it gets, this certainly shows that the game’s controls DO work.

Second, you absolutely have to press three buttons there if you want to fire a gun in FPV. Triangle. L1. R1. Three buttons. And that’s just pathetic, especially to anyone who’s played MGS2/3 and had to deal with that same kind of clunky approach to controls.

It doesn’t bother me that one button is used to ready the gun and another is used to fire. What annoys me is that for three games now, separate buttons are used to enter FPV and to ready the gun. Those two actions should be bound to the same button, because those two actions are intrinsically linked in any MGS game.

The shooting mechanics in MGS4 is more similar to Resident Evil 4 (except that it’s far more responsive than the latter). Pressing one button (L1) readies the gun, another button makes the gun fire (R1). Pressing the fire button without readying the gun activates CQC. It’s simple and surprisingly efficient.

Like I said previously, I suggest you try playing the game first before saying that x feature sucks. Same can be said for Yahtzee.