Tank controls are an oft-disliked aspect of 90s video games and one that’s haunted the survival horror genre in particular. To put it simply, tank controls are when your character can’t run freely in any direction: they have to turn and face the desired way before moving forward. Today, this control scheme is seen as a cumbersome relic of early 3D game design.
However, tank controls were often implemented due to necessityrather than hilarity: most video game controllers of the time didn’t have dual analog sticks. It made sense to keep the camera static or rotate it only when the character’s heading changed. Here are some games that achieved greatness despite this control scheme.
Alone In The Darkset the templateon which Resident Evil would thrive: pre-rendered backgrounds, fixed camera angles, and tank controls. The series kept this control scheme up to 2001’s The New Nightmare, by which time it was decidedly playing second fiddle to other survival horror classics.
The tank controls of the early Alone In The Dark games are rather floaty, forcing you to make ridiculously wide semi-circles if you wanted to walk and turn at the same time. That’s nothing to say of the combat controls, which require you to select an entirely separate option in the inventory just to fight enemies. However, the original trilogy is surprisingly lighthearted and fun to explore, and The New Nightmare displays some technological wizardry with its dynamic 2D backgrounds.
Barring a brief mention inDays Gone, the world has largely forgotten about Syphon Filter. At one point though, it was one of the biggest stealth action series, standing next togiants like Metal Gear and Splinter Cell. Protagonist Gabe Logan was even name-dropped in Metal Gear Solid 3’s Snake Vs Monkey mini-game.
Syphon Filter has auto-targeting and allows you to shoot while running, which makes the PS1 games frustration-free despite the tank controls. However, Gabe’s ridiculous running animation is still a source of mirth among fans today. The series would switch its controls to contemporary standards with 2006’s Dark Mirror. However, you can still select a tank control scheme in the options menu.
It’s not often that we see tank controls in modern video games. However, Signalis wears its survival horror influences on its sleeve, and tank controls are an option if you want to experience it that way.
In recent years, there has been a wave of indie games that take inspiration from classic survival horror titles. Signalis is one of the most acclaimed: the game’s retro sensibilities combined with its forward-thinking storyline make it a strong game in its own right, rather than just another Resident Evil clone.
If your favourite Mega Man spin-off isn’t Battle Network, it’s probably Legends. Mega Man Legends had a surprising control scheme that was very intuitive once you got the hang of it. Mega Mancanrun in eight directions using the D-Pad, but his resting position and the camera angle remain the same unless you turn.
So howdoyou turn? Why, with the L1 and R1 buttons, of course. It’s fairly easy to adjust to this control scheme, and it comes in handy during the boss battles. Mega Man Legends 2 had modern controls if you owned a DualShock controller, but also implemented tank controls as the default.
6Silent Hill (Series)
Silent Hill is interesting, in that the series implemented modern controls relatively early, yet still retained the tank scheme as the default until Silent Hill 4: The Room. In Silent Hill 2 and 3, you may select 2D controls in the options menu to enjoy modern maneuverability, so the first game is the only one to be stuck with tank controls.
It’s often argued that tank controls make survival horror games scarier, as having to stop and turn increases the tension as opposed to being able to move freely. Ifone of Silent Hill’s eerie abominationscame face to face with us, though, we’d run backward if that’s what it took.
God Hand received lukewarm reviews and modest sales on its debut, but in recent years, it’s been championed as a cult classic. This zany beat ‘em up is second only to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in its endless meme-ability, and it’s little surprise that the two games shared some development staff.
The control scheme in God Hand takes some getting used to. You control Gene with the left stick and dodge using the right stick; there is no independent camera control. If the controls turn you away at first, we urge you to persist: once you master dodging, God Hand is incredibly stylish, funny and satisfying.
It makes sense fora game that has tanksto have tank controls, right? But War Thunder’s controls make no sense to begin with. Due to the depth of gameplay, no control scheme has ever been truly agreed upon. There are dozens upon dozens of fan-made tutorials on the internet recommending the best keybinds.
Our recommendation for PC players: use the left stick on your controller for tank movement, use the mouse for aiming and shooting, and use the keyboard for any of the myriad secondary functions the game allows you to simulate. Your game station will look like a science experiment, but climbing the leaderboards demands sacrifice
3Old First-Person Shooters
It may come as a surprise to young gamers, but FPS games didn’t always use mouse and keyboard controls. In the originalDoom, as well asDuke Nukem 3Dand Blood, you played the game using just the keyboard. You would use the arrow keys to move around and turn, and strafing was a separate command you could toggle on or off. There was a certain degree of auto-targeting, as mouselook had yet to become the default.
On consoles like the N64,GoldenEye 007andPerfect Darkalso used tank controls, due to there being only one analog stick. FPS controls have come a long way, so sitting an unsuspecting friend down in front of Wolfenstein 3D and watching them struggle to figure out the controls is a guaranteed laugh.
The series most closely associated with tank controls is Resident Evil. Thousands of people got bitten by zombies while struggling to turn around fast enough. A small concession was made with 1999’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, which introduced quickturn to let you face the other way instantly.
The series retained tank controls as the default until Resident Evil 5, which implemented strafing. Even until 2012’s Revelations, you could switch to a tank control scheme if you so desired. It wasn’t until the sixth mainline game that tank controls vanished for good - just as we were getting used to them.
Tomb Raider was one of the PS1’s most beloved series, and Lara Croft was one of the biggest virtual celebrities of the era. She was everywhere, from automobile ads to a U2 music video. These days, the PS1 entries often turn away retro archaeologists due to their cumbersome controls. As any fan will tell you, however, these controls are essential: they are tight, consistent, and allow for a high degree of precision platforming.
When Angel of Darkness switched to a more hybrid control scheme, it actually made the gameplay worse. Tomb Raider: Legend eliminated tank controls from the series for good, but the classic games still maintain a devoted fanbase. The original trilogy was remastered to include a modern camera, but many fans opt to play with the tank controls anyway, showing how effective they are.
