One More Go

From touch controls to keyboard and mouse, there are myriad ways for players to interact with their favourite games, but there will always be some that feel better than others. It doesn’t really matter which method is used, as long as the games are designed with that control scheme in mind. I’m not a huge fan of motion controls for example, but there’s no denying that in Skyward Sword they’re used to great effect, with puzzles and combat designed around the directional slashes of the Wiimote. A good control scheme, or sometimes even a single button press can elevate an average game into something special, or at the very least provide an oasis of spectacle in an otherwise mundane game. It’s hard to overstate just how important controls are, they need to allow for all of a game’s verbs, be easy to communicate and remember, and vitally, they need to be fun to repeat over and over. That can be accomplished through the mode of input, but also through the response on screen. In this first volume of my favourite button presses I’ve tried to capture a few different examples.

God Of War – Recalling the Leviathan Axe

The original God Of War games, to be reductive, fall under the umbrella of hack and slash games. Yes there’s more nuance than just hammering the same button to bludgeon, chop, and disembowel ancient Greece’s pantheon of Gods, but subject matter aside, they were always fairly light affairs. God Of War 2018 by comparison swaps a youthful hot footed Kratos for an older frostier version. This is mirrored in the game’s control scheme where Kratos’ movements feel heavier, trudging through the snow or canoeing over a lake leans itself to a slower and more reflective pace. But the absolute star of both God Of War 2018 and Ragnarok, is the leviathan axe.

Kratos’ axe, as you might expect is a brutal weapon, capable of the light, heavy, and throwing attacks that weave together a combat system in this type of game. Thrown horizontally the axe will trip enemies, while a vertical throw will bury itself squarely in their chest, freezing them in place for follow up attacks. But what makes it a truly standout weapon, is the recall ability. A quick tap of the triangle button and the axe makes its way violently back towards its owner. Sound design and visual effects work in tandem to perfectly sell the leviathan axes journey as it skitters along the ground, glides through the air, and bounces past unwitting enemies, coming to rest with a meaty thump in Kratos’ outstretched hand. It is the perfect example of a weapon that pervades combat, exploration, and puzzle solving, giving you plenty of opportunity to hit triangle. A trick that never gets old, even over the course of two lengthy games.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – Attack and Parry

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has arguably the best combat of all Souls games, if not all time. Each encounter is delightfully fraught as you wear down either your opponent’s health or stamina, opening them up for a finishing blow to bring the battle to a bloody end. The right bumper has Sekiro lash out with his sword, and as you would expect, landing a hit on an enemy will drain their health, whereas a blocked strike impacts their stamina, you’re rewarded for attacking aggressively, regardless of your opponent’s response. Though, you shouldn’t mistake aggression for recklessness, your opponents attack just as fiercely, interrupting you mid combo if they spot a window. Tap the left bumper at just the right time, however, and you can score a perfect parry, taking a chunk out of their stamina.

There’s a sharp ring of clashing swords when timed just right, but there’s no pause to your opponent’s onslaught. Players will need to learn the attack patterns of all Sekiro’s nasties, swapping between attack and defence as they counter and engage each foe. Sekiro adds layers of complexity, special attacks will break shields, unblockable attacks can be hurdled, you’ll even need to deflect lightning strikes mid-air to avoid taking damage, but the heart of Sekiro’s gameplay is the to and fro of each battle. Players rhythmically pressing each bumper as they compete for control of each encounter. The unnatural rhythms of its staccato battles infuse Sekiro with a tension not found in other third person action games, and all that accomplished with just two buttons.

WipEout Omega Collection – Side Shift

In contrast to some of the games on this list, Wipeout‘s controls have neither heft nor punch, but that’s by design. In Wipeout, friction is the enemy. Something to avoid at all costs as you try to shave seconds from your lap time. Holding the right or left triggers activate your ship’s airbakes, gently pulling you away from the edges of the track and back onto the racing line, but Wipeout isn’t a game about brake zones, it’s a game about speed. Holding on to the accelerator as you creep ever closer to outside wall of a turn, and just as you’re about to make impact, you double tap a trigger and “shift” away, maintaining your speed, and hopefully your position. Learning how and when to shift feels like a watershed moment in Wipeout. The racing lines of its stages aren’t limited to the track boundaries, sometimes you’ll be expected to accelerate over the precipice before shifting back onto the track, pushing your vehicle and your reactions to the limit.

In Zone, Wipeout’s excellent survival mode, your ship starts slowly, progressively getting faster and faster, pushing players to showcase their mastery of its shifts and drifts in order to reach the fastest stages. Usually in games the rumble of a controller or the shake of a screen is where a game gets its juice, but here it’s the absence of all those things that highlight success, allowing pilots to tune into their vehicle’s movement as they glide around the track. The slightest brush with the wall and the rumble kicks in, your speed plummeting. Shifting away you wrestle back control, trying to perfect a frictionless lap and rebuild momentum. As the speed picks up those brushes become full on collisions, bouncing between the barriers until your ship is eventually destroyed. Its teeth bared, Wipeout dangles the retry button like a challenge, inviting you to once again surf its wake and avoid the crash. Inevitably you press it, aiming to perfect that one troublesome corner, braking later and side shifting sooner, until eventually the speed jumps up a notch. It’s these jumps in difficulty that force you to really engage with the ship’s controls, asking players to learn and relearn the fastest way through the track, culminating in a deeply rewarding experience, and earning it an easy spot on my list of favourite video game controls.