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Inside the First Person Shooter: Control Methods

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Written by: BoneStormer

First person shooters (or FPS for short) are among the most popular types
of games these days. Some are very well done like Half-Life or Quake or
Perfect Dark, others are very poor to say the least. Some may say they
are all alike, but that's like saying all cola sodas taste the same. From
the original Wolfenstein, to Doom that revolutionized and popularized
the genre, people have always needed a way to control the game (sure,
the same could be said of any videogame, don't think your smart for pointing
that out). In this expose I will look into the various control methods
and come to a definitive conclusion on which is the best.

Keyboard

The first way many played this genre since it was easy to pick up and
play on a PC. When ever dealing with a keyboard, there are many ways in
which people specifically set it up to suit their own tastes. With just
a keyboard some use the number pad to control aiming and the 3 arrow keys
to walk forward/back and strafe left/right. Then keys like enter and space
can be used for shooting, jumping, ect. Not a very good method though
in practice, yet for some odd reason some still use it. Please don't.

Mouse + Keyboard

Nearly as old as the Keyboard method of FPS control, this one has stood
the test of time and for good reason! How ever bad the Keyboard method
is, adding a mouse makes it that good. You use the mouse to basically
aim on screen and then use keys on the keyboard to walk forward/back and
strafe left/right. Then with practice you can combine these two movements
to walk around like a pro. The way specific actions are setup varies widely.
Commonly W/A/S/D are used to walk/strafe since you can easily reach other
keys like space or Q and E that you key set as various functions (shoot,
jump, change weapons, ect). Some like to use the 4 arrow keys to move,
but these keys don't work as well (other key placement is to far and the
offset 'W' of the other keys fits your hand better). The mouse buttons
can also be used for shooting, jumping zooming; and a scroll on the mouse
can be used to quickly switch weapons.

Mouse + Controller

A variation on the Mouse + Keyboard method that is my personal favorite.
Instead of using a keyboard to move, you hold a controller in your left
hand and use a d-pad (or an analog stick if you prefer) to walk/strafe.
I feel you can get more precise movement this way. Plus you have easy
access to any triggers that can be set for use (I like setting it to jump).
While you may not have access to as many keys as on a keyboard, usually
there are enough buttons on the mouse plus triggers on the controller
to suffice.

Controller - Turok Style

One of the first FPS games on a console needed a new way of control since
N64 lacked a mouse. The Turok style mimics the intuitive nature of the
mouse + controller method by having the analog stick take the place of
the mouse (deals with aiming), and has 4 digital buttons on the right
side of the controller control walking forward/back and strafing left/right
much like keys on the keyboard. You then use trigger buttons to shoot.
One problem you can easily see is that by using 4 controller buttons for
movement that usually leaves you with very few buttons for other actions
(often they are forced to use the d-pad as a 'button' which I personally
dishiest). This method is very portable in that you can take almost any
FPS and use this method to control it.

Controller - GoldenEye Style

One of the best FPS games ever (if not the best so far). Part of this
was due to its excellent control scheme. This makers of this game felt
a lot of people were turned off by the complicated Turok scheme. In this
method the analog stick moves you much like it would in any other console
game. Up/down moves you forward/back and left/right turns you left/right.
This way is much more natural for console players. Then 4 buttons are
used for strafing left/right and aiming up/down. The problem with this
method is that aiming up/down with digital buttons isn't very precise.
This limits this method to games that were specifically designed for this
method. For example in GE, most every enemy will be on the same level
as you so you don't need to worry about up/down aiming. GE also added
an aiming option where you can hold down R and aim with the analog stick,
but you can't move while you do this so it's not very practical for fast
moving FPS games like Quake. Unreal on DC uses this GE method well mainly
though because it added an auto-aim feature to help in any up/down aiming
people might have to do (GE had this too:).

Controller - Outtrigger Style

I'm adding this only to point out how NOT to setup your controller for
play in a FPS. I will never understand this setup. I mean did they actually
expect people to use this method? For shame Sega-AM2. In this method you
first used the L&R triggers to turn left/right, but worse it required
you to use the analog stick to aim and the d-pad to move/strafe. Oh that's
right, we all grew a second thumb...

Controller - Dual Analog Stick Style

This one is the wave of the future (wave of the future!) on consoles.
The beauty of this one is the ability to set it up Turok style or GoldenEye
style to suit your personal taste. Instead of using the 4 digital buttons
like you use in both the Turok and GE style, you instead use a second
analog stick. In GE style the up/down aiming movements would still be
analog and make that aspect of aiming easier, and yet keeps the simplicity
of movement with the other analog stick. You get the best of both worlds!
Even if you use Turok style it will work, but I think with the GE style
eliminating its greatest weakness, you might be better off going the GE
route.

Trackball Style

This one is best described as a mouse + controller setup but instead
of a mouse you use a trackball. This setup is better for console users
who are sitting on the floor then a mouse (anyone who has tried playing
with a mouse sitting on a floor knows what I mean), but a mouse still
gives better aiming precision so this is a give and take method. Still
for console gaming it may currently be the best.

Conclusion

As for the controller (console) methods, right now I think the overall
best method is the Turok method since it can be used in so many FPS games
whereas to use the GE style the game has to be changed to make it a viable
method. Try playing Quake 3 on DC using GE style. The probelms you have
in aiming up/down (especially in space levels) will result in you getting
whooped often:) That said everyone knows that once a game is setup to
use GE style, GE style IS the preferred method (I mean who uses Turok
style in GoldenEye?). Which is why adding a second analog stick to console
controllers is so big for FPS games. It allows you to use this preferred
GE style yet you still get solid up/down aiming to make it viable in so
many more FPS games. I think ideally console controllers could have a
small trackball instead of a second analog stick. Problems with this though
is that this controller would be too specifically designed for FPS games
instead of console games in general, and I wonder how well using a track
ball to strafe left/right as you would using this and the GE method would
work.

As you can see, some methods are variations on others, and some are combinations
of others. In the end I think there is no way you can beat using a mouse,
be it with a keyboard or a controller. Why? For one it gives you better
aiming precision then an analog stick ever could. If you have never used
a mouse to play a FPS, just look how easy it is to use a mouse to point
to something on your computer screen. If you have every tried doing the
same on a DC using an analog stick you can begin to see the difference.
Part is the 'mouse acceleration' used. What is this? Well take your mouse
and move it an inch or two very slowly. You will see the cursor on screen
move only a small distance. This allows very precise movement. Then try
moving the mouse the same distance, but much faster. You will see the
cursor on the screen move a much greater distance. This allows you to
quickly change where you are aiming when someone pops up on your screen.
Using a mouse does take some practice, but once you get the hang of it
you can use this method in ANY FPS game. Another big plus.

In the end, there are many methods and each have pluses and minuses,
so everyone has their own opinion on which is best. I do think that if
you are a fan of FPS you owe it to yourself to learn the mouse method
since this is clearly king. Once you learn this way, you can pick up any
FPS and jump right in. But with dual analog sticks becoming standard on
consoles, console FPS has taken another step forward, in terms of control
at least:)