Anthony Carboni explains it all
Number 56 on the master list of 235 “Things that I say that sometimes annoy people who play videogames” is that it’s very rare for a game to have “bad” controls. Most of the time when people say that, they are focusing too much their idea of what the game should provide them with, and not their responsibility to adapt to how the game handles.
Number 78 on my master list of 798 “Reasons I love about videogames” is that the interaction between the player and the game adds up to something that’s more than the sum of its parts. Both parties are bringing something active to the table. When the game and the player don’t fit well together, it’s usually neither one’s fault. It’s a mutual lack of fit. This is especially true when it comes to a game’s controls, though it’s fairly rare to find a game reviewer who looks at it that way. The game almost always gets all the blame.
Thanks to my old pal Anthony Carboni, we’ve finally got some science to back up that claim. So the next time you play a round of Rhythm Heaven Fever and think “The controls must be jank cause I can’t make these monkeys happy,” maybe it’s time to check yourself.
