Motion Control: When is it better?

[J T]

We are at a point now in gaming history where we've seen everything from the Power Glove, to Virtual Reality, to the EyeToy, to the Wii, to Kinect (and everything in between). Despite the tech advances, many gamers still prefer a controller or a mouse+keyboard most of the time (myself included). However, I have enjoyed some motion controlled games and even find motion control superior to joysticks in some (albeit rare) instances. So when is it better to have motion control?

I don't buy into the argument often made by Wii/Kinect/etc. that motion controls are more intuitive. Often times, the odd gestures required are far less intuitive than a button press. I do think when you are modeling a common gesture, they are intuitive, but even then they can be exhausting or boring in long play sessions.

Where it actually seems useful is in something that involves a bit of physics. I prefer bowling on the Wii or Kinect over any video game bowling, with the possible exception of NeoGeo's League Bowling. I also really enjoyed AntiGrav on the PS2, which allowed me to feel like I was flying through the air on a hoverboard.

It seems that the main times motion controls are appropriate is when the movement itself is fun to execute (Dance Central, AntiGrav, or other dance and some sport games), or when the purpose of the game is to get you to move (exercise and sport games). In these scenarios, I think Motion Controls can work better than joysticks given the right game design and implementation. Otherwise, I don't think much of them. What are your thoughts?

[BoringSupreez]

Having used both a Wii and a PS3, I can't say that I like motion sensing in 95% of the places it is used. I liked it in WarioWare: Smooth Moves and in the rolling ball minigame in Ratchet and Clank 6, but that's it. Everywhere else, it's either annoying or it feels tacked-on.

[noiseredux]

wow I could never get AntiGrav to work right. Though EyeToy Play had some kind of fun mini games. But I wasn't much of an Eye Toy fan in general.

I agree that bowling and tennis games can be fun with motion controls -- Wii Sports comes to mind. And dancing games certainly would lose their luster without ...dancing.

But really the only time I absolutely love any sort of motion controls is in lieu of light guns. What can you do? LCD screens can't read the light. So for that, I'm grateful that move controls exist.

But beyond that, I wouldn't much miss them. I find a controller to be far superior in most any other instance than what I've referenced above. Case in point: Oneechanbara on Wii. WHY? WHY did they make it motion controlled? It turned an awesome game into a chore.

[MrPopo]

I think a pointing device is fantastic for FPS's on the console, compared to dual analog. Still not as good as mouse & keyboard. I also think Red Steel 2's use of the Wiimote for the sword stuff was good. The various special moves actually were intuitive; the move to launch someone into the air used an upward motion.

[AznKhmerBoi]

i think for me , the best experience with motion sensor is mainly sports game. Golf games to be exact.

[flamepanther]

Sports:
Sometimes physical activity is a large part of the fun of a sport that a game is based on. Tennis, bowling, and similar sports videogames can quickly become notoriously boring compared to the real sports (especially when they don't involve Mario) because that action is taken away. I think it says a lot that so many people are STILL playing Wii Sports. After all this time, it can't just be the novelty anymore.

Direction-sensitive actions:
B or L Button Left or Right + B = Horizontal swing
B + L Button = Vertical slash
L Button + Up + B = Thrust
...or I can just swing a remote in the direction I want my damn sword to go.

Pointing device:
Anyone who has used a mouse in and FPS or RTS game knows that analog thumb sticks are a pretty crappy pointing device. Your choices with them seem to be "slow and clunky" or "oversensitive and twitchy" with nothing in between. Using a motion controller to point is easily the second best thing to using a mouse, and with some refinement could become the best. As an added bonus, having a left-hand analog stick is far superior to using WASD keys.

Edge cases:
In some rare cases, it's just not enough to have the four axes of analog movement provided by two analog sticks. Descent was a great game where no controller in the world was good enough to easily control all the movement your ship was capable of, and every control scheme had to make sacrifices. I would love to have had a Wii Remote+Nunchuck option back then and be able to control my ship freely in all axes at once.

[HellHammer]

Pointer control can be useful. Games like Metroid Prime series and Resident Evil 4 are very good and, having played both using both standard and motion controls, I'd have to say both were improved by pointer control. I don't think I could go back and play RE4 on PS2 again.
I also played MAG on PS3 using Move at a friends house and while I didn't spend a ton of time with it, I could definitely see how online FPS could benefit from pointer controls.

Sword controls are pretty fun, although not very exact. No More Heroes, Red Steel 2, and Wii Sports Resort, I feel all benefit greatly from motion controls. Though I can't argue there is room for improvement. (And hopefully Skyward Sword will do this.)

Sports games. Bowling, golfing, and boxing with motion controls are just plain fun. More fun than playing with standard buttons at least.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Pointer controls make FPS and RTS games better. Whether it's your trusty old mouse or your Wiimote. Also puzzle games. Anything where you need to interact with the UI or need precision a lot is generally better with a mouse or Wiimote.

I'll echo that Red Steel 2 is a prime example of how good motion controls can be.

[alienjesus]

Marble rolling games are much cooler with motion controls. Kororinpa on wii is great.

[J T]

Marble rolling games are much cooler with motion controls. Kororinpa on wii is great.

I liked the Wii version of Super Monkey Ball.