10 Video Games Ruined By Absolutely Terrible Controls

It's easy to forget, but video game controls have came a very long way in the last few decades, from the days of joysticks and game pads all the way to the revolutionary Wiimote, which popularised the notion of motion controls.

The fact is, video game controls are always changing. Developers are constantly experimenting with unique methods, attempting to come up with new ways that will bring the player closer to the action on-screen.

Sadly, however, these endeavours don't always work out. Sometimes ambition overshadows technology or functionality, rendering certain control schemes less fun and more frustrating.

It's enough to ruin even the greatest of games. Everything else might be perfect - the graphics, the soundtrack, the writing, the atmosphere - but all falls to nothing in the face of terrible controls.

Here, then, are ten rage-inducing examples.

Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor is a 2012 video game developed by From Software (yes, the geniuses behind the Souls series). Not content with players having to use a single controller, it depends you use not only a standard Xbox 360 controller but the accompanying Kinnect peripheral.

There are so many things wrong with Steel Battalion's Kinnect integration, but perhaps this will give you an idea of the main issue. In order to look out the tank's viewing hole you've got to stretch both arms out in front of you. In order to look through the periscope you must raise your right hand in the air. In order to literally turn towards one of your crew members you've got to swipe your arms in their direction.

Oh, and if you want to actually look out from the top of the tank you have to stand up. Yes... actually stand up.

It's "realism" taken a bizarre, maddening extreme, made all the worse by the fact you have to use the Xbox 360 controller to move your tank and shoot. Why not just map all of the controls onto the controller? What's realistic about a tank driver swiping at his mates to talk to them?