Vintage 3D Games: why Tank Controls?
Resident Evil may be the patron saint of tank controls, but it starte way before that, in 2D games like Combat. Literally the EXACT same movement controls. But by the early 80s, as shooter games transitioned from vehicle to 'human avatars' we saw "true" directional control in games like the iconic Commando - you move in whichever direction you move the joystick (and that's also the direction you shoot).
But a strange thing happened when games transitioned to 3D - for some reason, they reverted back to the tank control format. Games like Tomb Raider, Spyro, Bubsy - all tank controls. Not just the fixed-camera stuff like Resident Evil. Of course that all changed after Doom, when the strafe became a critical component of fast gameplay, finally starting the process of the obsolescence of tank controls (the problem lingered on for consoles until the dual shock).
Does anyone else find it strange that 3D games began with tank controls, when 2D games had already gone through that process of starting there, and growing to better controls, in terms of shooter gameplay? It just seems ironic that, in essence, 3D games had to go through the same growing pains as 2D games, instead of learning their lessons and trying to implement their later/better controls to 3D, rather than their earlier, clearly inferior controls.
