The 10 WORST Things Games Make You Do With Motion Controls

10 Worst Things Games Make You Do With Motion Controls

Ty Richardson

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at the 10 Worst Things Games Make You Do With Motion Controls.

Look Like a Doofus

PlayStation Move

After the Wii captured the hearts of millions of people across the globe, Sony saw Nintendo’s newfound success and thought “...We should do that, too!” What a mistake that was. The PlayStation Move was one of the goofiest products Sony ever put out, and we felt like utter dinguses using them. Come on, we’re really supposed to flail these sticks around that had glowing balls on the ends? Some of the peripherals that came out for it didn’t make it any better nor did the initial iteration’s awful controls. At least they came in handy for the PSVR.

Kick In Survival Instincts

“Rise of Nightmares” (2011)

Would you believe the Kinect got a horror game, and it was actually pretty awesome? “Rise of Nightmares” was published by SEGA and co-produced by Satoshi Ito of “Metal Gear Solid” fame, and it actually made the terror feel real. We aren’t exaggerating because of the Kinect’s motion-based controls. Some of the gestures and motions you need to make to fend off monsters may feel like your survival instincts are kicking in. On one hand, it’s awesome to see a horror game like this reach another level of fright. On the other, we’re too haunted by our first hour to boot this up again.

“Shaking”

Various

Those who spent a lot of time playing Wii games can relate to this all too well. Imagine playing a game like “Mario Party 8” or “Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure” only to be met with a character making a…questionable motion. We can’t say what it is or else Big Daddy YouTube will get upset with us. However, Grasshopper Manufacture probably saw the joke when they put out “No More Heroes” where you had to shake the Wiimote to recharge your beam katana. Of course, Travis looks to be shaking the katana rather furiously. At least we don’t see Mario’s hand demonstrating how to use a Shake Weight anymore.

Boss Fight QTEs

“Marvel Ultimate Alliance” (2006)

If you only ever played the Xbox 360 version of “Marvel Ultimate Alliance”, consider yourself lucky as the PlayStation 3 version was utter nonsense. Most of the game’s boss fights require players to interact with quicktime events, and they are performed differently between both versions. Xbox 360 players got to enjoy simple button presses as most QTEs typically are. PS3 players were subjected to the DualShock 3’s SixAxis functionality which BARELY worked across most games including “Marvel Ultimate Alliance”. In other words, PS3 players had to execute actual motion with the DualShock 3 controller in order to make it to the next phase of the boss fight. Yes, it was rage inducing to use, and we felt stupid using it.

Making the Olympics Even HARDER

“Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020” (2019)

Almost every “Mario & Sonic” installment has done motion controls rather well, decent at least. All of them except “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020”. We aren’t quite sure what happened with this installment, but the motion controls are much looser here. You have to exert so much energy in events like rowing just to get a decent speed going, and with the AI already getting quite a speed boost, the game simply demands too much from you. We’re not saying this makes “Tokyo 2020” a horrible game, but the motion-controlled events really make this one hard to stomach.

Letting the Kids Take Over

“Babysitting Mama” (2010)

Oh, joy - another toy to irritate the hell out of Mom and Dad. Granted, there were already hundreds of thousands of kids playing games on the Wii, some of which came with their own annoying and overpriced peripherals. But for the little tykes, there was “Babysitting Mama”, a game that required you to shove a Wiimote inside a plush baby doll just to play the damn thing. And it cost about as much as a normal baby doll at fifty bucks! The only difference is now you can’t watch football or the latest episode of “Game of Thrones” because lil’ Sally wants to cradle a plush that’s harnessing the power of a forty-dollar game controller AND the living room TV. Should have gone with the uDraw tablet instead.

Ruining Our Fantasy of Flying a Dragon

“Lair” (2007)

We’ve all dreamed of flying with a dragon of our own at one point or another, and “Lair” was to be the next step forward into realizing that dream. Emphasis on “was” because it “didn’t”. There was so much promise built up from the trailers, and the gameplay was fun in concept. However, Sony forced developer Factor 5 to integrate that insipid SixAxis functionality into the game, and as expected with the faulty hardware, it made the game barely playable. At least “Marvel Ultimate Alliance” only made you use it occasionally; this was an entire game built on SixAxis, and “Lair’s” failure caused Factor 5 to shut down. Thanks, Sony!

Milking Cows With Friends

“1-2-Switch” (2017)

While everyone was riding high on Switch fever in 2017 with its slew of great games releasing every month, “1-2-Switch” was the one that became the laughing stock of Nintendo first-party. And it wasn’t because it was dumb fun, but rather it was an overpriced tech demo with a cringey demeanor. But the strangest part of this collection of minigames wasn’t the cowboy-themed Quick Draw or the Magic Duel. No, it was Milking the Cow. We’d expect this from something like “WarioWare”, but racing a friend to see who can pull udders faster is a whole other level of weird. Be honest, was this a selling point for any of you out there? Didn’t think so.

Exercising

Various

When we play video games, we are planning a complicated series of actions to help us relax. Boot up the console, pick a game, find a spot to sit, park rear on spot to sit, chill until we lose track of time. So, the audacity that some games, like “Wii Fit” and “Ring Fit Adventure”, have to tell us to get up and move is just astonishing! We are here to be lazy and push buttons! We are here to shove chips and pizza into our gullets while doing sick combos or watch Mario jump around or yell at our friends over online games. This ain’t the time to be doing squats and yoga, and it will never be that time!

How to Look Like a Psycho

“Manhunt 2” (2007)

If you have even the slightest idea of what the “Manhunt” games are like, then you can probably guess what the Wii version of “Manhunt 2” was like. For the most part, it was your run of the mill “slightly inferior version of a new game with arbitrary gimmicks”. Just one thing: the arbitrary gimmicks caused a LOT of controversy. In order to perform finishing moves, the Wii version of “Manhunt 2” actually requires the player to perform the gestures. Granted, this is all just a lot of swinging the Wiimote and Nunchuk up or down. But imagine someone walking in on you or seeing you perform one of these moves without any idea of what “Manhunt 2” even is. You’re going to have quite a bit of explaining to do, and even then, that person is going to be on high alert.

What do you think is the worst thing a game made you do with motion controls? Let us know down in the comments below, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!