Perpetually Bored

The controls are abhorrent.

From the opening sequence of “press any key”, I knew I was in for disappointment. The game was largely designed for a console in mind, with the PC version was added on more as an afterthought,  made all too apparent by the menu all the way down to the movement and team interactions. I’ve great respect for BioWare and the quality games they have churned out over the years, but this feels like a slap in the face for an old time PC gamer such as myself when an excellent game title turns out pretty poorly on the PC.

The game lacks the free movement of elements which are staple to PC shooters such as crouching and peeking. Instead, it plays out more like an arcade game where you have to run up to a predetermined object and interact with it to duck behind and shoot. Instead of a having an enumerated list of dialog options accessible using the keyboard, the options are circled around a wheel for the usability of the D-pad or joystick on a controller. The simplistic commands that can be issued to AI teammates frequently have them running in the path of fire and to their doom too.

Although most games released on multiple platforms usually turn out pretty poorly on at least one of them, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3 did very well on both the PC and the console version. Perhaps there are points which BioWare can learn from Bethesda in the development of multi-platform games. As for team movement might I suggest a key that brings up map overlay and being able to path out simple waypoints?