As complex and difficult as the courses become, the controls consist of accelerating, braking and shifting your rider’s weight on the bike — and outside of an occasionally used “bailout” maneuver, that’s it. This level of simplicity allows for dedicated focus on the obstacles standing between you and the completion of the course, which is something you’ll need as you advance.
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There are other ways to attack enemies, as the “X” button shoves them down — a necessity at times if they have spiky red hair — or uses a weapon. The “A” button activates the boy’s special power (Kenny has a super jump, Cartman bumps through walls, etc.). The “X” button also grabs objects, with the “RB” button used for throwing them. This is also problematic, as it’s not easy to throw or even drop stacking crates where you want them to go — a frustrating exercise if you need to get higher to collect something.
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There are three difficulty settings that affect the sensitivity of the controls as opposed to the intensity of the actual battles. When playing in Simplistic mode, you’ll get the easy-to-fly experience where quick moves, spins and turns make for a straightforward arcade-style shooter. Cranking it up to Realistic requires much more finesse and care. Turning incorrectly can easily put you in a top-spin that you’ll have to recover from and damage to the plane becomes a critical factor in keeping your bird in the air. Obviously, Simulation is for the experienced connoisseur of flight where even target locking is disabled, thus calling for bona fide skill. A different set of options also determines whether or not ammunition and fuel are unlimited if you’re feeling ballsy enough.
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Golf game controls tend to focus on just a few very specific things — swing timing/power, placement, and club selection. For the previous two, EA has given players greater control over the variables. Swing speed, stance, backswing arc — all of these details that golfers both pro and amateur take into account when they hit the links. The left analog is now the focal point for your swing, determining the complexity of your swing, giving you all sorts of options to compensate for wind, add spin, or chipping. Once you finish your swing, a small HUD update lets you know how successful your shot was.
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Layouts don’t get much simpler with one button to jump (X) and another to emit a tone (O) — tap it for a soft sound and hold it down for a much louder one. You can maneuver the camera with the right analog stick or by rotating the SixAxis controller itself. Outside of some isolated moments where it’s a little tough to judge distance, when ascending you shouldn’t have any trouble here.
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The colour scheme for the various areas in the game appears vibrant and attractive in the forefront, but upon closer examination the textures looks like they could use some sprucing up. The characters have a pleasant and welcoming appearance, and the attack effects are like fireworks on the battlefield. Unfortunately, it’s this amount of detail that causes the frame rate to drop quite noticeably at times.
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Since the camera doesn’t always follow the back of your characters, there’s a sense of confusion when aiming the firearms. You may think you’re facing a horde of zombies, but when pulling up to fire, the camera often shifts to face an undesired direction. This is because the camera was originally facing the enemies and your character wasn’t. This automatic camera move is something you can turn off in the options, but the alternative is heavy manual camera management that detracts from the action. In either case, it’s bothersome and drags down what is an otherwise fun game to play.
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