I've been playing Tomb Raider again, and although I absolutely love the game, there's one quick-time mechanism that I absolutely HATE. It's when an enemy grabs your character, and you have to swing the left analog stick side-to-side fast and repeatedly in order to escape. I always feel like I have to reposition the controller so it's sitting on top of my left hand while I use my right-hand index finger or thumb to perform the needed action. I can never do it good enough holding the controller normally and using my left thumb to perform the action. Even worse is when it's followed up with a button press (ie: Y), as I have to consciously think about where the button is.
Am I the only one that hates this, or am I just doing it wrong?

One that I love, from the same game, is the mechanism for using the Bow. You hold the left trigger while walking and aiming, then hold the right trigger to "pull back" and release the right trigger to fire. It all feels natural and "logical," at least in my head. Perfect.

What mechanisms do you love or hate in gaming?

I don't like QTEs in general. Makes me think I'm playing a Sega CD game.

I hate the run & slide or run & jump mechanics that require you to hold the stick forward, hold one button down and then hit another button at just the right time. That's too complicated. I can't tell you how many times I've had Batman run straight into a partially open garage door over the years instead of sliding underneath it - not too impressive, Batman! I must have slid off the side of that airplane wing a dozen times last week at the beginning of Wolfenstein trying to get the timing right.
Frankly the whole "hold down a button to run" mechanic is weak. Borderlands got it right -- click that thumbstick you're already moving down once and run until you stop.

That's why I hated certain parts of Asura's Wrath. I had to hold the controller sideways to perform some of the QTEs in that game.

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Nearly every control mechanism that utilized the Kinect. But especially every single control in Steel Batallion: Heavy Armor.

I also hate button mashing fests that come up unexpectedly.

WHAT???? Seriously, what could possibly be simpler to control than this:

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I love the mechanism to "keep your crew under control" so they don't ditch out of the flaming deathtrap as I push the self destruct button. Or try to push the self destruct button, as I'm taking fire and the Kinect thinks I want to open the hatch.

Baserunning in MLB The Show. Easily the worst possible control scheme for it in any baseball game I ever played. It's very hard to control just the lead runner, as it takes 3 inputs, while advance all runners is one button. Plus, for individual runners, the instructions change. Sometimes you hit the base of the runner you want to control and sometimes you hit the base where he's headed. Makes it really hard to score on a sac fly if you have more than a guy at third.

Hate:
Any mechanism for "flying" that doesn't use normal stick controls and doesn't allow them to be changed to correct operation. i.e. those that stupidly reverse the controls so when you push up (forward on a stick/pad) you go up. When you push *forward* you should *dive* and *not* climb! To climb you pull back on the stick!

yeah, i found several of the Tomb Raider QTEs infuriating and i had to retry them multiple times.

Hate: That iOS control scheme where you're expected to hold your device like a controller and, parts of the touch screen act as a D-pad and part of it acts as buttons. It works especially badly if you're playing on a tablet.

Love: that iOS shmup control scheme where you drag your finger around the screen and your spaceship follows your finger. It works especially well if you're playing on a tablet.

Hate: Any Windows game that uses the CTRL or ALT key. Those are right next to the freaking Windows key, so you keep hitting it by accident and switching away from the game!

Non inverted Y axis, of course.

1. I can't stand when a game slows down your movement/takes away your ability to pick up items whenever the character gets an incoming communication. Gears of War was bad at this.

2. I also hate sandbox games where the camera automatically whips back to the default location unless you hold the stick in that position.

3. I 'm not a fan of QTEs, but I especially hate having to hit arbitrary random buttons with a split second time limit. It's weird... I have no problem learning controls but even after close to 20 years I couldn't tell you which button is Circle or Square on a Dual Shock without looking first. I'd rather them say Jump + Reload or whatever those buttons mean in the context of the game. Being forced to think about the controller as a controller always takes me out of the game for that moment.

That kind of button labeling is bad in fighting games, because you might have an arcade stick with a button layout that doesn't match up with the controller.

It's rare that a game does it, but I hate it when I have to press both the trigger and the bumper on the same side (like R1 + R2) simultaneously. I'm used to using only my index fingers for all four inputs, and having to press two on one side requires me to get my middle finger involved.

I loved the control scheme in Brothers, as it felt like it made sense and wasn't entirely gimmicky for the game they made.

As stupid as the Kinect is for 95% of games out there, one of the few games that made sense was Fruit Ninja.

I hated most any added waggle controls for Wii games; even something like Mario Galaxy, where I thought things like shaking the controller to spin was stupid.

I meant in the context of the QTE in the game, not the physical controller. So if I'm playing a game and the Quicktime Event wants me to press A and B at the same time and those buttons are used for Jumping and Reloading respectively in that game, just have the QTE say (Jump + Reload).

use this side instead: