Aero wrote on Jun 3, 2012, 15:51:
In the end, I think the biggest problem is that Max's controls aren't that good. Compared to other cover-and-roll third person shooters like Gears of War and such, it's kind of awkward. There's a lot of GTA-ness in there, where completing the animation is more important than fluid control, and the animations don't transition very well. Max has to stop and recover to a neutral position after every move so the next one can begin, which often leaves you standing up straight like an idiot in the middle of a hallway when your intention was to roll out of cover on one side and enter cover on the other.

I think there's a little too much emphasis on graphics there. If making the controls fluid means fudging the animations sometimes, so be it. Difficulty through awkward controls is pretty much the fundamental video game design sin.

That said, it's not all that bad, but given the polish and effort expended everywhere else, you figure they could have done a better job with the controls.