I read a review that indicated there were alternate control schemes for it in the options so you didn't have to use "Tank" controls. Whether or not that is true, I have no idea since I haven't had a chance yet to try the demo. It looks promising though when it comes go going back to old school RE roots.
There was a real however for the tank controls. If you play the newer RE games (of the old games), they provide you with an alternate control scheme so whichever arrow you press will be the direction your character actually moves. Rather than left and right rotate you in place while up and down move you forward and back in the direction you're facing. The issue there is when the camera angle changes. With tank controls, you'll continue to move in the direction you were even if the camera flips on you in a completely different direction or angle. With the newer scheme, it could cause your character to actually reverse in motion because now you're facing a different direction.
The game that I never understood why it was given Tank controls was the old school PS1 Tomb Raider games. It was a fully 3D platform action game like Mario 64. In Mario 64 you had a joystick and whichever direction you moved it, Mario went. In Tomb Raider, you had to rotate her in place and again, it was like having a throttle of forward and back. Horrible control design for a fully 3D platform game. When they finally did away with that, it was like Lara had been released from her chains.