What does this button do?

I love playing computer games where I have to make quick, split second decisions by pressing the correct selected button. It makes me feel more involved in the game and helps my reactions to become quicker. It’s more fun when you have to button mash in time to save your character, defeat a foe or escape from an enemy and adrenaline kicks in, making your heart beat get faster and faster. One of the best examples of this interaction is the PlayStation 3 game, Heavy Rain, in which you play multiple characters and you interact with each one, from making them drink orange juice to driving like a crazy person down the wrong side of a busy motorway. In Heavy Rain, you have to either chose one of the buttons on screen to either commit an act or voice an opinion, but also you have to hit the button repeatedly or at the same time as another button in order for the character to spring into action. Each choice and action you make reflects the game, making it more personal.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMU97ESkhRk[/youtube]

Bioware decided to use this in Mass Effect 2 with the two shoulder buttons. There are moments when you can pull either LT or RT for a Paragon or Renegade intervention, and both will execute something different. Shephard can either calm someone down with LT or shoot them in cold blood with a pull of the RT button. You don’t get long to select which button, so you need to be quick. Blink and you will definitely miss it! Resident Evil 4 also used the button pad more when you fought Krauser as Leon in a knife fight, making sure to hit the correct button at the right time. Looking away from the screen would be fatal.

With me, I also need to be comfortable with the controller. I need to know where the buttons are without looking down for them. And the Playstation 3 pad is more at home with me then the Xbox 360, mainly because I was always playing on my Playstations growing up. Knowing your way around your pad does help making those quick fire decisions.