alright, got my retail copy in the mail and was taking the tutorial through the paces and the first mission completed. I'm going to go back to see if any of these tips below need to be tweaked.
here's my tips on getting the controls rock solid:
I will say that some of the motions in the tutorial instructions are wrong or a little misleading.
You have to be very regimented in your technique and what hand to use. For example, all the instructions for the right hand have to be used with the right hand. All the instructions for the left hand have to be used for the left hand.
For example, to select what type of ammo you're going to use, you can only use your right hand. To pull the left instrument pod, you have to use your left hand.
I'll start off with the wrong information. In the tutorial, it says to select the heat rounds, you put your hand over the heat rounds button and then press downward. In the viewport viewing screen where the viewport takes up nearly the whole screen, this doesn't work. To select the heat rounds button, you put your right hand over the button and then push the hand forward. Pushing down on the button doesn't work except when you are in the cockpit view where the viewport is far away. The regular ammo button requires that you take your right hand across your body and then you move your right hand downward to press the button. Now, you can push the ammo buttons while in cockpit mode instead of viewport mode. I actually think it's easier to select the ammo buttons in cockpit mode but of course, that means switching from viewport mode to cockpit mode, then selecting ammo, then selecting viewport mode again. So there's the debate between the more imprecise shorter method or the more-steps-but-easier-to-do method.
The instrument pods on the right and left are probably the trickiest controls. To pull the right pod out toward you, you reach out at 2 o'clock (imagine that 12 o'clock is straight in front of you) and then you swing your arm out wide toward 3 o'clock. To push the pod back, if your arm is in the 3 o'clock position, you can swing it back toward the 2 o'clock position. If your arm is lying down, you can just raise your hand back to the 2 o'clock for it to swing back. If you're having problems with pulling the pod out and then having it automatically being pushed back and you're lowering your right arm, you can minimize this problem by dropping your right hand from the 3 o'clock position to down and out of view instead of just dropping your hand.
With the pod pull toward you, you can activate the light but raising your right hand to the
switch as if you're doing a "hail, Hitler" pose and then drop your arm. To turn off the light, raise your arm back to the "hail, Hitler pose. To vent the cockpit, you reach toward the handle, grab it and then put your hand straight down. To activate the self-destruct, take your right hand and cross over your body to get to the self-destruct switch and push forward.
The pod on the left is just the mirror of the pod on the right. So to pull it out, put your left hand out to about 10 o'clock and then pull your left hand outward toward 9 o'clock. To push the pod back, if your arm is in the 9 o'clock position, you can swing it back toward the 10 o'clock position. If your arm is lying down, you can just raise your hand back to the 10 o'clock for it to swing back. If you're having problems with pulling the pod out and then having it automatically being pushed back, you can minimize this problem by dropping your right hand from the 9 o'clock position to down and out of view instead of just dropping your hand.
For the periscope, raise your right hand straight up as if you want to answer a question in school. Don't be swinging your arm forward as you're raising your hand as a forward motion can be interpreted as you wanting to adjust the viewport screen.
To open the viewport, you hold your right arm horizontally forward, wait until the hand grabs the hand and then raise it to open or lower it to close it. This is why the periscope motion can be confused if you push your arm forward as you're raising your hand as the forward motion is for the viewport.
You can go from the periscope mode directly to the viewport mode. So if you're in periscope mode, just hold both arms forward to switch to viewport mode. Similarly, to go from viewport mode to periscope mode, raise your right hand straight up. You do not have to go from viewport to cockpit to periscope nor do you have to go from periscope to cockpit to viewport.
When you start a mission, you're in the cockpit mode. To be able to see where you're going to go, you have to switch to viewport mode by holding both arms forward. When you hold your arms forward, do not elevate your arms too high. If you switch to viewport and grab and pull the viewport lid closed, then you are raising your arms too high. This is dependent on the height of your Kinect as well. My Kinect is high (above the TV). When I hold my arms forward horizontally such that my arms are parallel to the floor, I can trigger closure of the viewport lid. If I hold my arms forward lower such that the it's below horizontal, it's much more reliable for going to viewport mode.
If your hand is automatically on the grab handle for the viewport, raise it up to take it off the handle. If you pull it down, you'll close the viewport which is a problem I notice a lot of reviewers having.
The thing with the controls is that you can't be sloppy with your arm motions and you have to use the correct hand for the correct motion. Do not panic in the fog of war! Be deliberate in all your motions.
I'm not sure why angry joe was having his problems.
I'm going to record a tutorial video to show how I do the motions. And then the first few missions to show how I did them. But first, I want to have some fun.
