Guide for improving aim at First Person Shooters in consoles

Question

I have played Half Life and Counter Strike since 2001 and many others since, so I have some years of experience in playing fps games in computers, with mouse and keyboard. While I am not very good, I manage to almost always be in top 5 players on my team.

However, when I play on the PS3, FPS games like Wolfenstein, or games that are not FPS, but occasionally need some aiming like Uncharted or Fallout 3, I am totally lame, and end up dying even on easy difficulties.

Has someone with this same problem of mine published a guide that I will be able to follow and improve myself?

Answer 1

There's really nothing more to it than practice unfortunately. I've been playing PC shooters since the original Doom and thought I would never get into console shooters, but after playing a bit of CoD4, I started getting into it and after a year or so of playing, I felt as in control playing with a controller as I did with the keyboard / mouse combo.

One thing though, you will never be as accurate using a controller, it's just impossible. Whereas using a keyboard and mouse in a shooter could be described as "point and click", with a controller, I've found that it's more like sweeping towards the target and picking the right moment to press fire in that sweep.

It sounds kinda strange, but it can be 90% as effective as keyboard / mouse control once you get used to it.

Answer 2

Here's what I did:

1. Turned up the sensitivity ALL the way and played through the single-player campaign (on "Easy"; the point is just to get used to all that sensitivity).
2. I tend to overthink and process things slowly; what you need to do is act instinctively. So I turned down the sensitivity JUST A BIT and played a bunch of free-for-all matches where I never stopped moving except to check behind me, which I did a LOT. This improves your ability to stay oriented and keeps you alert.
3. Got aggressive. I was playing CoD WaW, so I essentially "chased dots" on the minimap. If you get into a firefight, GO AFTER THEM. The guy who charges around the corner usually has the edge. (Though obviously charging across open ground will get you killed.) There's just something about that aggressive attitude that almost seems to put your sights on target without even thinking.

My scores went from the bottom, where they'd been for months, to respectable in a couple days and I started getting regular killstreaks, even if I'm no rockstar yet. Also, you've heard it before: aim with your feet (i.e., strafe left/right).

Answer 3

Different console FPSs do controls differently. A big reason why the Halo series did so well is how they tuned the controls for the game; not every company making a console FPS pays that much attention to it. You're pretty much just going to have to practice each game individually until you get the feel for it, like any game.

Bonus point: I HAVE heard of people playing on a PS3 with mouse and keyboard, so there is that option.

Answer 4

I don't really have a guide but, I had the same problem as you. What I did was buy UT3 for PS3 on the cheap and work on it until I got better. I played a ton of bot matches until I could beat them on more extreme difficulties. At that point I was able to be somewhat successful in the MP and this translated over to other games as well.

Answer 5

PROTIP: Just aim and shoot, that's all you need to do. No need for perfection, it doesn't take much to aim. It's actually common sense put your reticule on the enemy and shoot, that's the best advice you can get. Remember, you don't have to be perfect because nobody is perfect. Hope this helps you and every else asking this question :)