I am aware of the two control schemes and I have played with both - the problem here is not my lack of knowledge on said topics. Rather, I botched my explanation of the problem. I went back into the game and did some better analysis of what the root cause of my issue was and the problem was not with the controls, but the perspective. The fact that you control the RC as if you're in it was confusing due to the overhead camera.
I've amended the review to reflect this. While my explanation was a bit off, my overall impression of the game remains the same. That perspective makes it very hard to wrap your head around the controls and when combined with the other little issues, controlling the game can often be an exercise in frustration.