Hey there Escapists. A few weeks back I heard about this incredible thing - a PS3 controller with a mouse and a wii style nunchuck. Needless to say as someone who enjoys FPS, I was very excited about this discovery. So excited in fact, I bought one. And it was a GOOD CHOICE.
EDIT: Also, if you could leave a comment, this is my first try at any sort of review... feedback is welcome.
So, let's get to it. I'll start with the bad. Really, just nit-picky issues. Firstly, the controller is wired which can be a minor annoyance, but it is quite long (10ft) so not a big issue there. Second issue is that while it is plug and play, for every game you need to fiddle with the sensitivity to get it to that perfect mouse feel. However, this is fairly easily accomplised as there's a dial on the nunchuk. With too high sensitivity it can be jittery, too low and you don't turn fast enough, but when you get the sweet spot it's very respectable. Third annoyance is button placement. This is fairly minor as it's mostly something that I'll just need to learn/get used to but on the nunchuck the d-pad is positioned so that I find it easiest to push with the middle of my thumb (on the joint). On the mouse, initially I found the triangle/square/X/circle buttons to be too far back so it was a bit awkward to push but after a little more game time I found it to be fairly natural. The last issue is on the mouse's left/right buttons. I believe they have the same analog sensitivity as a standard PS3 controller (so you could feather a gas/brake peddle) and in a FPS this means you need to fully depress them to fire. I found that initially I didn't push hard enough and missed a chance at a kill, but again just something to get used to. After a little while it wasn't much of an issue, but still it would be nice if they were standard "clicky" mouse buttons.
Now, the good. Obviously using a mouse to aim is a big advantage over a thumb stick. The mouse is optical so it's quite accurate and can be used on pretty much any surface. They included a big stiff mouse pad so you can place it on your legs or on the couch and it works very well. In MW2, with the settings I have it on I could probably do a 360 or a bit more if I were to use the full width of the mouse pad so it's really good. Also, the nunchuck has 6-axis motion and it allows you to link any one button to the vertical so in MW2 you could make it your knife, reloading or jumping... whatever. And the controller allows you to adjust the motion sensitivity as well as it's neutral position. Two more features that are quite nice are the Frag button and auto-fire. The Frag button dramatically reduces mouse sensitivity which can be useful for sniping. This button is located above L1 and you can easily hit both with one finger. The auto-fire feature I've not used, but it's basically a "turbo" feature so you could use a semi-auto gun (FAL or a pistol) and just hold the trigger for auto fire.
My conclusion is this. If you can afford it and like shooters, get it. Now. I've only been able to put a handful of hours on it this weekend, and it takes some getting used to since I haven't played with a mouse set up in a year or more plus it's a whole new button configuration to learn. However, already I'm getting a lot better and there's been several instances that with a regular controller, I wouldn't have come out on top as they're a lot slower to aim. Also, Splitfish is releasing their Pro version which is wireless so that might be good to look into. You can check out their website at http://splitfish.com
And here's a nice img:
You can see the middle mouse buttons - the long one is R3 and the small one on top is Start. On the nunchuk you have from top to bottom the shoulders are Frag, L1, L2. The thumbstick clicks down for L3. And on the inside of the nunchuck you can see the sensitivity dial.
EDIT: Also, if you could leave a comment, this is my first try at any sort of review... feedback is welcome.
So, let's get to it. I'll start with the bad. Really, just nit-picky issues. Firstly, the controller is wired which can be a minor annoyance, but it is quite long (10ft) so not a big issue there. Second issue is that while it is plug and play, for every game you need to fiddle with the sensitivity to get it to that perfect mouse feel. However, this is fairly easily accomplised as there's a dial on the nunchuk. With too high sensitivity it can be jittery, too low and you don't turn fast enough, but when you get the sweet spot it's very respectable. Third annoyance is button placement. This is fairly minor as it's mostly something that I'll just need to learn/get used to but on the nunchuck the d-pad is positioned so that I find it easiest to push with the middle of my thumb (on the joint). On the mouse, initially I found the triangle/square/X/circle buttons to be too far back so it was a bit awkward to push but after a little more game time I found it to be fairly natural. The last issue is on the mouse's left/right buttons. I believe they have the same analog sensitivity as a standard PS3 controller (so you could feather a gas/brake peddle) and in a FPS this means you need to fully depress them to fire. I found that initially I didn't push hard enough and missed a chance at a kill, but again just something to get used to. After a little while it wasn't much of an issue, but still it would be nice if they were standard "clicky" mouse buttons.
Now, the good. Obviously using a mouse to aim is a big advantage over a thumb stick. The mouse is optical so it's quite accurate and can be used on pretty much any surface. They included a big stiff mouse pad so you can place it on your legs or on the couch and it works very well. In MW2, with the settings I have it on I could probably do a 360 or a bit more if I were to use the full width of the mouse pad so it's really good. Also, the nunchuck has 6-axis motion and it allows you to link any one button to the vertical so in MW2 you could make it your knife, reloading or jumping... whatever. And the controller allows you to adjust the motion sensitivity as well as it's neutral position. Two more features that are quite nice are the Frag button and auto-fire. The Frag button dramatically reduces mouse sensitivity which can be useful for sniping. This button is located above L1 and you can easily hit both with one finger. The auto-fire feature I've not used, but it's basically a "turbo" feature so you could use a semi-auto gun (FAL or a pistol) and just hold the trigger for auto fire.
My conclusion is this. If you can afford it and like shooters, get it. Now. I've only been able to put a handful of hours on it this weekend, and it takes some getting used to since I haven't played with a mouse set up in a year or more plus it's a whole new button configuration to learn. However, already I'm getting a lot better and there's been several instances that with a regular controller, I wouldn't have come out on top as they're a lot slower to aim. Also, Splitfish is releasing their Pro version which is wireless so that might be good to look into. You can check out their website at http://splitfish.com
And here's a nice img:
You can see the middle mouse buttons - the long one is R3 and the small one on top is Start. On the nunchuk you have from top to bottom the shoulders are Frag, L1, L2. The thumbstick clicks down for L3. And on the inside of the nunchuck you can see the sensitivity dial.
