The sad part of my hands on time with the controllers is the fact a lot of the features weren’t even available. Microsoft noted the newly designed impulse triggers have a new rumble feature to immerse you in the game. When you fire a gun, the controller letting you essentially ‘feel’ the kick of the gun. However, none of the demos on hand have the feature currently available.
The other features of the controller seem to be more tweaks to the current 360 controllers. Overall this works rather well; the grips are a bit more comfortable, and the controller fits your hand better. The trigger buttons have a convexed shape along the edges, so your fingers sit comfortably (almost naturally) in them, while the shoulder buttons follow the curve of the controller to rest right along the top. The D-Pad is also pushed down, and slightly adjusted to be more comfortable.
While comfortable to hold, the functionality of the controller gave me a few issues. The shoulder buttons, for example, were really hard to press for some reason. I don’t know if it was the game I was playing or what, but I had to press them several times before it would work. The D-Pad is a little awkward as well. It sits rather deep into the controller, so pressing the buttons felt more like a tap then a push, limiting the feedback in my hands. Regardless, it functions miles better than the current “circular pad” the 360 controllers have.
I didn’t get a chance to utilize the menu buttons, but I will admit that both Sony and Microsoft ditching “start” and “select” is going to take some getting used to. A couple of the games actually utilized those buttons in past titles but now we’re going to have to use alternate buttons.
Overall, besides the revamped D-Pad and cosmetic changes to make it more comfortable in your hand, the controller is basically the same. The other buttons functioned and work just as well as the 360. So do you think that is enough to be satisfied with one of the most important aspects of the new Xbox One?
