One of the things about the official Xbox controller is that as much as it tries to be “the” console for first and third-person shooters, the analog joysticks leave a lot to be desired. Razer has made an admirable attempt to address this in the Onza by giving it adjustable tension on the joysticks. By rotating a plastic ring that goes around the analog sticks, the joystick will require more or less force in order to move it around. This leaves plenty of room for a default setting for personal tastes, as well as the ability to change it up on the fly. For example, if you need more pinpoint accuracy, increasing the tension allows for more careful aim — something I’ve always had troubles with on the classic 360 controllers. To paraphrase another Icrontian that was with me, “This may get me to try first-person shooters on the console again, something I haven’t done since Perfect Dark on the N64″.
Another thing that the original 360 controller has always done poorly was the directional pad. Unlike Nintendo and Sony, the 360’s D-pad is a sad, poorly designed “bowl” that offers poor tactile feedback and frequently gives bad input, causing it to be a poor choice for fighting and shoot-em-up genres. The Onza has made a fine attempt to improve upon Microsoft’s design with a very different design from the 360’s D-pad. The pad itself is still a “bowl”, but each button fits through a discrete opening. Unfortunately, it’s not significantly better as it still has poor tactile feedback—the best way to describe it is to call it “muddy” or “mushy”, as it’s hard to discern by touch alone when you’ve pushed it enough to trigger a response. Fortunately, the Razer employee I spoke with that is on the Onza’s production team admitted he feels the same way, and the D-pad is still being worked on. I have high hopes that they will make do on their promises.
