Xbox One Elite Controller Review

MOM! Where's my energy drink!?

How many of you guys are willing to drop $150 on a gaming peripheral? Not a lot I take it and probably within good reason. I mean why the hell would you want to drop that kind of money on something when you can get an equally usable device for a lot less money? Actually I'll just shut up because that's exactly what I did; me being a hypocrite. This is the Xbox One Elite Controller, a premium controller for the most hardcore of the hardcore. Just don't spill your Mountain Dew on it.

Size compared to a Dualshock 4 and a Steam Controller.

The Elite Controller was primarily made as an answer to the custom modified game controllers like the ones from Scuf and and accessories like the Avenger. Mine came bundled with the Xbox One Elite console which is essentially has an upgraded hybrid 1 TB SSD/HDD chucked inside of it allowing for a bit faster speeds but onto the controller. Most Xbox One users should just be able to pick this thing up and play without much trouble since the core design of the controller is exactly the same as the regular One controller. There isn't any other fancy business to it in that respect either, it just pairs up to your console like any other controller and it also takes accessories without any trouble. I will note that it also does have the 3.5 mm headphone jack next to the proprietary headset socket like the updated controllers now all do.

The feel of the Elite though is notably different than the regular One controller and a lot of it is dependent on your preference. The overall weight of the controller is notably heavier in a good way as the controllers new metal parts just make the thing feel damn solid. The body is matte textured like a gaming mouse and the back of the grips are now a textured rubber for extra grip. They don't feel sticky or anything after long stints of gaming either which is awesome. The rest of the controller is either blacked out or painted in metallic grey, it looks awesome. It also comes with a green and black braided microUSB charging cable as if they weren't so attentive to detail already. I will have to say that after you play around with this for a while the regular controller just feels cheap.

Other improvements on the base controller also come in the form of better bumpers which were one of my biggest complaints of the regular controller. These new bumpers are a bit easier to depress and you can hit them at almost any angle much like the 360 controller. There is now what I believe is a nylon ring around the analog sticks that minimizes wear and tear on the controller body and the sticks as well as smoothing out rotation. The analogs sticks and the D-pad parts are now made of metal and I imagine a lot of the internals are metal as well considering the added weight. The switch in between the "not" Start and Select buttons is used to switch between two saved mapped profiles on the fly.

The paddles just lift out if you don't want to use them and they can be placed any way you want.

On the back you will find much has changed too. Trigger locks have been added which cuts the draw length of the triggers in half allowing you to more rapidly press the trigger repeatedly. This is very handy for FPS games, especially if you love semi-automatic weapons. Alongside the locks you also get four metal paddles that can be configured to any face button on the controller. These essentially allow you to perform any function you want without ever having to remove your thumbs from the analog sticks which can be very helpful if speed and precision is of the essence. Not to mention they feel stable and make a nice click whenever you press them.

Granted you can pull off any of the bits you don't want on the controller and swap them out for the other packaged add ons. All the components attach using magnets which worried me a bit at first but they are remarkably secure for how easy they are to change out by hand. I usually remove the paddles mostly because I tend to play with an aggressive grip on the controller and I hit them on accident a lot, although I know many people swear by them. I do use them in Forza however as they make for excellent shifters. For analog sticks you get taller concave sticks for better precision and convex ones like the PS3 along with the regular One sticks. For the D-pad you get a new circular pad that is similar to the 360 D-pad but vastly improved in feel and responsiveness as well as the regular One D-pad.

All this sits snugly in it's own carrying case which keeps everything nice and organised, the dust off your controller, and away from people you don't quite trust enough yet. This controller is by far one of the most customizable and well built I've ever used and it gets even better with the Xbox Accessories app which allows you to map out your controller any way you like, even all the way down to trigger sensitivity. It rivals the Steam Controller in terms of customization paired with it's much less unorthodox design; especially good if you intend on using it for PC gaming.

Seriously?

My complaints with the controller are pretty much minimal, really the only thing I found irritating about it was the fact that it still uses two AA batteries. Maybe it's just me but for $150 bucks they could have at least thrown in a Play & Charge battery pack instead. They already have the charging cable included so why they didn't include a rechargeable battery is a little beyond me. Considering how excellent the rest of the controller is, it can be overlooked for now, at least until my Duracells die of course.

So for $150 dollars, is the Elite Controller worth it? I'm not so sure yet but considering how high quality and well thought out everything that went into this controller is, you can at least sleep a little easier knowing that your Ben Franklin and a half went towards something built with quality in mind. The controller is very comfortable, obsessively customizable, and just built solid as hell. My only complaint is that it doesn't come with a rechargeable battery at it's price but that's relatively minor. It is a bit of niche product so unless you really, really want something with more precision and speed in mind then I can't really justify this thing over the regular $50 dollar Xbox One controller. It is by far the best controller I've ever used and it improves on an already very solid design. It's won me over and if you really want it, I'd say go for it, or at least wait until the price drops, if ever.

Is It Better Than?

Xbox One Controller- Yes, the Elite is a vast improvement over the standard One controller in every single aspect. There isn't really as single reason why I would take the standard controller over the Elite other than price. If you don't really need the Elite's plethora of extra features, the regular controller will serve you just fine and save you a good amount of money.






Scuf Infinity1- Yes, the Infinity1 is a very solid high end controller all around even for just being modified OEM controllers. However, to outfit an Infinity1 with the same amount of features as the Elite, it costs notably more. The paddles on the Elite are in a better postion that doesn't require you to shift your hand placement as much, plus the Elite feels more premium and is easier to work with than the Infinity1 at a lower price.

Steam Controller- Depends, for PC gamers the Steam Controller is great if you can get used to it's massively unorthodox design that utilizes haptic feedback pads and dual stage triggers. It's immensely customizable and it works with all games, even ones without controller support for much less than the Elite. But because of how strange it is, the Elite may be better choice if you want something more familiar but just as tuneable to your needs.