Non-Official Gioteck Dualshock controller review

[Fiach]

Just a little rant vis-a-vis controllers.

Went to play KZ2 and I couldnt find my controller, I was really annoyed, (nearly went into the garden and kicked the dog, but common sense prevailed .... sharp teeth :)), anyway, I went to buy a new controller, but I couldn't get a sony dualshock, they were sold out from christmas.

In the end, I plumped for this (cost €35 in Tesco, the PS3 Dualshock alone is about €45) :

http://www.shopireland.ie/games/detail/B004BJW5VS/gioteck-ps3-ultra-pack-including/

Now this pack was quite interesting, considering all the peripherals that come with it, of which the most important yet seemingly insignificant was something I always felt the PS3 controller needed, more later.

Firstly, I would not have bought this, if I could have compared the controller with the original, its quite a bit bigger.... annoyingly so, if I'm being honest, but I had to open the box (non returnable) to find this out.

On saying that, the controller is of a much better build quality than the original, it feels more sturdy and "grippable" in tense shootouts, the sticks feel more positive and smooth, with just the right resistance and springy-ness for ease of movement and camera control. The L1 L2 and R1 R2 buttons also feel to be better quality, they dont have the "spongey" feel of the dual shock, they seem more refined.

Initially the size was off putting.... sometimes less really is more, so I went for an easy shooter, to test it out (Uncharted 1), after I got used to the size, I didnt really notice I had a different controller, well .... it did feel different, but it was a difference akin to switching from one console to another, once you get used to the feel, its OK.

BUT ... it doesnt support 6 axis, which annoyed me, now all I had to do so far was walk across logs and that was fine, if I fell off, I had just to press X to climb back on top again, I dont know if there is further 6 axis use later though, I played up to chapter 6 only.

So... the best thing? Well I always hated the dualshock for racers, my fingers kept slipping off the R2 button, I'm more used to the triggers on the 360 controller, consequently I have no PS3 race games, but included in this pack are little triggers that slip over the L2 and R2 buttons:

PS3 Gioteck Real Triggers Sixaxis controller Mod

Overall a great package, with HDMI, Headphone, charger cable etc, but I'll still have to get a dualshock, because of the damn 6axis crap.

[mmosu]

That's actually a really good idea  :-X

I've never personally had any gripes with the DS3, but I could see why some would in comparison to the Xbox style triggers, especially if they got used to that first. 

[spaceboy]

I actually have those trigger snap ons, but I only tried them once.  While I liked the improvement of not feeling like your finger was going to slip off R2, my fingers felt extended too far in the resting position.  There now seemed like too much plastic.  Maybe somewhere in-between is ideal.

Of course, as you mention, it's all in what you get used to.  After using the Sony controllers for so many years I've obviously grown accustomed to the feel.  I should probably leave them on and try for a longer period, but with 4 rotating controllers in our house I'm using whatever has a charge...I'd probably either need to keep popping on/off or buy more.

As for the 360 controller, I know a lot of people seem to like it better, but the few times I played it the size and the switched placement of the left stick and d-pad threw me for a loop.  Again, it's all in what you get used to though, there's no way I could give an honest review of it without using it for an extended period of time.

[Fiach]

I certainly use the 360 controller more frequently, its significantly smaller than the previous (black) XBOX's two iterations, which were bloody huge! So anything smaller is great for me.

I personally prefer the 360 controller and find the offset sticks more ergonomic than the paralell ones on the PS3, but I used the PS2 for years, so I find it easy enough to adapt to either.

I cannot fathom the WII controllers .... well probably because I cant be arsed  >:D, I just dont get the appeal, the only game on the WII I would buy is Zelda Twilight Princess, but it had a simultaneous release on Gamecube, so I have that.

I still have the GC, PS2 and XBOX plus the Dreamcast and N64, all still working and dont find it hard to move around the different controllers, after a few minutes your brain sort of clicks into that consoles format and you dont notice.

[spaceboy]

Wii controllers are horrible, but we hardly play it.  I suppose your right about the brain click if you have both types to switch between.  Kind of like switchng games and the layout is different.  If I switch from Black Ops to Bad Co.  the crouch and melee are swapped (I can probably customize, but just don't)  After a couple times of punching the air or kneeling instead of punching it all clicks and I'm good :)

[Fiach]

yeah I sometimes have a brain fart like that especially if they are two similar types of game as you described :)

What did youi think of Black Ops? I preferred it to MoH, it seemed to have more momentum and really gave you a reason to push forward through the levels as opposed to MoH, where the AI dragged you through the levels, they were both quiite enjoyable in their own way though.

[spaceboy]

I actually haven't finished the campaign in Black Ops, and I haven't played MoH.  My PS3 shooter career started with Battlefield Bad Co. and I'm quite loyal to it.  While I rented MW2 for a bit, Black Ops is the first COD I bought primarily as a neighbor of mine was getting it and so we could play online.

What I played of the campaign was good, better than what I played of MW2.  I'll go back and complete it as some point.  To me, the Bad Co. games are top notch due to the destructive environments and vehicles in Multiplayer, and the mixed in humor and AI character in single player.  It just suits me. 

Black Ops is fun online, but when compared to BC2, with all the vehicles and destruction, to me there is no comparison.  A big nod goes to Black Ops though in the ability to go split screen both local or online.  That is a pretty neat feature and it worked great. 

[Fiach]

Well the SP Campaign is vastly superior to CoD MW2, so you are in for a treat .... then you get zombies too, so its all good :)

[mmosu]

Sega Dreamcast Fiach? Nice!  :-X
It's been forever since I played one of those.  My buddy had one and I always thought there were some great games out there for it.  My favorite was Power Stone, ever play that one?

[Fiach]

Y'know, its the one great game I never bought , I had Soul Calibur, but PS seemed too bonkers to be a serious fighting game, compared to Tekken etc. I tried a couple of years ago on EBAY to no avail.

The crowning glory was (for me) Shenmue 1 and 2 (2 was released on the XBOX with a DVD of all the cutscenes from Shen 1, as a story re-cap, so I have that as well).

Omikron Nomad Soul was good, I also got it on PC. A great RPG, where you were sucked through your PC into a bizarre alternate world.
Blue Stinger was great a survival horror game.
Crazy Taxi, thats getting a HD release on XBOX LIVE ARCADE.
REZ was an awesome rhythm game.
Sword of the Berserk , I even imported the books of that series lol :)
Urban Chaos You played a cop in a city a kind of precursor of GTA I guess, but you played a cop natch :)
Metropolis Street Racer..... what a racer across a whole city, awesome.
Skies of Arcadia a kind of final Fantasy on a boat, great JRPG.
Record of Lodoss War a pretty unique take on RPG's.
Soul Reaver, I'll never forget seeing that game runing on DC, I had it on PS1 and crikey the difference was amazing, the DC had really great gfx!
Headhunter a kind of Bond game.

God there were so many great games on that console, its so weird that it failed so badly!

[mmosu]

God there were so many great games on that console, its so weird that it failed so badly!

So true, I think they had a solid product with a poor marketing scheme to promote it, there's really no other explanation for the failure of it.  I remember Shenmue, Soul Caliber, Crazy Taxi and Metropolis Street Racer - all great  :-X 
He also had one called Toy Commander which was swweeeeeet.  You literally drove toys around inside a house and played out these elaborate fantasy games against other toys.  Toy planes, tanks, racecars, dinosaurs, it had a little of everything.  I specifically remember one where you had to take this little car through the house's plumbing in order to sneak in and out of a certain room - I thought it was so cool you could go anywhere in this house including through the pipes - a bit of an open world game even if it did take place inside one house.
As for Power Stone, the over-the-top, cartooney nature was what drew me to it.  I loved the frantic, rediculous pace, especially when you had four fighters on screen at once and it was a total free for all.  My taste for that kind of stuff probably has something to do with why I latched on to Borderlands so hard come to think of it . . .   

[Fiach]

With your description of Toy Commander, I think you should check out Psychonauts, It just may appeal to you :)

Dunno about Borderlands, I was really set against it, because of the cartooney looks, I forget how I wound up playing it, some fluke or other (could have been a demo), but once I saw it in action, I fell in love with the gfx (check out Timesplitters if you havent already).

But yeah DC's marketing was utter phail, I think PS2's marketing budget really changed the odds, plus it had backwards compatibility as well.

What I loved most about DC was .... it was a true gamers console, it had games that were creative, fresh and exciting, that would not have been considered by mainstream consoles like the N64 or the PS1 as being too niche or too violent or too gfx intensive, it took a punt on them, but in the end it took a bath because of the marketing naivety.

Its rather telling that I have more DC games than Gamecube or PS3 games, yet it did not last as long as either of those consoles.

[mmosu]

Well, I think you're right there - Dreamcast games were a little more off the beaten path, a little more edgy, and many were a lot more "Japanese" in their styling and humor than typically gets to market here in the States, so as a whole the system developed more of a cult following than a sustainable mainstream success.  It had the Xbox and PS2 to compete with in it's final days as well, and that's a good point about the backward compatibility of the PS2 - what was the Dreamcast going to be downward compatible with - the Sega Saturn?  That system bombed harder than the Dreamcast itself did!  I think there's a reason that it was the last console that Sega put out - if they couldn't make the Dreamcast a success then it was time to hang it up.
Oh, and I remember Timesplitters too, many long hours spent on the MP in that one  :-X  I liked the dual-wielded mini-guns  >:D   

[Fiach]

Actually you hit the nail on the head there! The games did have a japanese feel to them :)

[Art Blade]

That's what I thought when I checked a couple of those games.. looked like Anime or Manga a bit :)

[Fiach]

Its weird how the japanese flavour in some games has a cult following.

A couple of days ago on the Castlevania forum, a guy asked could he unlock the japanese voice soundtrack. I could understand if the guy was/spoke japanese, but this wasn't the case, he just liked the sound of the japanese dialect/dialogue in cutscenes.

The fact that the game takes place in Europe and its about Dracula, all the actors are english speaking (Patrick Stewart, Robert Carlyle etc.) and had no japanese characters, went right over his head lol  >:D

[Art Blade]

 ^+-+

When I buy Japanese films, I always use the original soundtrack with subtitles. They are just too good to be ignored, especially if they start to get angry  ^-^

[mmosu]

A long time ago I did a playthrough of Metal Gear Solid with the original Japanese voices turned on.  I had probably logged a dozen playthroughs at that point and just about had the cut scenes memorized, so there was no problem.  I kind of get what the guy you were talking about was doing Fiach - the intonation, sentence structure, and cadence of spoken Japanese is so different from English that I find it fascinating to listen to, but in limited quantities of course  :-D
Actually, that buddy of mine who owned the Dreamcast (before he got his American Dreamcast) actually had one that was imported from Japan with a few games.  Man, that was interesting to play.  He got it as a novelty item really, and he had to figure out all of the menus by trial and error.  The games were just bizarre.  I remember one that was a "racing" game - for lack of a better term - where you had to control these little brightly colored penguins who were belly-sliding down an icy track, and all kinds of wacky things would happen in the process.  Now that I think about it, these games were my first experience with the Dreamcast, and even though I played the western version much more, these early experiences probably contribute to my view that the Dreamcast was, overall, very Japanese.       

[mmosu]

Here's a little Power Stone action - Wang Tang was the man  :-()

Girls Play Power Stone: Wang-Tang vs Fokker

[Fiach]

Yes I see what you mean mmosu, but this guy expected a japanese soundtrack, even though the game is set in europe, with english actors and was made in S. America, it was such a weird expectation on his part :), Japanese speech would not have enhanced the game in any way, unless you could speak japanese and spoke no english.

I do the same Art, eg  I have a collection of Hong Kong movies, John Woo, Ringo lam, Takeshi Kitano etc. I prefer them undubbed, even european cinema, I always prefer the original language version with subs. One of my favourite german movies is Das Boot, it would be bonkers to watch it in a dubbed form :)

[Fiach]

Thats awesome mmosu, it looks like crazy fun, I'm going to show it to my kids tomorrow, they got Street Fighter IV for xmas, so they will love that, cheers :)

[mmosu]

Oh it was great!
As you could probably tell, the balance of power hinged on control of the three power stones - posessing all three at the same time would transform you into an unstoppable force of nature for about 10-20 seconds depending on how fast you spent your power.  Power Stone 2 introduced 4-way fights and levels that would crumble to bits as the battle raged - I remember one level that was a sinking pirate ship, and you had to continually climb higher and higher, with the fight ultimately ending up at the top of the main mast!

[Art Blade]

lol, that vid was just typical :) Japan is still extremely keen on Western stuff, mainly English language and words, so even if the game is completely Japanese and for their local market, they use English terms ("action, are you ready, KO, challenge...")

Fiach, same here, and regarding Das Boot, try to get the last Director's cut because it is a) longer and b) edited and cut quite differently from the original. That d.c. finally shows the film the way it was intended originally.. a lot better actually :) I tried for a change the English dubbed version for giggles, hehehe, and reverted to the German original (no subtitles here ;) )

[Fiach]

I have the DC version *smirks* :)

[Art Blade]

 :)