Manufacturer: Nyko

Release Date: 1/1/2012

MSRP: $34.99

Colors: Black

I saw this little guy on a shelf at Fry’s one day, and it looked very sleek and ergonomic. I was surprised at seeing something so well made from a third-party peripheral company like Nyko, which is notorious for making crappy products. I love collecting controllers, so I kept this guy on my radar. I finally got it as a Christmas gift, and I am very pleased. It has become my favorite PS3 controller thus far. When you put the thing in your hands, your fingers just mold to the controller. It is more square in shape than a rectangle like the OEM controller. The texture of the controller feels great and is made of very smooth, silky rubber. The triggers are designed more like the Xbox 360 controllers and are much better than the OEM controller, which I found my fingers slipping on a lot. The controller is slightly heavier than the OEM one, but it just feels so much nicer. The analog stick orientation is set up like the Xbox 360, so your thumbs don’t bump into each other during frantic movement. The sticks are much smaller, and the tops have a pretty deep dip, so your thumbs stay nice and snug. I love how tight the sticks are—not too tight, but not as loose as the OEM controller. They click very nicely, and the D-pad is small and gives a great response when using it.

The overall look of the controller is great. It is all black and sleek, with the PS Home button being a large square in the middle with a picture of a raven. The face buttons are clear, with nice designs set inside. However, there is one useless feature that this controller has that I have no idea why anyone would use. On the back, there is an A-B switch that will swap the functionality of the shoulder buttons. I have no idea why this would be used, but it’s there if anyone needs to use it, I guess. The controller has a nice USB dongle (no Bluetooth, unfortunately) and comes with a USB charging cable, which is rather short. There is a square LED right below the home button that will stay solid when charging, flash fast when charged, and slowly flash when low. This is a great, hassle-free way of telling what status your battery is in. The controller lasts quite a while, with a whopping 25 hours of battery life per charge. The larger battery may be why the controller is slightly heavier.

My only real issue is that the L1 and R1 buttons are a little too close together because of the controller’s square shape. It takes a while to get used to this, and you have to force your fingers into the right position, but after about 4-5 hours of playing, it starts to feel natural. Other than that, this is a very nice, well-made controller that doesn’t feel like cheap plastic. For the low price, I was surprised at how well made this was, especially being wireless, having rumble, and having SixAxis control built-in. This is probably one of the best wireless controllers I have ever used and will be one I recommend to everyone.