| Performance:
As I already said in the
introduction the d-pad of the Gamepad Extreme does not suffer the issues
of the higher priced Microsoft tilt sensor gamepad. The pad works
well in either the tilt or d-pad mode. The tilt mode takes a bit of
adjustment. It is proportionate meaning a slight tilt will be read
as a slight turn. This is the part that you need to adjust to.
Its easily mastered and in a short period you can gain the control necessary
to play most games.
Performance of the gameport
and USB connection seems to be the same. I suspect the USB mode is
more efficient but if your system has enough power behind it there is no
advantage to either except convenience. The pad is well laid out and
all of the features are well within reach. The overall shape of the
pad is good with a comfortable grip that you can loosely hold in your
hands. No hand cramps with this design even after hours of use.
The Extreme Pad was put to
work with Motocross Madness 1 and 2. I chose to use the tilt feature
for control, the trigger buttons for brake and gas control and the face
buttons for other functions such as pulling stunts. The pad offered
good control once I got use to the tilt range. When rolling down a
long straightaway going into a sharp turn it was tricky to make the turn
with accurate control. In stunt mode the pad was a blast to use.
I played a number of other
driving/racing games with the pad. The tilt feature was the choice
mode of control. I didn't use the forward/back tilt to control the
acceleration though. Its a bit hard, and uncomfortable to have the
pad tilted forward and try and turn with side to side tilting.
Instead I use the trigger buttons to control acceleration and braking and
the side tilt to steer. The pad offered decent control for driving
games but the triggers would have been better if they offered proportionate
control so the acceleration and brake control could be used with more precision.
Action games offered mixed
performance. The included Star Wars shooter was a good selection to
show off the pad's function. Other games such as Indiana Jones, Tomb
Raider and the like worked better using the d-pad and disabling the tilt
function. Arcade style game performance also depended on the use of
the d-pad or tilt function. Luckily its easy to switch between the
modes so you can try each to determine which is better. Sports
games were defiantly better using the d-pad.
I didn't try the pad with
first-person-shooters or flight sims. You are better to use other
controllers for these types of games and sims. There are enough
affordable alternative controllers better suited for these games that you
should not have to resort to using a gamepad for these game types.
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