The Dual Strike Pro represents Microsoft's attempt to create a gamepad specifically designed for first person shooters. I recently purchased the $80 Dual Strike Pro controller on Buy.com for a total of $20 shipped, using a coupon. Thinking that the convenience of being able to control both the head and feet of my Quake II character from a single controller would help improve my gameplay, I believed that I found a bargain. In the end, however, the only thing that the Dual Strike Pro facilitated was the realization that I would need to learn to use the mouse and keyboard together in order to succeed at Quake II. Instead of easing the transition between the automatic perspective correction of Quake I and the need for manual aiming in Quake II, the Dual Strike gamepad only proved to be an additional annoyance.

While the idea of using your left thumb to control your character's movement with a digital 8-position control pad may seem intuitive, the digital controls' lack of precision caused me to walk into lava time after time. Even though the controller fits comfortably and naturally into my hand, I could not accurately move and aim my character. Precise rotation around the y-axis is effectively limited at 180 degrees. While twisting the freestyle right part of the gamepad as far as it will go will cause the character to rotate indefinitely, the character rotates so fast that it is impossible to control your orientation when you stop spinning. As a result, it is extremely difficult to coordinate a fast 360 degree turnabout. Instead of spending $80 on this gamepad, you should buy the Intellimouse Explorer if you want ultra-precise control for first person shooters.

While there are plenty of buttons on the Dual Strike Pro that you can program to perform any single function in the game, you sacrifice the flexibility offered by keeping one hand on the keyboard when using the gamepad. I found myself cycling through weapons one-by-one until reaching the rocket launcher or rail gun instead of having one-key access to both on the keyboard. In addition, I found that moving my right thumb to a button every time that I needed to jump was significantly more distracting than simply pressing the right mouse button. Only after I boxed up the Dual Strike Pro just as I had received it, and permanently relocated it to my basement, could I improve my Quake II gameplay significantly. Unless you have ergonomic concerns that would prevent you from using the mouse and keyboard to play first person shooters, you should not even bother to consider the Dual Strike Pro.



Recommended: No