underdawg's Full Review: Logitech Dual Action GamePad
Funnel Introduction
In how many ways can you say something is crap? I bought the Logitech Dual Action controller for $20 and it has really let me down.
The design is really nice. If you look at the picture, you'll see that it looks very much like a PS2 controller. So yeah, it is comfortable. All the buttons are nicely within reach. You have two joysticks (hence the name "Dual Action'), four trigger buttons, four face buttons (like the square, circle, triangle and x of the PS controllers), a "start" and "select" button, and a D-Pad. I put "start" and "select" in quotes because the buttons on this are labeled 1-12 and have no other designation. It may be designed well in that respect, but it's not like they invented this design or something. It's not that hard to imitate the tried-and-true PS2 design.
Technical Info
This controller doesn't vibrate (damn!) and uses wires. It is lame but then again it was $20. It has a USB connection. The cord is long enough, I mean how far are you going to sit away from your computer anyway? The dual joysticks are important if you ever want to use the Playmaker feature in Madden or use the Hit Stick.
Dura-bility
Sooo...how does it hold up? Well first of all, after almost a year, the rubber on the left thumbstick is coming apart. I haven't had any problems with buttons getting stuck or anything like that, which is a good thing since problems like that aren't uncommon for cheap, third-party controllers. This controller is very solid in a literal sense (I mean, it's not a liquid, gas, or colloid), besides the rubber issue, it's holding together nicely. Actually almost too nicely. More on that later.
My Exxxperience
If you've ever played Halo 2 or something with a lot of friends, you know that someone always gets stuck with the crappy controller. The no-name, really gaudy colored one. And if the person with that controller sucks, he always blames the controller. I usually scoff at such complaints because I don't think the controller makes much of a difference. But now having played with the god-awful Logitech Dual Action, I finally understand. I'd say it's a change of heart but I reserve such phrases to more meaningful epiphanies.
I don't know how many hits/runs/games this controller has cost me in MVP Baseball 2004. This is basically due to three problems.
Problemo Numero Uno: Sometimes the controller just doesn't respond. The worst thing is that the controller will f*ck up just out of nowhere, so my third baseman will pick up the grounder and I'll press the button to throw to first but nothing happens. I press the "Start" button so I can pause and then unplug and re-plug my controller but of course the controller's not responding, so that doesn't work. I have to press Esc on my computer to pause the game. So if I don't react in time, a routine grounder often results in a single. If it was going to be close, I have no chance of making the throw because there's no way I can figure out that it's not responding, press Esc, get the controller working again, press Start and then make the throw. Even if it's Mo Vaughn I'm trying to throw out. Every once in a while I'll get a fastball right over the middle of the plate that I'm totally on top of and I press "2" to swing and nothing happens because my controller decided to take a lunch break. God, that's so f*cking frustrating!
Problemo Numero Dos: Sometimes the controller starts doing stuff by itself. I've given up quite a few homeruns this way because it'll start the pitching meter out of nowhere and often it'll be a slow pitch right over the middle of the plate and quite a few of those turn out to be homeruns. This ghost controller thing is really annoying because it'll be a close game and then it pitches a changeup up the middle again and BAM this no-name guy from the Brewers just knocks one over the fence and now I'm losing all thanks to Logitech Dual Action. This has happened way too often to be coincidence.
Problemo Numero Three-o: Ok, this is a little tougher to explain but basically, the directions don't work. Sometimes the controller is messed up so it only lets me throw to the left side of the plate. Try pitching an entire game like this. Sometimes the joystick just pulls everything into one direction; like I'll throw the ball to my first baseman and after catching it, he'll just start running in one direction. Think of it as the joystick being yanked in one direction, but it's actually not. It's just f*cked up. This is the reason why I have to put the game in Assisted Fielding, because if I try to control my outfielders, for example, they won't go always go left if I pull the joystick to the left. They kind of have a life of their own. And even when the direction isn't a problem, the speed is. They NEVER run where I want them to go; either they will run somewhere else or they will walk to where I want them to. Sometimes they trot.
I only get through the game by constantly plugging the controller in and out. Usually it will start working well for a few minutes but I'll have to do it again later. And for some weird reason, it seems to prefer the left USB port on my laptop, usually it won't even respond if I plug it in the right one. But just to spite me, I guess, today it liked the right one. Weird.
So I figured probably some gunk got in this controller and is causing it to mess up. So I bought a little screwdriver set and took out all the screws in the back of the controller. I was going to open it up and clean it. But of course, it doesn't open even after I take out every single screw! I was going to force it open, but I thought better of it. It might break.
So my plan is to buy a new controller one of these days and take a hammer to this one. Seriously. It's going to be sooooo sweet. For a computer game controller that's supposed to help to relax and recreate, this one gave me one too many gray hairs.
Either buy it as a gift for someone you don't like, or don't buy it at all.
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