The wired life

Reviewing controllers is always a unique endeavor. There are so many designs and functionalities it is hard to know what will be worth your money without holding it in your hands yourself. I recently got to spend some quality time with the RIG Pro Compact Controller for Xbox and came away impressed on some aspects, while also being befuddled on other design choices. The latest wired controller comes with a laundry list of features including customizable buttons, a wired interface, and the most touted feature, Dolby Atmos support.

Let’s kick it off with the design of the controller. This is a bit smaller feel than the standard Xbox controller. The triggers are much closer together and remind me of the PlayStation layout a little bit. It feels designed for people who play with two fingers on each trigger side. What I mean is the index finger on RB while the middle finger is on the RT. I have never been able to play like this so it took me a while to get accustomed to the feel.

MSRP: $49.99
Price I’d Pay: $49.99

The face buttons feel standard and the thumbsticks are great. They have a nice texture to them that really helps keep my thumbs in place. The d-pad is a bit squishy and takes some getting used to, but after a little bit I was able to pull off complicated move inputs in games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat without much issue. I do not like where the View and Menu buttons are awkwardly placed a little too far outside while the Guide button feels extremely low. The screenshot button is also way out of place, but to be fair I still haven’t gotten used to where it is on the standard controller so it would just be a matter of adjusting.

The Compact Controller can be fully customized using an app that I downloaded from the Xbox store. Standard button remapping is available of course, but the real treat is the response curve and deadzone options. The app has a set of standard out-of-the-box options that run the gamut of standard genres. There are options for racing games, FPS, and even fighting games. This adjusts the response time of the analog sticks as well as the deadzone to combat drift. It is a bit advanced in what it does, but it is always nice to have options.

The controller’s biggest selling point according to the box though is that it is the first controller to support Dolby Atmos for headphones. This means plugging a set into the controller offers up the audio profile even when not using your own Xbox. You could take this headset to a friend’s house and plug in and get the quality audio without having to worry about the license. Dolby Atmos is incredibly awesome, so this is a nice feature for sure.

The biggest gripe from most people is going to come from the fact that the controller is not wireless. The reason for this is because it is designed as a tournament controller. Having it wired means less lag and response time for competitive games. I put it to the test in the one game I can sense even a millisecond of lag in. I have spent thousands of hours playing Overwatch, so it was a no-brainer to run the hardest of tests with the controller here. The results are promising as I noticed a slight drop-in response time when aiming as well as my button presses. Having a controller wired does just enough to really improve aspects like that.

Overall, this is a solid controller for gamers who take things like audio and lag seriously. The design takes some getting used to and it might be a bit small for gamers with bigger hands. I ended up getting used to it and pretty much use it when I want to take my online matches in Overwatch seriously. It just offers up enough reduced latency and the customized response curve helps with aiming those headshots nicely. This is a nice compliment controller to the standard offering, but I don’t think it would replace anyone’s standard choice out of the box.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.