the steam controller is weird and this review is going to be kind of weird just
straight up feature to feature comparing it against a standard style controller
like one made by Microsoft or Sony for their game consoles is useless and it
definitely is not a weote so what do we do well we're going to go on an
adventure investigating the games and game types that this controller works
well or doesn't work well with by the end of this adventure I don't expect you
to think that the controller isn't weird but I expect you to understand when I
say weird I don't mean bad some of the
best things and people I know are weird
hi Taran also I believe that you'll
understand what it's for and who might or might not be interested in it so stay
tuned Corsair's RMI series power supplies feature premium components for
great performance with very low noise check out the link in the video
description down below to learn more all right first off starting off with the
hardware it doesn't feel fantastically premium especially compared to the Xbox
Elite controller that I recently reviewed here but it doesn't feel that
horrible either and it comes at a pretty damn fair price for a controller 50
bucks USD at least this puts it below the cost of most other first party
controllers in terms of physical layout you have two paddles on the back
shoulder buttons triggers AB X and Y buttons in a really weird position a
thumb stick just to the left of middle and down a bit left and right arrow
buttons which are essentially just start and select a steam home button and the
main event the Dual opposing touchpads with haptic feedback haptic feedback on
here is basically when you move your finger across the touchpad it will
vibrate ever so slightly just so that you know that the input is going through
it's actually very satisfactory on the bottom there's a switch that releases
the Dual paddles and reveals the batteries if you don't want to use the
wireless dongle either directly plugged in or through an extension and on the
front there's a micro USB plug just in case you like wired so the haptic
feedback actually felt really good I I totally knew what was happening under my
fingers while they were on touchpads which is actually a huge relief when I
first saw this controller I was very worried about that that being said none
of the other inputs amazed me in terms of their feel they still F made me feel
very in control which is actually more than what I was expecting when I saw the
price tag and even when I picked it up for the first time it felt kind of cheap
so what is it actually good for well I think of it as an enabler which is why I
don't really want to compare it much to other controllers personally I will
always prefer a standard controller for driving games or like a racing wheel or
something and a keyboard and mouse for things like shooters for anyone who
isn't diluted these are widely accepted strengths to these input methods and I
don't expect the steam controller is going to change anyone 's mind about
this actually I would go as far as to say that the steam controller should
pretty much never be used when seated at a desk because there's always a better
option but that's just my opinion but when you're sitting on a couch using a
keyboard or Mouse either totally sucks or makes you look like a complete doofus
yeah I know there's some options like the couch Master but honestly when I'm
couch gaming I'm going to want a controller so I can sit comfortably
whatever my comfortable might actually look like which is why many games like
Civilization or papers please can't really be played in what I would call a
satisfactory way on a home theater couch based setup until now playing papers
pleased with this thing felt entirely natural and playing Civ 5 on the couch
nice and relaxed expanding my civilization and trying to hold off
barbarians and whatnot that felt like home I wouldn't use this for every game
and those were easy examples but it does enable games that wouldn't really
normally be a thing for Coach gaming controller users the controls seem to be
endlessly customizable with people online even doing Auto hotkey setups in
order to control their desktop better which is pretty cool many reviews that
I've read leading up to this one have proclaimed that there is a steep and
scary learning curve I'm going to go out on a limb here and completely disagree
in my opinion if you've ever used a laptop with a touchpad you should be
able to get pretty familiar with this guy pretty quick sure if you're going to
play something like a shooter on it it's going to take some time to get
proficient with it but I don't really think that's what it's actually designed
for anyways although your mileage may vary I
personally didn't enjoy the over theh shoulder games like Mass Effect with the
steam controller but I've read rave reviews online about how it's great for
this style of gaming so none of this addresses the people who
don't want to customize their controllers however which doesn't mean
tinkering is the only way to enjoy a steam controller in fact in many cases
not tinkering at all may be a better route steam will warn you when a game
may not work very well with the default profile and suggest that you customize
things at this point you'll probably utilize the sometimes awesome hi mind
power that is the Steam Community you can see Community submitted controller
configs and even see how many people are using which one every single time I
needed a config I just used the most commonly used Community config and it
worked splendidly no reason for me to fight with things when somebody else has
already done the heavy lifting I'd love to see valve improve this functionality
by allowing the profile creators to upload short videos demonstrating how to
use their profiles most effectively so all good then I should rush out and buy
it no not necessarily I have some
concerns about making a sweeping recommendation that you should buy one
your grandma should buy one and your dog should buy one the cost is cheap but it
feels pretty pretty cheap which is a little disappointing not to mention damn
Gabe why is there glossy plastic on the top what what is this what purpose does
this serve it looks like crap in like 3 seconds God anyways and aside from those
minor quibbles this is my biggest problem it doesn't really have a home at
the desk and unless you're one of those six people who bought a steam machine or
happen to have a home theater PC how much time are you going to spend couch
gaming on the specific titles that will actually benefit from this I actually
don't know for me at least with the hours of Civ 5 on the couch I see in my
future this is a $50 pill that I can swallow so if that interests you at all
then check it out and I guess the real bottom line here is that while my
initial Impressions were why did they try to reinvent the wheel it's just
weird after spending more time getting to know it and in the appropriate
context of not forcing myself to use it as a replacement for my existing
controller or keyboard or Mouse but rather an entirely new Beast I'm glad
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friend thanks for watching guys if the video sucked you know what to do but if
it was awesome get subscribed hit the like button or even consider supporting
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like this one or with a direct monthly contribution through the Forum now that
that's done you're probably wondering what to watch next so I called it out
earlier in the video but check out the Xbox One Elite controller review here to
see like a more standard controller but with a super premium feel it's actually
pretty cool