I have had the steam controller for two days now. Total of around five hours of use. I have read alot of reviews that are not fair and I want to hopefully clear some air and give a honest un bias opinion on this new peace of hardware.
It is rather new and out of the box aproach to a controller. At first it will fell different but after you get a good feel it becomes more and more normal to hold and use.
The #1 thing I see this device criticized for is it does not replace the keyboard/mouse or is not as good as the keyboard/mouse.
To clear things up for the console or PC people out there who just dont understand this is not a replacement and it is not meant to be better then anything. It is made to complement your Keyboard/mouse or it is meant to be used in a livingroom situation for lets say, fallout, skyrim, anything.
Games I have tested the controller with:
Elderscrolls online
CSGO
Thief gold
Elderscrolls online is actually really nice to play on the couch with a nice surround sound and big screen. the controller config I made works perfect for complete control of combat and out of combat.
CSGO do not play CSGO with this. CSGO is comp shooter. you will not win or do very well if you are not playing bots. PERIOD.
Thief Gold was made in 99' and I wanted to config and test a old game and it works great.
The hardest part of the controller seems to be adapting to the touch pads. learning how to use them is different then a joy stick. the config is the most advanced I have ever used. that comes with the controller as well. the amount of customization is impressive.
After 5 hours I feel like I have learned alot and my original impression was wrong. I really like the 360 controller and the X1 controller. but this is either as good or better. I can keep the crosshair on the target in combat while circling my enemy. this is hard to do with a joy stick in a game with out auto aim or aim assist. id say the steam controller has better controll then a standard joy stick.
One experience I can agree with is cramping in my left thumb after a while. like most I originally configed my game or games to use the odly placed joy stick for movement in my games. I did not understand how to config the left touch pad properlly for movment. my thumb was cramping so I configed it to use the left pad which took a few minutes to config right but feels alot better and gives more controll space. took a few to get use to cause ive never done this before with my hands.
After 4 or so hours I didnt have to try to use the controller I was just using it with out thinking and it feel very natural. I was able to point right on target or follow a moving target. the way it was configed I never had to take my thumbs off look and move with in combat. even for csgo I think I could have beaten some silvers in a comp match. or at least held my own.
There is alot of negative things flying around but rest assure it doesnt feel cheap, it gets better over a few hours of learning and it feels better then my years old 360 wired controller or my X1 controller exspecially when you talk about aiming at a target.
I have been streaming with a HP laptop from my office with a nighthawk router but the wifi in the laptop is Wireless N. 59 - 60 FPS 90% of the time with very minimal stuters at 1080p ultra setting (ESO). Im very impressed with the living room experiance with this controller.
One negative is no mic input on the controller and no ability to steam voice chat or skype or teamspeak unless you have a wireless mic or close enough to the stream system and you must start the call before you start streaming or it crashes everything just jacks it up. I have a cheap ear bud like a ps4 mic and I use skype on my phone for voice chat. this needs to be addressed.
Tonight im testing BF4, Metro and Command and Conquer 3 steamed to my living room.
If youd like me to post my experiance let me know.
It is rather new and out of the box aproach to a controller. At first it will fell different but after you get a good feel it becomes more and more normal to hold and use.
The #1 thing I see this device criticized for is it does not replace the keyboard/mouse or is not as good as the keyboard/mouse.
To clear things up for the console or PC people out there who just dont understand this is not a replacement and it is not meant to be better then anything. It is made to complement your Keyboard/mouse or it is meant to be used in a livingroom situation for lets say, fallout, skyrim, anything.
Games I have tested the controller with:
Elderscrolls online
CSGO
Thief gold
Elderscrolls online is actually really nice to play on the couch with a nice surround sound and big screen. the controller config I made works perfect for complete control of combat and out of combat.
CSGO do not play CSGO with this. CSGO is comp shooter. you will not win or do very well if you are not playing bots. PERIOD.
Thief Gold was made in 99' and I wanted to config and test a old game and it works great.
The hardest part of the controller seems to be adapting to the touch pads. learning how to use them is different then a joy stick. the config is the most advanced I have ever used. that comes with the controller as well. the amount of customization is impressive.
After 5 hours I feel like I have learned alot and my original impression was wrong. I really like the 360 controller and the X1 controller. but this is either as good or better. I can keep the crosshair on the target in combat while circling my enemy. this is hard to do with a joy stick in a game with out auto aim or aim assist. id say the steam controller has better controll then a standard joy stick.
One experience I can agree with is cramping in my left thumb after a while. like most I originally configed my game or games to use the odly placed joy stick for movement in my games. I did not understand how to config the left touch pad properlly for movment. my thumb was cramping so I configed it to use the left pad which took a few minutes to config right but feels alot better and gives more controll space. took a few to get use to cause ive never done this before with my hands.
After 4 or so hours I didnt have to try to use the controller I was just using it with out thinking and it feel very natural. I was able to point right on target or follow a moving target. the way it was configed I never had to take my thumbs off look and move with in combat. even for csgo I think I could have beaten some silvers in a comp match. or at least held my own.
There is alot of negative things flying around but rest assure it doesnt feel cheap, it gets better over a few hours of learning and it feels better then my years old 360 wired controller or my X1 controller exspecially when you talk about aiming at a target.
I have been streaming with a HP laptop from my office with a nighthawk router but the wifi in the laptop is Wireless N. 59 - 60 FPS 90% of the time with very minimal stuters at 1080p ultra setting (ESO). Im very impressed with the living room experiance with this controller.
One negative is no mic input on the controller and no ability to steam voice chat or skype or teamspeak unless you have a wireless mic or close enough to the stream system and you must start the call before you start streaming or it crashes everything just jacks it up. I have a cheap ear bud like a ps4 mic and I use skype on my phone for voice chat. this needs to be addressed.
Tonight im testing BF4, Metro and Command and Conquer 3 steamed to my living room.
If youd like me to post my experiance let me know.
