PX2500 Score: 98% Developer: Saitek Device Type: Controller

Function: As an analog controller, while avoiding the special features, the Saitek PX2500 is an excellent controller. Its overall accuracy might not be as good as some other analog sticks on the market, but it?s pretty far up in the list. (To check out the results, check my ?Control Freaks? feature). Additionally, the PX2500 has some useful, unique features worth playing with. One interesting feature is the Trigger Driven shock mode. This mode allows you to have force feedback in games that were not designed to support it. Like what? Try some old driving games... from before shock features were prominent. Now your controller will have a nice, engine-like rumble when you hold down the gas. Nice. Also, Saitek?s PX2500 introduces a rotary throttle built into the underside of the controller. Surprisingly, it is easily accessible with either thumb or by a finger (from underneath the controller). This offers an alternative to mashing your thumb out of existence on your X button. Finally, a really unique feature on the Saitek PX2500 is something they call ?Analog Direction Lock.? This feature allows you to set each analog stick to be either free in both the X-axis and the Y-axis, limit it to Up/Down motion, or limit it to Right/Left motion. My original thought was, ?Oh, yeah. Like I?d ever use THAT feature!? After playing with it a little bit, I loved it. If you play racing games, you can lock the left analog stick to provide accurate analog output for ONLY Left and Right. This is especially useful in games that have a function assigned to Left/Right which is not related to the action assigned to Up/Down. ?Lock out? the one you rarely use and you won?t accidentally do the wrong thing. The locking mechanism is a simple ring around the base of the analog stick, and can be switched from one mode to another with little effort, in relatively little time. Will it spontaneously pop from one mode to the next while you?re playing? No, there is a small button which must be depressed to rotate the dial and change the modes. All this, combined with a nice, fairly average weight, excellent balance, and a design that looks like Quake meets Duke Nukem (complete with the ?Radiation Hazard? symbol on the analog sticks in yellow), makes for an excellent all-around controller. An excellent choice for the gadget lovin? gamers out there. Get your hands on some unique features. No Slow or Turbo Fire here.

Performance: There are several features to learn for the Saitek PX2500. You have the rotary throttle, the lockable analog sticks, three analog/digital modes, three shock modes (including No Shock), and some buttons which are a tad too close together (Shock and Start). Is it worth it? Definitely. Each of the exclusive features is useful in its own way. If you hate change and don?t like trying new things or experimenting a bit, then you won?t like the PX2500. If, however, you like the idea of having features on YOUR controller that your opponent WON?T, then you may want to give the PX2500 a look. It?s worth learning to use. Playability takes several things into consideration. You have to consider how good the control is, what features are included, how well each of those features works, how the controller feels, looks, behaves... essentially, you?re evaluating the desirability of the product. Would someone want to buy it and would they use it afterwards? Well, Saitek?s PX2500 scores very highly in every aspect of playability. The design is ?futuristic,? and will be appreciated by any hardcore gamer. The features it has are all unique ones, allowing for exploration of their best uses. The precision might not be the best available, but is very high up there. The weight is nice and the balance is great. The PX2500 is simply a well engineered piece of hardware. It has become one of my favorites, and I see a lot of controllers. There are two important principals behind breaking new ground: designing innovative concepts and staying true to that concept to final production. Saitek has managed to pull off both excellently.

Features: Dual Shock compatible Dual Analog with push-down buttons Three play modes (switch selectable): Analog Digital Analog with throttle Three shock modes (switch selectable): Game Driven Trigger Driven No Shock Unique rotary throttle Unique analog direction lock 6?3? cord

Drawbacks & Problems:: There were only two problems that I encountered with the Saitek PX2500. Both of which had to do with unexpected locations of controls, and can be avoided once their positions are learned. The worst offender is the Shock button. It is relatively easy to accidentally press the Shock button while attempting to hit Start (say, to pause the game). Since most games support the Dual Shock feature, I typically keep the Shock set to Dual Shock compatibility mode. Then, when I accidentally press it once, it changes to the unique Trigger Driven mode. This is rather surprising, since every button pressed after that will actually cause the vibration feature to kick in. The first time, it really fouls you up. After that, you realize what happened pretty quickly. The second problem is simply getting used to the existence of the throttle wheel. It is cool and useful, but extra care should be taken when anywhere near a memory card maintenance screen. Hit the wheel accidentally, and you could say ?Okay? to such profound questions as ?Erase entire card?? (No, I didn?t... but I was REAL close.) All in all, once you get used to the PX2500, it?s a great controller with some interesting, innovative features.

-Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins