Microsoft's Elite Series 2 controllers are divided. For its fans, Elite is the responsive, powerful and premium ultimate first-party controller, but its critics can point out its high price and quality control issues to paint a different picture. This makes Sony's approach almost completely contrary to its competitors and is therefore refreshing. Sony made a 26 / $ 30 back button accessory instead of making a controller with only 160 / $ 180, and only its richest players can justify the purchase price, while the back button accessory is an embedded device that adds premium One of the most important functions of the controller-the programmable rear button-any standard DualShock 4 controller at an affordable price. We've been testing it for the week before the February 14 release, and we think Sony's approach has considerable advantages.
Before delving into the performance of this add-on, let's address the central point of the "Back Button Attachment": These buttons are really useful and worth the extra cost and weight. The idea here is to always keep the most important controls under your finger, even those that are usually tied to inconvenient buttons such as d-pad, share / option or L3 / R3. For example, changing items in Dark Dark Souls 3 requires you to press the d-pad, so if you are chased by an enemy and poisoned, you usually have to switch to items that clear the poison and take your thumb away from the left joystick that controls the movement, Puts you in an awkward position. Similarly, in Call of Duty, sprinting while holding down the left stick can damage both the stick and thumb, so mapping it to the rear stick will feel more comfortable. Finally, is the best way to shift gears in Gran Turismo with a rear paddle? The more games you play with the jog dial, the more uses you will find-and knowing that you can always rebind the two most clumsy controls is a great comfort, especially when few games provide complete When the control is customized.
Of course, having a rear pick alone is not enough to be an excellent controller. We have tested many third-party controllers with these rear buttons, but their location may be inconvenient, making them difficult to press or too easy to trigger accidentally. Another common pitfall is programming the buttons first. Often, the setup process is so complicated that it is only worth doing for the games you play often, and you lose all interest in the experiment. Therefore, a truly outstanding rear pick implementation should meet two conditions: proper positioning and easy reprogramming. Happily, the "Back Button Attachment" absolutely meets these requirements.
First let's look at the physical aspects of things. The two paddle boards of the accessory are connected to the circular central part, which contains the OLED screen, a 3.5mm straight-through port on the bottom and a 3.5mm on the opposite side and a data plug. These plugs are mounted on a swivel and lock the device in a limpet-like position on the bottom of the DualShock 4. It takes some time to install the back button accessory for the first time, but once you know the trick of inserting its tip. A 3.5 mm plug, then pushed up to secure the device, it only takes a few seconds.
After installation, the accessory will sit under the natural resting position of the middle finger or ring finger, making it easy to operate, but with sufficient resistance to prevent accidental pressing. The slim size and tight placement can also avoid triggering the paddle when the controller is also placed on a flat surface, which is another common annoyance of rear button controllers.
In our tests, we found this accessory to be particularly useful for competitive shooting games like Last Year's Call of Duty Modern Warfare, in which case a quick response to threats could mean top-ranked and There is a difference between ignorance failures. We used the left paddle for sprinting instead of the tired thumb rocker press, and the right paddle for jumping so that we could aim in mid air. After mastering the new control methods in several free games, the game became more comfortable, and aerial targeting played a decisive role in some engagements-all without any accidental presses at crazy moments. This shows that the location here is really great, so far it's a perfect score.
Next is programming, and the Back Button Attachment here is also excellent. Turn the controller over and you will see the small circular OLED screen we mentioned earlier. Press and hold the screen to enter programming mode; you will see the current profile (one to three) in the center, and the current binding of each blade on its respective side. Each time the joystick is pressed while the screen is pressed, the joystick moves to the next button assignment and cycles through all possible options. With only 16 possible bindings (including every button on the controller except the Share and PS buttons) and the smooth on-screen representation of your current selection, it only takes a few seconds to find the button you need. You can also assign an X to a scribe that has no content to disable it. When you are satisfied with the mapping, just stop pressing the button to save the assignment.
Switching profiles is equally simple and straightforward. Just click the screen to open it, then double-click to change to the next profile. It would be nice to see more than three profiles, but for most people this should be sufficient, as new buttons can be easily assigned on the fly if needed.
These profiles are retained across platforms even if the attachment is disconnected, so you can use bindings on your friend's PlayStation as easily as using a home console. Similarly, since all programming is done on the device itself, you can set and use the same bindings on PC, iOS, Android, and PlayStation 4 systems. This is the application-centric approach Microsoft adopted in the Elite series. A great alternative to the method 2 controller.
Such a great layout, easy reprogramming and multi-platform utilities-this is a good start, and for us, recommending a "back button accessory" to anyone with a DualShock 4 controller is enough. But how does Sony's new flagship controller load compare to Microsoft Elite Series 2 for users looking to use a high-quality gamepad on their PC or mobile device?
Obviously, this is not fair competition. Even if you buy a brand new DualShock 4 controller for 45 / $ 60 instead of using the controller that comes with the console, you can still buy the powerful DualShock 4 for less than 160 for just £ 71 or $ 90 / $ 180 Elite Series 2 half the cost. That being said, this is a fascinating comparison. There is a clear gap in quality and functionality between the two competing solutions.
Although DualShock 4 is well-structured, after using the 345g Elite Series 2, Sony's gamepad seems to lack weight, only 235 grams (with accessories installed) and 210 grams (without installation). Its face buttons also lack the tactile feel of Microsoft's ultra-advanced options, while shorter triggers are unsatisfactory to use and lack a rumbling sound. In general, DualShock 4 has a slower response speed and is not highly accurate. This is fine anyway, but the build quality and feel of the Microsoft controller is undoubtedly outstanding. There are also great differences in functionality and customizability. Sony controllers do not provide options such as changing the joystick, adjusting the joystick tension, rebinding the buttons, and setting the dead zone.
In summary, we still believe that the "back button accessory" is more valuable to PC owners. The use of the rear button is practically valuable in almost every game, and Elite 2's higher precision and longer feature list are sometimes just different-usually in fast-paced and competitive games. In other words, the Elite Series 2 is six times more expensive than the back button accessory, but does it offer six times the comfort? Six times the competitive advantage? Six times as effective? Even with all these factors in mind, it's hard to think of a "back button attachment" as a better option.
We must conclude that whether you're playing games on a PlayStation, PC or other device, Sony's back button accessory is worth upgrading for DualShock 4 owners. The idea of providing the most important part of an advanced controller at a relatively low cost is a great idea, and the sheer practicality it adds to many games across multiple platforms is hard to overstate. This premise may be wasted in implementation, but the convenient positioning and easy programming of the accessory ensures that it feels like a natural part of the controller, not the final add-on.
Our only major complaint is that the back button accessory appeared too late in the PlayStation 4 lifecycle on the eve of PlayStation 5. gen console. The patent map submitted by Sony last year (and discovered by LetsGoDigital in the Netherlands in December) shows a controller with four rear dials, suggesting that Sony is at least considering a change to the ancient DualShock design. Perhaps this is not a late addition to the latest version of PlayStation, but an early understanding of the next-generation model. Isn't that cool?
