Controller Review: Turtle Beach Recon Controller (XBox/PC)
Turtle Beach is mostly known for their quality audio headsets, but over the last few years they’ve expanded their scope into other areas in gaming such as keyboards, mice and other equipment. Now they’ve decided to throw their hat into the controller ring. Not only that, they’ve decided to add in features that seamlessly integrate audio controls, allowing gamers to customize the audio without ever having to take their hands off of the controller.
The Turtle Beach Recon Controller is wired and comes in two colors, black and white. Players connect their headset directly to the controller via the 3.5mm connection located in the usual spot, between the handgrips. From there, players have complete control of the audio features including game chat volume and game volume via the lit icons on the controller. The left side rocker button controls the game volume, while the right side rocker controls the game chat. Audio presets are also present, as well as a button to toggle the Superhuman Hearing feature that Turtle Beach is known for. All of this allows gamers customize their audio experience while staying in-game.
On the subject of customization; other than re-mapping the sticks, any two controls can be mapped to the macro buttons that are found underneath the controller. By default, these buttons are used to control the new Pro-Aim feature which allows players to choose one of four sensitivity presets for the right thumbstick. When pressing the macro button on the right, the player’s aiming reticle will slow to the chosen preset, allowing for more precision aiming. It’s a feature that we didn’t even know we wanted, until we had it.
The controller feels great. It’s got a solid build and everything about it feels sturdy. On top of that, it just looks cool. The cooling grips work well, allowing players to relax their hands and still maintain solid control. The grips on the thumbsticks also feel sturdy. Unlike most other third party controllers, they provide a solid grip and maintaining thumb grip doesn’t seem to be an issue. We also loved the textured front buttons. Our fingers stayed in place using the L and R buttons and triggers, unlike most other controllers which have smooth facings. This, again, was a feature we didn’t even know we wanted.
Ready to rumble? The enhanced rumble featured in the Turtle Beach Recon Controller feels fantastic, and adds a lot of nuanced feel to gameplay. While rumble has been standard in the 90’s, the rumble in the controller just feels a little more beefed up.
The only area of opportunity we found with this device is the learning curve of customization. Because there are so many customization options, it takes some time to figure it all out. We spent around 30 minutes to get accustomed to all of the options and while this didn’t bother us at all, some players may find the learning curve frustrating.
Overall the Turtle Beach Recon Controller is a great addition to the Turtle Beach arsenal. We recommend it to anyone looking for a great controller that marries both the audio experience and the interaction between player and game.
The Turtle Beach Recon Controller can be found at their website and most other retailers for an MSRP of $59.95.
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