Series-ously Good

I said I was going to review the Xbox Series controller after I received it, and here it is... it's pretty good.

Oh wait, you probably wanted a more verbose description. Okay, let's try this. This gamepad has become my preferred way to play Xbox games, because it's both reliably responsive and cleverly ergonomic. The D-pad works a lot better than you might expect from its off-putting appearance, trapping your thumb in the center with its scooped design and offering a click you can both hear and feel with every press. The back of the controller and the two trigger buttons are textured to keep even the sweatiest hands anchored in place. The action buttons have just the right amount of give, not so wobbly to make them feel unsteady under your thumb but not so rigid that they resist your input. 

The Xbox Series pad doesn't reinvent
the wheel, but it vulcanizes the rubber
for a smoother ride.
(image from Xbox)

The icing on the cake is a "share" button that should have been on the Xbox One's controller when that system debuted eight years ago. It was always a bummer to have to pause the game with Guide and press Y to take a snapshot, but now it's as easy as it's always been on the Switch and Playstation 4. Better late than never, I guess!

Would I say that I prefer the Xbox Series controller to my M30 or a good joystick for fighting games? No. Would I say that it's the best analog gamepad for those kinds of games? Absolutely, and it's well suited to a lot of other genres which aren't appropriate for digital pads and sticks. I've tried the Xbox Series pad with all kinds of games, from the third-person shooter Armed and Dangerous to overhead view shmups like Ikaruga to old school classics like Pac-Man, and it handles them all magnificently. 

(It's worth mentioning that the Xbox Series really shines with Pac-Man and its sequel Pac-Man Championship Edition, thanks to a tactile D-pad which reads cardinal directions with absolute precision. I don't think I've ever had a gamepad that works this well with those two games, and believe me, I've had plenty. You're probably not buying an Xbox Series pad just for Pac-Man, but if you should happen to dust off this golden oldie for a few plays, you'll be in for a fantastic experience.)

There's not much to complain about with this controller, really. The square edges of the D-pad are a little rough on the thumb, and the multi-format compatibility that sounds handy in theory is a little awkward in practice. If you pair the Xbox Series pad to your PC with Bluetooth, you'll have to re-sync it to your console later, something that probably could have been avoided if the pad had a mode switch instead of just a sync button.

The Xbox Series pad is easy to recommend. It doesn't look like much has changed from the Xbox One controller, but when you start using it, you'll quickly recognize and appreciate the subtle differences. Kudos to Microsoft for making it compatible with both the recent Xbox Series and past generation consoles... those of us who aren't ready to step up to the new hardware extend our thanks.