Is the Xbox One Elite Controller actually any good?

Playing games is made all the more special when you have a controller in your hand that feels perfect, with the Xbox One Elite Wireless controller Microsoft have set about achieving just that but after almost a year of having my controller I’m sorry to say I’m just not convinced by the hype. So is the Xbox One Elite Controller actually any good? No here’s why.

Since having a day one edition Xbox console I have been striving to find a controller that feels well built rounded and deliver that subtle but substantial controller feel. For me the originally shipped Xbox One controller was a disaster.I wasn’t alone in this sentiment either just a quick glance over at Reddit on the Xbox One sub forms and you’ll see all manner of complaints from creaking plastic to skin nipping joins along the controller. So its little wonder Xbox were so keen to get a new controller out the gate. In fact there’s been many an iteration and to date I count around 5 separate changes in the controller designs and whats worse is I’ve bought nearly every one of them in search of controller heaven.

These changes have seen better build quality resulting in quieter button presses, less creaky plastic, headphone jack inclusion and now rubberised backs. This is before we even look at the Elite controller. Each one of these iterations has been very much welcomed but I cant help feel that the consuming public has been the test bed for R&D design with this controller.

So the Elite was release late 2015 after some rather exceptional hype since its E3 announcement. Its not cheap and coming in at well over £120 in the UK this isn’t going to be an impulse purchase. For me it was through necessity, my day one controller was all but broken, my Titanfall special edition had a dodgy USB port so needed to go and having bought the silver camouflage version in early 2015 I wanted to up the game after all it was the biggest lineup in Xbox games history so why wouldn’t you.

The elite’s major selling point to me was its design, it was heavier, sturdy to hold, buttons much more mechanical and less plastic like. items could be swapped out to adjust for feel and if I ever felt like pretending to be a pro for a while I could clip on the pedals and switch out the button configurations. Sounds great doesn’t it.

Well totally sold as this being the answer to my controller nightmares I plunged for one as soon as they were available locally in stock. Sold out everywhere for a good few months and finally back in stock, im thinking to myself this must be good, its reviewing well critically well received and I’m seeing little to no negativity. Hell even to this day there’s still an air of awe around this thing. Well as you can imagine my awe was short lived, I made the mistake like many of us consumers do that is convince yourself to like something, come up with any reason not to doubt it. It weighs a tonne, but that’s how I know where my monies went right? Even to this day I cant get over the things weight, its simply just too heavy and actually makes me feel slow in games. Yes I know weird statement to make but I bet every one of you reading this when you were a kid playing a racing game would lunge side to side as you fired round a corner. well you may lunge with the Xbox one but good luck getting back to centre. That all may be a bit of an exaggeration in terms but for me its at a weight that cant be justified.

Movable changeable bits, its my controller my way Hurrah! Oh wait, how do you fit these paddles in? so if any of you have an Elite controller you will know of the pain in trying to figure out which pedal goes where and in which slot or side to position them. Its one of the controllers overly complicated features. I’ve never been one for using these hardware features but being a Forza fan I wanted to try and gain that little edge the controller was promising me. Sadly this was just another let down. Add in the exchangeable analog sticks and we get a nice balance of customisation. The sticks for me are great I prefer the shorter length for most games but stick the long ones on for shooters and there is a noticeable enhancement to your shooting ability. However what I feel is sacrificed here is the feel of the analog stick. It now feels really clunky, its clicks and juds in the bay it sits within making a rather unsavoury clicking noise when you do a 360. Its certainly not the utter silence and smoothness experienced on the Playstations Dual-shock 4.

Much can be said again with regards to the triggers. Altering RT and LT to a half press with the physical switch found on the rear of the controller makes the feel of the buttons really clunky. You go from being super silent presses to shattering clangs of plastic.It just feels like the controller is at odds with its best features.

Battery life, well for £120 you surely expect an internal rechargeable battery unlike those standard edition Xbox Controllers? Wait here we go again another flaw in an otherwise melancholy world. best not labour here for my anger but if you are thinking about picking one of these up or your as frustrated at paying for real AA batteries then your best picking up a recharge pack.

Moving onto input and this is where I have the biggest issue with not just this controller but in many ways all of the Xbox One controllers. Input lag with the menu is horrific. Yes updating firmware etc for the controller has been done but there’s something just not right with the response time. To be fair to the Elite its likely not its fault and the blame lies with the Xbox One UI which sees a juddering selection frame jump all over the store pages upon a button press. Just a immersive experience to make you input device feel sadly not up to the task.

So there is my opinionated non review on the Xbox One Elite Controller and where its actually any good. Well by now you should know the answer. Just save yourself the money go buy that new rubberised version or hop onto the Xbox Design labs and make your own.