Professional controllers have gone from area of interest prospects to extensively desired equipment in the previous couple of years, with choices like Scufs and PlayStation’s personal DualSense Edge changing into extra generally utilized by the day.
That does not imply they’ve turn into any much less premium an possibility, although, and Nacon’s Revolution 5 Professional is the most recent contender in your money if you wish to improve your aggressive loadout. I have been utilizing it for a few weeks to see the way it stacks up.
Nacon Revolution 5 Professional
Give your self an edge
This is a superb controller for aggressive gaming, though some quality-of-life hangups imply it isn’t essentially the most complete possibility on the market. Nonetheless, for customized controls, it is a magnificence.
- Really easy to arrange as you want
- Nice further buttons and triggers
- Very properly made
- Costly
- Third-party so misses some options
Design
Kitted out
Nacon hasn’t reduce any corners on the Revolution 5 Professional – it is a actually totally featured professional controller, and you may inform that simply from taking a look at it.
The controller is available in a white colourway to match the bottom PS5, however I acquired the black model for testing – rather a lot stealthier and truly fairly unremarkable at first look.
It is properly constructed out of strong high-quality matte plastic (there isn’t any flex right here), with pretty rubbery grips round the place your palms relaxation to assist in essentially the most aggravating moments of a recreation.
The entrance of the controller would not cover a lot further performance, though you possibly can swap out the thumbsticks for a variety of choices that come included, and the D-pad additionally has two variants to select from.
On the again, issues are extra advanced, with a bunch of switches to customize your expertise, together with the choice to shorten the journey distance on both of your triggers.
There are buttons to toggle between your totally different structure profiles, connectivity for various gadgets and quantity controls for whenever you join a headset to the controller (which you are able to do by way of Bluetooth if desired).
Lastly, on either side, the rubbery grip could be clicked off to disclose a cavity the place included weights could be secured to change how the controller feels in your hand – a really good contact.
The Revolution 5 Professional additionally comes with a pleasant hard-shell carrying case that has impressively been made smaller than earlier variations to make all of it the simpler to pack for journey or storage.
A braided charging or connection cable rounds out the bundle, and it is all completed to a extremely prime quality – as you’d hope, given it prices practically half as a lot as a PS5 by itself.
Customisation choices
Make it your individual
Customisation is the secret for a professional controller, and the Revolution 5 Professional presents loads of other ways to make it your individual.
These weights are available in a couple of variants and are straightforward to fit in and experiment with, letting you modify the controller’s general hand-feel actually simply, which is nice and never provided by many opponents.
That very same ease applies to swapping thumbsticks too, and also you additionally get entry to some metallic rings to cut back the journey distance in your sticks, one thing that requires just a little extra consideration to note however may also actually assist with controller tuning.
It is sensible with the ability to swap between journey distances for the triggers, too, though even the shorter possibility continues to be not fairly as clicky as a devoted modded controller just like the one I used from Mega Modz recently can supply.
Nonetheless, these are all bodily choices you could tweak as you want, making it fairly easy to make main adjustments to how the Revolution 5 Professional feels in response to your style.
There are additionally 4 further buttons on the again of the controller case, and these could be remapped at will – one thing that you are able to do utilizing software program in your PC or by simply holding down some buttons.
The latter is lifeless straightforward, and I used to be shortly capable of set them up as I like, with the face buttons mapped to the again in order that my thumbs keep on the stick whereas enjoying.
Button placement is an enormous a part of the success of a professional controller, and the principle two buttons added, S1 and S2, are preferrred – central and simply the place my fingertips curl to.
The others are on the grips themselves and are just a little extra awkward to activate – in apply, I discover that I actually use the principle two extra no matter which controller I am on, however Scuf nonetheless makes the perfect again buttons I’ve examined, on the Reflex.
Nonetheless, Nacon has performed a really strong job right here and a few individuals will likely discover the association fully good. In a really perfect world, you’d have the ability to attempt one out in a store earlier than committing, although.
Efficiency
Gaming upgraded
After all, you possibly can’t assess a professional controller by simply taking a look at it from all angles – you need to leap into video games with it, so I have been working the Revolution 5 Professional as my foremost controller for a few weeks.
I play a variety of Warzone and Rocket League, two very totally different video games with totally different necessities, and one of many points I’ve had with different professional controllers is that I need clicky responses for Warzone and throttle management for Rocket League.
Properly, the Revolution 5 Professional aces that take a look at – its triggers work nice for each because of these variable journey distances, and the additional buttons are nice for making my very own management scheme.
I’ve additionally been sampling a bunch of The Finals‘ open beta (which is terrific), and the controller has held as much as each stress take a look at I’ve give you.
There are, nonetheless, some drawbacks to deal with, most of them out of Nacon’s palms due to how Sony offers with third-party controllers.
Firstly, in contrast to a modified DualSense just like the Scuf Reflex, this is not recognised by your PS5 as a standard controller – it wants a dongle, and meaning it could possibly’t do some easy issues.
For one, its PS button will not flip the console on, so you may have to do this manually earlier than turning on the controller to maneuver on (a small element however doubtlessly an annoying one).
Subsequent, once more as a result of it isn’t a DualSense, you will not get the haptics that Sony’s personal controller presents. In truth, in PS5 video games you will not get any haptics or vibration in any respect.
Now, I view this as a controller for aggressive play, quite than a one-size-fits-all possibility just like the DualSense Edge, which works as properly for informal play as the professional scene. I am unable to see this being a deal-breaker, since you possibly can at all times join your regular DualSense if you wish to play one thing immersive like Alan Wake 2.
Nonetheless, it does imply that you simply’re not going to have the ability to consign your outdated controllers to reminiscence, if that issues to you, and it barely tarnishes the in any other case spectacular efficiency of the Revolution 5 Professional.
Verdict
The Revolution 5 Professional is a good new possibility for individuals who take their controllers significantly, and an important pairing with the PS5 or a high-class PC. It is acquired oodles of customisation choices and may actually simply be constructed to really feel impeccable within the hand.
There are a couple of usability hiccups that make it doubtlessly rather less person pleasant in some methods, but when you will get over these minor hurdles it nonetheless has rather a lot to supply as a instrument for high-level play.
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