Is it a wired or a wireless pad? The wired’s are built to poorer quality standards and tend to have “slowturn” issues and an increased tendency to wander on their own. The wireless pads are much better, though still far from perfect. Try to avoid any control schemes where you have to click in the R3 button on the stick, cause that’s the worst offender in terms of wearing the stick out.
The sad thing is, as mediocre as the MS pads are, there aren’t many better options. The overpriced MLG and Razer “pro” controllers are unanimously less accurate and break much faster. A few Logitech and Belkin pads might be a couple percents better in the deadzone department, but they only work on PC, and since they follow the dualshock layout, your thumbs cockblock eachother if you try to aim left while strafing right.
Right now my MS pads are working ok (I only need them occasionally) but if mine broke tomorrow, I’d try the Hori FPS Assaults. They’re pretty well reviewed with no reported deadzone issues, they’ve got some nice extra features which actually seem to work as advertised, the d-pad has got to be at least a little better than the MS pads, and unlike the EX2, limited supply hasn’t driven prices through the roof.
Allegedly the Mad Catz FPS Pro is also way better than all their shitty other pads, so if I had money burning a hole in my pocket, I’d give one a shot.
I definitely agree there. I’d even say that a gamepad is better off in a FG vs. a stick than vs. a mouse in an FPS, but the analogy applies. The only difference is, the degree to which developers dumb games down due to perceived control disadvantages. Sure, Capcom has added shortcuts over the years to make inputs a little more lenient, but this is generally consistent from arcades to consoles, and very minor compared to the heavy amounts of auto-aim and dumbing down of design which have been added to console shooters due to the perception that gamepads just aren’t accurate enough.
Granted, it makes sense to go to a somewhat slower-paced combat style for consoles, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing on its own. Super Turbo, Third Strike, even SF4 aren’t necessarily bad just cause they’re slower than Marvel. That approach could work for games like Halo, Gears, and Killzone if they stripped out the auto-aim and overhauled the weapon balance/mechanics. Instead, analog sticks have become just one extra excuse for developers to pump out dumb games, and for gamers who don’t know better to just accept it.
