Turtle Beach Recon controller review: even more control

Turtle Beach is best known for making gaming headsets, but they recently released their first controller called Recon for Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, and PC. It’s a wired model at $ 59.99 available in black or white that doesn’t look all that different from Microsoft’s wireless controller. The little that it changes in terms of design is ultimately successful, and I’ll get into all of that shortly. But I want to focus on the feature that kills the Recon first: customization.

When you plug a headset into its 3.5mm headphone jack, the button panel at the top of the Recon can be used to make a multitude of changes to your game and chat audio as well as your microphone. You can choose from four equalizer presets that range from focusing more on bass to a sound dominated by treble. Mic monitoring can be adjusted and you can choose to leave more voices in your headphones if you want, if they have a built-in mic, or you can mute the mic completely.

The Recon also lets you independently adjust game audio and chat volume with two rockers, one on each side. (Note: the chat mix feature only works on Xbox consoles, not PCs.) Turtle Beach even added a “Superhuman Hearing” button – a feature of its headset line that emphasizes sounds. easy to miss like footsteps, opening doors, and other key sounds that might help you position yourself ahead of the competition.

Essentially, the Recon brings much-needed headset functionality to a controller, lowering the barrier to entry for the number of gaming accessories you need. It’s great and all, but you’ll need some patience and practice to conquer the inelegant button layout that enables these features, and the others mentioned below. Everything works as expected, but you will need to keep the instruction manual handy.

In addition to fine-tuning the sound, the aforementioned knobs also allow you to make several adjustments to how the controller controls. The Recon allows you to map any function of the controller (aside from analog stick movement) to any of the two macro buttons located behind the controller handles. The latest feature is called Pro-Aim, which lets you toggle between four levels of slowed sensitivity for the right stick. As you activate the setting and cycle through the options to find your preferred sensitivity level, holding down the rear right macro button will slow down the stick movement speed accordingly, potentially making it easier to align your sticks. pictures compared. It works wonderfully, although it is programmed to work only on the rear right button, so it will override a custom function if you have assigned one to the same button.

Aside from the back buttons, the Recon looks like the Microsoft Xbox controller that debuted alongside the Xbox Series X / S consoles. This wired version has rubber-coated grips, and I really like that its buttons have ‘shoulder are completely covered with small raised dots that make them less slippery. (Microsoft’s controller has them too, but they cover a smaller area on the buttons.) Turtle Beach includes a 10-foot long braided cable, so it should be able to work with most entertainment center arrangements.

Compared to new to Microsoft’s latest controller, the buttons and triggers on the Recon controller require a similar amount of force to press. The sticks of the Recon require a bit more force to click. There’s also an eight-way d-pad which will seem like a big improvement if you’re still using the old Xbox Wireless Controller made during the Xbox One days. Otherwise, you won’t notice much of a difference if you’ve used Microsoft’s new controller.

One final note: this controller supports rumble on Xbox consoles, but PC support for rumble is very spotty. The Recon worked great on my PC with Death stranding and Streets of Rage 4, but other titles I’ve tried haven’t provided rumbling comments.

If you already have a wireless controller and a wireless headset that you love, the Recon controller is not really for you. It’s more for people who already own a headset they love and want to expand its capabilities without spending more than they need. Despite Turtle Beach’s less than perfect execution with how to access its many customization features, I’m still happy those features exist in a $ 59.99 controller.

Photograph by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge