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Dream Controller
Score: 75%
Developer: Sunflex
Device Type: Controller


Function:

The Dream Controller is a replacement for your standard Dreamcast controller. As such, it has all the buttons that you?d expect on a normal DC controller, plus a few extra. Unfortunately, those few extra buttons, along with some problems with the ones already on the controller, conspire to make this Dream Controller something closer to a ?nightmare.?

You?ve got your standard things here -- an analog thumbpad, a digital thumbpad, and the four face buttons plus Start. The Dream Controller also has face buttons for the left and right triggers at full swing. At first, this seems incredibly handy. But then two things come to light:


Performance:

1. Games that use the triggers often use them because it makes sense to use the buttons in those locations. Try to play Wacky Races using the face button that corresponds to the right trigger as gas, and you?ll see how pointless the buttons are. There are a few games where they might be useful, but not many.

2. The left trigger ?replacement? is too close to the A button. You?ll find yourself hitting it accidentally, and even when you don?t hit it, it rubs up against your thumb. Not nice.

The triggers are still there where you?d expect them, but they don?t have half the range of motion that the standard DC triggers do. They just don?t feel as good, and they make an annoying ?grinding? noise when you press them as well. I could still use them in games, but I didn?t feel anywhere near as comfortable with them as I did with the standard DC triggers.

The other problem that I had with this controller was the digital thumbpad. It had pressure issues, especially when pressing down. Often, it wouldn?t read that I had pressed it, and I felt like I had to wail on the little pad to get it to register my actions. As I?ve said in previous reviews, when you need absolute precision you switch to the digital pad, so it?s a pain that it lacks the very precision you need. It?s not as bad as the Nyko Omega 2 for the PS2, but it?s almost as annoying.

The extra features that the Dream Controller offers are nice (turbo, mainly), but they don?t make up for the controller?s inadequacies. Which is unfortunate -- a little better quality of design, and this controller would really rock.


Features:
  • All standard DC buttons in standard locations
  • Extra face buttons cooresponding to two triggers
  • Turbo feature that can be turned on and off
  • Two VMU/Vibration Pack slots

Drawbacks & Problems::

The extra face buttons get in the way more than they make themselves useful. The triggers aren?t as ?tight? as the standard DC ones, and make more noise. The thumbpad is less precise as well, and more annoying to use. The cord is a tiny bit shorter than the standard one, which won?t affect 95% of its users, but my chair is just perfect for the standard DC controller and a little too far away for the Dream Controller.

In the end, I can see the Dream Controller as a budget third or fourth controller, but not one that will get regular use. The standard Dreamcast controllers are more comfortable to use and have less problems. So unless you see the Dream Controller for a good bit cheaper than the regular one, you?re probably better off with the Sega standby.


-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications
AKA Phil Bordelon

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Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated