Razer Onza Tournament Edition

Razer Onza Tournament Edition
Razer has cut its chops in the PC gaming peripheral scene for more than 10 years. The company is famous for its mice, but it has been steadily expanding into related categories--keyboards, headphones, speakers, and more. The Onza, however, represents the company's first foray into the console scene, and it's unlike any other controller we've ever seen. Two big features set it apart from a sea of me-toos: analog sticks with adjustable tension and mouse-button-style action buttons. The Onza is available in two flavors: the $50 (€50, £50) Tournament Edition and the $40 (€40, £40) standard edition, and both should be available shortly in both the US and Europe, with a GAME-exclusive March launch planned in the UK.

Razer sent us the Tournament Edition for testing, so our thoughts are limited to that model. By comparison, the standard edition lacks a few key features--adjustable tension and backlighting. It does have the mouse-style buttons, but it lacks a rubberized finish and has a standard plasticized cord.

Adjustable Tension Thumbsticks
The adjustable tension analog sticks are by far the most talked-about feature of the Onza Tournament Edition. We've all had more than our fair share of frustrating gaming moments where we push the analog stick too far or too little, trying to get the cursor to move into an exact spot. The Onza's adjustable tension makes fine movements easier. More tension means you can apply more force and move the stick considerably less. The end result gives you more control, and having more control is always good.

Turning the gear under the thumbstick clockwise adds tension, and a counterclockwise twist loosens it. The gear makes an audible click for each movement, so you can count precisely how many turns you want on both sides. It also makes it easy to get back to your settings if someone else uses the controller. We counted 28 distinct gear clicks, so there's plenty of variability if you want to tweak. Getting to your precise setting shouldn't take more than a minute if they've been changed.

Adding tension to the sticks forces some trade-offs. More tension means you'll likely be moving the sticks much more slowly, and it will take you longer to push the stick to the farthest range of movement. Adding tension also makes it difficult (almost impossible at the highest tension setting) to depress the analog stick buttons. Fortunately, you can remap them via the controls on the bottom of the Onza, which we cover later in this article.

Buttons
Razer added its "Hyperesponse" buttons to the controller, but we're going to call them mouse-click-style buttons. And we love them. The mechanical design emits an audible click with each button press. Button-mashing contests are a breeze with the Onza. The shorter button throw lets you quickly fire off more presses with lightning speed.

Two small buttons on the back remap any other control to the left and right multifunction buttons located above the left and right shoulder buttons. To be completely clear, the remap buttons will not record macros. To reassign a button, you simply hold down either the remap left or remap right button on the back of the controller and the button you want to mimic. The settings are saved onto the controller's memory, so unplugging the controller and walking it over to another console won't affect your presets.

Nothing says l33t like lights, and the Onza has them. Once plugged in, the ABXY buttons all take on a nice little glow that would be hard to notice in a well-lit room. When it's dark, you'll definitely see them, but they're far from blinding.

Razer moved the start and select buttons farther down the face of the controller. It keeps them out of the way, but they're also harder to reach in games that make use of them. Of course, you can also remap the start and select buttons, which solves that little problem.

D pad
Razer didn't leave much of the controller untouched, and the D pad is no exception. Most D pads feature single-unit construction, but Razer departs from that and gives each direction its own independent button. The design change has its benefits and drawbacks. Diagonal button presses feel awkward, while games that use the D pad as a selector of sorts benefit from the removal of wayward button presses.

Razer gave the Onza a 15-foot braided cord. Yup--it's wired. That's a shame, but Microsoft's wireless license doesn't come cheap. On the plus side, you can easily use it with a PC, as it registers as a conventional Xbox 360 controller.

Final Thoughts


Razer's Onza brings a lot of innovative features to the console-gaming scene. But all it needed was one, the variable tension analog sticks. Everything else is gravy. At $50 or €40, the price of entry isn't exactly steep compared to Microsoft's official controllers. If you can live with a wire again, the added benefits are sure to be appreciated.




Thanks to the guys at www.gamespot.com for the news