HexGaming Rival Pro PS5 Controller Review: A Mean Contender

On the face of it, HexGaming’s Rival Pro for PlayStation 5 has all the features that make it an instant contender among other options marketed as high-performance esports-ready consoles. It supports wired and wireless connections on PlayStation 5 and PC, has interchangeable thumb sticks to suit different preferences and genres, and most importantly, it includes resettable buttons on the back of the controller. This basic version goes for $199.99, but if you choose the more expensive $289.99 option, you get “FlashShot” hair triggers on the four shoulder buttons as well as a rubber grip (for the purposes of this review, we tried that model that included the upgraded FlashShot and rubber grips).

And for the most part, all of these functions perform exactly as one would hope. The interchangeable thumb sticks, though to be expected is a feature that may now be, one of the best parts of the console. Two sets of thumb sticks allow long, short, concave and convex options to meet different needs depending on what you’re playing. You can take it out easily without having to take apart the other parts of the console, and it navigates so easily that you won’t even realize it was a moot point at all that you feel like you want to ask when it comes to seamless features.

But the motivators were less impressive. These hair-triggers available in the FlashShot upgrade greatly reduce the distance you have to press your shoulder buttons in order to record their input, which is a huge boon in FPS games and related genres. However, the shorter travel distance means there’s less room for error when it comes to firing it, too. On multiple occasions while playing games where you have to shoot weapon sights with the L2, I inadvertently found myself letting go of the button so much that the aim stopped even though I only made a slight adjustment to get the best control. This didn’t happen often as I felt more comfortable with the console, but it never stopped happening completely which is a problem I haven’t had with other premium consoles in the past. Given the shape of the L1 and L2 buttons, the FlashShot feature was barely noticeable on them.

Continuing on the topic of comfort, there are some differences between the body of this controller and the DualSense that you should be aware of. Although its shape looks almost indistinguishable from the DualSense, there is definitely a difference that can be felt along the controller arms that follow the path of the index fingers. It looks like it’s a little longer in that area which means more stretch to hold on to the shoulder buttons. Again, this is something you’ve gotten used to mostly over time, but just as you might find yourself making small, constant adjustments for comfort if you switch from a DualSense to an Xbox console, you’ll have to get comfortable with the Rival Pro in the same way.

With controllers like this that provide remapped buttons on the rear paddles, two questions always come to mind first: How easy is it to reset the input, and how comfortable is it to access and use it? Either way, the Rival Pro works as one would hope. Remapping an input to one of the four back buttons requires only a few hold and presses, and the second you hold the controller, you’ll land where you should have hit the extra buttons. The plastic used in its design makes it very clicky and noisy as if you were using a mechanical keyboard, but it is not a problem if you are using a headphone.

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The look of the console is the aspect I was least interested in since I rarely look at the hardware itself, but the Rival Pro pictured above which I’ve reviewed is acceptable enough. Consider other options available on HexGaming siteThere must be some design that can work for just about anyone. However, it was a bit disappointing to see that there were actually small chips or flaws in the console’s paint job. This was mostly noticeable as the design ended up on various components like the edge of the touchpad, but checking those components showed that the pause button was actually loose in the socket. If someone drops about $300 on a new console, those aren’t things they’d like to see once it’s out of the box.

HexGaming’s Rival Pro is certainly more useful than the regular DualSense due to its extra inputs that are hard to give up once you get used to it, but when you count the shortcomings and missing features like the lack of removable components outside of the thumb sticks, it’s a tough sell compared to what it’s up against (especially with the DualSense). Edge in sight). The cheaper Rival Pro without the rubber grips and FlashShot triggers is more acceptable, but then again, if you can find that and more elsewhere for about the same price, it’s hard to recommend the Rival Pro unless you’re ready to ditch the DualSense as quickly as possible.

a HexGaming Rival Pro PlayStation 5 Controller Provided by HexGaming for this review.

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