If any of you are old (or crazy) enough to have watched the original Police Academy movie, you may remember Mahoney teaching Hightower to drive a car. The 7 foot tall Hightower rips out the front seats of an 80s-era Honda Civic hatchback so he can sit in the front, to which Mahoney replies, “This is good. Driver comfort is important.” The same goes for the younger gamers in your household. There’s nothing more frustrating than watching a kid struggle to operate a controller that’s too big for them.
The PowerA Mini Series Wired Controller for the Microsoft Xbox One is a solid little controller, just the right size for smaller hands. It is quite robust, having been submitted to some rough-housing by the young volunteer tester in my house. We all start out as button mashers and our test pilot is no exception. There were no complaints of “it’s not working” or “this button doesn’t work”, leading me to believe there are no issues with responsiveness. I, myself, had no complaints. Another bonus for the controller is that it cleans up well with a simple wet/baby wipe, making quick work of anything left behind by young, sticky hands.
I consider myself to have big hands and I did not find to the controller to be uncomfortable at all, even after a lengthy two player session of The Lego Movie. Button spacing isn’t an issue and it took no time at all to adjust. The thumbsticks move, click and respond as they should. LT and RT are what PowerA call impulse triggers. If you take the controller aside and play around with it in silence, you can hear that the buttons don’t actually trigger or click until depressed over half way. This could be good for itchy trigger fingers.
The only downfall, which can also be seen as a positive, is the connection of the main cord to the USB. If your little gamer is the type who moves around quite a bit when in the heat of an intense gaming session, the plug will release. As mentioned before this can be a god sent, as a moment of lost gaming is certainly better than a console being dragged from your entertainment unit and sent crashing to the floor. This may be the instance where the cord itself could actually be a little longer. It measures just shy of 3 metres from plug to controller. The Xbox One probably could have had USB ports at the front to make everything a little easier; the single one on the side of the box just doesn’t cut it. On the upside, the money spent on batteries could and should be used on more games.
Wether you’d like the Mini Series Controller in straight black or two tone black and bright green, this could be a nice little stocking stuffer for the little gamers in your house this Christmas.
The PowerA Mini Series Wired Controller for the Microsoft Xbox One was reviewed using a retail model as provided by Bluemouth Interactive.
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
