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| I just don't know where to begin. It
was a hot and dusty day out on the dirt track, I was bound and determined to win the
season at all costs. I was second in the championship standings, and needed a podium
finish to wrap up the title. My bike was tweaked to perfection for this track.
Things where going great the entire race . . . I had taken the lead with two laps
to go. As I knocked out a triple jump on the last lap, my handlebars suddenly
slammed to the left and the next thing I knew I had the taste of dirt in my mouth.
The season was over for me. As I road slowly to the finish line my bike
uncontrollably kept falling over, dumping me in the dirt . . . my career was over. "No! No!" I banged the controller on my desk as I watched my Motocross Madness season go up in a cloud of dust. I looked down at the sorry excuse for a controller I held. "Piece of junk," I muttered as I unhooked it and threw it in the trash. It's long career was over as well, destined for some remote landfill. It was time to upgrade. Without doing any research, I threw on my jacket and headed out to the local Future Shop and perused their controller section. Thankfully I wasn't accosted by any sales associates. After checking over some pretty sorry hardware, my attention was focused on two final choices: the Microsoft Sidewinder gamepad and the Gravis Xterminator. Though substantially cheaper, I quickly ruled out the Sidewinder because it didn't have any analog (proportional) controls, and the Gravis was loaded with them. A few minutes later I was heading home to hook up my new toy. FEATURES: For those uninitiated in the fine art of controllers, I will describe two terms first. Digital (on/off) input only has two positions . . on or off. This can make controlling some games great (fighting games) or lousy (driving games). Throttles are either off or wide open, steering wheels are either straight or turned as far as they can go. A proportional (analog) input has an infinite number of positions. Great for driving games and flight sims. Want to turn a little? Just move the controller a little. Want just a little gas or brake? Squeeze it ever so slightly. A proportional controller can turn a game that might be very frustrating, into one that is a blast. The Xterminator has the following list of features:
This is one sexy looking controller. The picture shown below does not show the four buttons hidden on the underside, two of which are proportional flippers great for pinball games or throttle/brakes in driving games. The only problem I have with the layout of the buttons is the location of the throttle (slide control, middle right). It's very hard to use this slide and the six buttons below it at the same time. I've found that it is easier to program one of the flipper buttons (on the top edge) as the throttle. Need for Speed III works great like this.
SETUP: Not much to tell here . . . it was a snap. Plug the sucker in, install the drivers, check the operation through the Control Panel (see below) and you're ready to go. If you're running Windows 98, be sure you download the driver update from http://www.gravis.com. Note the yellow bars in the black boxes. I was testing the proportional buttons when I took this screenshot. This indicates how much you are pushing on a proportional button. None and box is black, all the way in and it will be filled with yellow. The proportional direction pad (left side, center) can be tested as well. Move the pad any direction and the yellow crosshair will move as well. All the buttons, not just the proportional ones, can be tested from this screen.
You can also run a DOS based utility called GravUtil that can do the same tests, as well as test your game port. In addition, you can test other Gravis game controllers that you may have.
MAPPING KEYS: If your favorite game doesn't support the Xterminator, or even a gamepad, have no fear! Gravis had provided a great utility for mapping keystrokes to the Xterminator's buttons. The Keyset Manager comes with 45 pre-defined Windows games, and 20 pre-defined DOS games. You can use them as is, or customize them. Make sure that the keyset for a particular game is pointing to the right executable for the game. This is how the Keyset Manager monitors when to load a keyset.I proceeded to map out the keyboard control for Final Fantasy VII because it insisted on using the proportional pad for control, and the game was really meant to be played with a digital pad. Ten minutes later I as done, and it worked like a charm. Below is a screenshot of the results. Gravis provides a nice graphical representation of the mapping, and the cool thing is, you can spit out a picture of the mapped buttons to your printer for quick reference while getting used to your map. Very handy.
THE PLAY'S THE THING . . . So how does it play you ask? Like a dream. Need for Speed III became a whole different game. I went from consistently placing near last, to finishing first or second. Who needs a game wheel!? Motocross Madness also played like sweet nirvana. I now had complete throttle and brake control, as well as steering control. No more sending my faithful rider into the dirt on the last lap of the championship season! Traditional games like Final Fantasy VII and fighting games don't really play that much differently. Though you can program multiple keystrokes into a single button for wicked fighting combos. How does it fare with 3D shooters like Quake 2 and Half-Life? To be honest, I didn't even try it out because I think a very small percentage of us use a gamepad to play 3D shooters . . . and I know I'm not going to abandon the keyboard/mouse combo anytime soon. BOTTOMLINE: Welcome to the end of the millennium! Gravis has put out one (if not the) best controller on the market that will get you over the hump into the next millennium. This pad is so rich in features and controls, that it could possibly serve as your only dedicated gaming input device for some time to come. For those on a budget it can serve three purposes with ease: a gamepad, a steering wheel, and a joystick . . . all in one. If you don't have the bucks to go out and buy three separate piece of hardware, pick up and Xterminator. If you're looking for a pad with both analog and digital controls, this is one stop shopping. |
