Yes, we all love to customize our everyday surroundings, and what better way to spice up that world than with the new Pro BFG Controller? Made by Victrix by PDP, the featured PS5 controller also works with PC and PS4.
It comes as a slight shock as there aren’t many pro controllers for the PS5 on the market. Marked at $179.99, which is about average for these types of devices, the controller offers a host of features, gimmicks, and alternate pieces to satisfy customers.
Style / Feel / Build / Hardware
Upon opening the box, you will face the awe that is the pro controller. The star of the show is the original modular style, including the ability to add the fight pad button layout. The fight pad features a right-side, 6-button layout prioritizing fighting games. Simply take the provided Alan key wrench and remove modules on the Pro BFG. The modules are easily placed into the controller molding and seat with two screws.
Everything has a matte sheen look, as it seems to be their consistent style, including mixed-in glossy face buttons. One can also find purple highlights around the joysticks, toggle switches, and Pro BFG logo on the Playstation pad button. We also see different control stick gates, such as a full 360-degree analog stick and an 8-point for directionals.
The box does provide two of these 8-point gates, both can be placed on either side. In order to change these gates, you have to unscrew the module, where you can manually pop off the unwanted gate ring. Sometimes, I did find them to get stuck enough that I had to scramble for a random tool to gain leverage and refrain from hurting my fingers. Other times, they pop off easily. So there is definitely some inconsistency in the manufacturing there. I’d also like to mention that no extra screws were provided for the modules, so be careful when driving them into their seats.
Anyway, let’s talk about the three d-pad options provided, as it’s just fun to run through all of the goodies included. The stock d-pad is difficult to explain, but it’s a concave and comfortable, all-directional d-pad that nicely cuffs your thumb. Don’t forget your Victrix logo. In the package also lies a more simplified version of this d-pad design, showing more directions molded in. Lastly, you also get the traditional 4-point d-pad design for those seeking nostalgia at their fingertips. Further, there are three different control sticks provided.
One tall and two short sticks that differ in grip. Grip difference includes inward or outward concavity. The inward concave stick grip also has a small patch of texture in the center, making it a bit more sticky for those hard-to-hit shots in-game. An excellent style choice as well. Closing out this hardware list, you also receive a 2.4ghz dongle for high-fidelity wireless speeds and a 10-foot USB-C braided charge cable matching in purple style.
Let’s talk about the Pro BFG controller more, starting with the face that contains all major menu buttons from Playstation controllers, including your menu and share button, Playstation Pad, Playstation home button, and even a Victrix function button. We will get into the function button later, but for now, let’s take a second to mention the high-quality, grippy rubber texture found on the handles. I find the rubber grips to be a favorable texture that is not too rough but offers textural friction to keep your hands in place.
It feels well-made there. Admittedly, I find the controller itself, as well as the handles, could benefit from being a little larger, for my taste at least, but to each their own. The X, Circle, Triangle, and Square buttons feel nice and slick like the Xbox buttons, which is a plus for me, but I found that the buttons do not offer any extra premium feel when clicking. It just seemed a little too normal for me to be on a “Pro Controller.” Regarding the front of the controller, although some parts feel quite durable such as the modules and faceplates, others give off a plastic vibe. Adding to this and flipping the controller over, we encounter large paddle R1 and L2 triggers. This is a plus as the large buttons make the controller stand out more and give a more comfortable press-down when firing at your enemy. The R2 and L2 triggers feel more “airey” than the partner R1 and L1 buttons, as they give off a distinct click upon pressing.
Both sets of right and left triggers did feel unique and well thought over, providing bonus points to the Pro BFG. Staying on the topic of the triggers, you can set up to 5 actuation distances to your liking on R2 and L2 using the grooved switches on the back. This was so delightful as for you semi-auto shooters, you can react faster by a landslide, or you can make sure you have some breathing room if you are trigger-happy. Not to mention, this is patented by Victrix, so we like to see that.
The triggers are also finely textured to where it almost feels like fuzz, yet with grip. I was pleased with the upper echelon touch, and the controller feels premium here. On the top of the Pro BFG, we also see a USB charging cable port and the toggle switch for PS5, PS4, and PC highlighted in that Victrix purple. Moving on to the back of the controller, other than the toggle buttons already mentioned, we are blessed with four paddle “customizables” defaulted to X, Circle, Triangle, and Square.
In order to customize, you can use the rear profile button, which allots up to 3 custom cyclable profiles. If you hold the button down along with clicking the intended button to be changed, you can tap the new mapped button and the light with the flash, indicating success on your new customized Pro BFG. It seems like this controller accommodates everything, but let’s keep going.
Performance / Hands-on Use / Features / User Experience / Analysis / Etc.
Let’s quickly cover some notable features I haven’t mentioned to kick off the spicy part of the review. First, the function button is a little secret weapon that controls your chat volume, or your in-game volume on the fly, with the help of your D-pad, of course. Moving left or right while holding the function button will alter your chat volume, and pressing up or down will change your game volume.
The nice part about this is that it allows the user to not take their hands off the controller to control extraneous features. Kudos… One side note is that the 3.5mm jack only works on consoles, so you lose the ability for audio controls through the D-pad and the Playstation Pad button.
Additionally, by holding the function button and tapping L1 and R1, you can cycle between different audio modes indicated by a light. Said modes include Pure Audio, Bass Boost, and Treble Boost. Lastly, the Pro BFG also features Tournament lock mode, which disables your face menu buttons. To enter lock mode, quickly press and release the function and profile buttons simultaneously, where the function button will light red indicating tournament mode. To leave this mode, simply repeat the button combination.
Moreover, regarding the modular user experience, the left side of the controller can act like an Xbox controller, being that the stick layout resides on the upper left, or you can rotate the module to resemble the Playstation Controller. For an almost universal Pro controller, this is a wonderful addition to the Pro BFG. Next, I find the 8-point gates for the analog stick provide a limited experience of directionality, as I would have liked to see the 8 points closer in for a quicker actuation response. I almost find myself reaching too far where it’s nearly the same as the 360 gates, if that makes sense.
Moving on to the fight pad, the buttons offer a punchy click with sensitive action for your quickest input reactions when dueling it out. Although the buttons look and sound nice, I feel like they come off as cheap since they are a bit wobbly, and sometimes hard to feel if they have risen back up after being depressed. These are really my only complaints because I respect the crap out of this controller for being so inclusive to different types of gamers.
The portability aspect of a fight pad for fighting fans is a huge win, as true fighters understand the benefits of having the proper button layout. Continuing, the tall joystick is a “joy” to use, right or left, because it makes the controller, in my opinion, more comfortable to hold, and it also adds more fine movements to your gameplay. You have to move your thumbs less to impact the duration more, so if you like the sound of that, you do not need to purchase extra accessories with the Pro BFG.
It would have been awesome to receive an extra tall joystick for a total of two, but maybe I am just asking for too much. I can’t say if this will improve your gameplay, as everyone is different, but the tall joystick puts a smile on my face. Post statement, when rotating the left module, it is recommended you should “recalibrate” your controller through a series of steps listed in the user manual. There are enough steps to leave this out, so make sure you know how you like your controller configuration.
Post-post statement, the tall control stick in the PC controller configuration blocks the left menu button just about in full, making it quite a task just to hit it. It’s not the biggest deal, but the minor flaws you trade off when designing a modular system are worth mentioning. Furthermore, jumping to other performance-based features like the trigger clutch system, I must say that this enhanced my gameplay considerably. I like to use semi-auto rifles in my games, and the quick reaction time of the hair-trigger makes it easy to get your bullets out quicker. This patented system is the star of the show next to the fight pad and, alone, could make me want to buy this controller.
It’s also nice that each side can have its own actuation distance set, as I like my left side looser than the right. Flipping the Pro BFG over to the paddle buttons, I would say that these buttons are in a perfect position relative to my finger placement and hand size. However, I do find them a little sensitive since my immersed grip accidentally depresses them, so make sure they are set to buttons that may not ruin your day. This is just my personal opinion, though, as you may like the sensitivity to your play style.
Id like to add in that the controller boasts 20 hour battery life with 5ms low latency response time. The controller’s battery life is dependent on different profile usage and part choices. Also, a major negative to racing gamers especially, is the lack of haptic feedback, reactive triggers such as vibration on car braking and slippage, and rumble features. You would think they would support basic functions of factory gaming controllers on the market, but unfortunately there were trade offs made for the sake of universal control, and price.
The paddles on the back are definitely well thought out and deserve recognition. I choose to set my right side pointer finger to the crouch button in my games for drop shooting. Yes, I am a drop “shotter” nerds; get over it. To conclude this section, my final statement will refer to the lack of software integration at the time of this review. I believe PDP Victrix is adding support for software customization, but for now, the only customizations that can be done are through the controller profile and function buttons. This may change by the time you see this.
Id like to mention a major bug encountered while using the wireless dongle on PC. Without changing the configuration of the modules on the controller, I experienced stick drifting without my input, as well as slower, faster, or even delayed input than default. It was actually quite frustrating to deal with while in the middle of your favorite game. The only way to fix it was to connect via wire, or reset the controller and mess with the purple toggle switches on the Pro BFG. This bug will have to dock points, as it stood out as a dominant negative.
Conclusion
The Victrix Pro BFG controller for PS5, PS4, and PC does not disappoint, given all of the user features provided. Many of these features are only found here with Victrix, especially their fight pad attachment and trigger clutch system. These aspects make this controller unique and somewhat dominant in this space since there is little competition for them.
Granted, this controller is not perfect, given the price, plastic-like build quality, and some buttons just being wonky such as the menu buttons and fight pad. Let’s not forget about that bug. Still, I can say that the positives of owning this hardware outweigh the negative, leaving you with a great product to brag about. However, if you don’t play fighting games, I am worried that this product will be overlooked as a must-have and fall into the gimmick category, especially due to it costing almost three times as much as a standard controller.
You really have to add value to the customer, and I find the Pro BFG will be viewed as valuable to those who benefit from it. In essence, the controller offers a host of fun, useful features that anyone can enjoy, especially me.
Noisy Pixel is giving the Victrix Pro BFG Controller a B-. I think the build quality is bringing this down the most. Everything works well but it seems a bit off the quality table compared to other pro controllers. Features will sell this controller, though.
Please watch our full youtube video review with more visuals of the controller and parts included.
