PB Tails Crush Controller Review

thesixthaxis.com:

The gaming tech universe is incredibly competitive these days, but there’s always room for new and innovative entries from creators around the world. Hong Kong-based PB Tails are entering the controller arena with the Crush, a Bluetooth 5.0 enabled pad compatible with PC, Switch, iOS and Android. Fully customisable, it boasts Hall Effect sticks and triggers which will last you well into the next generation.

First impressions of the Crush are very good. Our review unit arrived in China White, and its glossy plastic face is matched by a matt finish rear. The PB Tails logo acts as your home button, and there’s a cool little logo wrapped around the underside of the right analog stick that tells you what it is and where it’s from. There are the standard assortment of Xbox-styled face buttons, and the analog sticks are similarly positioned in the Microsoft-centric asymmetric layout.

The cases are interchangeable, and held on with strong magnets, so there’s no danger of them popping off at the pointy end of a round of PUBG. The customisation further extends to the controller’s fully RGB lighting, with 256 possible colours. You don’t have an app to customise these, rather using a series of button and stick combinations in order to switch the colour, hue and brightness.

As standard, the buttons are individually lit with the Xbox’s colour, and they are legitimately pretty garish, but there’s further presets that ape the colour schemes of the Super Famicom and PlayStation to add a bit of retro or rival console cool. Alternatively, you can alter and customise the different sectors to your liking so they match up with everything else you own. It’s a bit of a learning experience – you hold the ‘T’ button alongside the analogue sticks or D-pad – and while it would have been nice to be able to use an app to have full control over every single button, it’s nicely implemented overall and easy to change on the fly.

I love how the Crush feels in your hand. The glossy front plate feels nice