I’ve been a big fan of the Xbox 360 controller since the launch of the 360 itself and I’ve long desired a similar option for the PS3. Don’t get me wrong, the DualShock 3 is a fantastic controller and works perfectly for just about every genre, but when it comes to shooters, I prefer the ‘alternate’ layout of the analog sticks. This preference has led me on a seemingly endless search for a usable third-party option that offers what the DS3 doesn’t. I’d venture a guess that I’ve tried somewhere in the neighborhood of about 12 different controllers, all of them containing at least one fatal flaw.

[boxout]Traditionally, it’s build quality. Third-party manufacturers know that they can’t construct a controller that requires them to sell it for the same price as the DS3 to make a profit. For that kind of money, consumers will simply buy a Sony controller and unfortunately, the majority of people looking at third-party accessories are likely just hunting for a cheaper product. Which is exactly the problem with most of the controllers I’ve tried; they’re cheap.

They’re either using RF technology that requires a dongle, or they’re not wireless at all, or they don’t have rumble, etc. I have stumbled across a couple of them that do feature every single bell and whistle that the DS3 comes with, but if the company behind the controller has forked out the kind of dough it takes to pack it with those features, the quality of the internal components usually dramatically suffers.

This brings us to the Gioteck HF-2. As the name would indicate, this is the second iteration of this controller. It comes with the alternate analog stick layout and the concave stick/trigger design found on the standard Xbox 360 controller. It also comes with Bluetooth connectivity, rumble, a ‘turbo’ function and a nifty switch that allows you to swap the functions of the bumpers and triggers on the fly. The two things it’s missing that the DS3 has is Sixaxis support and an internal battery.

I was a little skeptical when I first laid eyes on it because its design was actually a bit of a turnoff. The controller has kind of a fat outer shell and I worried it would be uncomfortable. Turns out it actually felt pretty natural for me to hold, despite being different from any other controller I’ve used before. I do think that people with really small hands might have a small comfort issue but for most, it likely won’t be a problem.

The analog sticks felt good, the triggers were marvelous and the face buttons were acceptable. The D-pad uses a design similar to that of the Xbox 360 remote but it seemed a little more precise, yet not quite as accurate as the DS3’s individual buttons.

Speaking of the analog sticks, they’re actually customizable. You can hook the HF-2 to your PC and choose between different settings of varied resistance. There were only two of them at the time of writing and that was the only part of the controller we could customize, but Gioteck says on their website that the controller is capable of entire firmware updates. It’s unclear what they could offer beyond what they already have but it could be interesting to see what they come up with in the future.

The bumpers (L1-R1) threw me for a little bit of a loop at first because they don’t engage at the high side of button like you would expect. In order to compress them properly you have to press it towards the far edge of the button, which means almost completely moving your hand on the controller. As I played with it, I realized that Gioteck designed it that way so you can hit the outer edges of the bumper with the inside of your knuckle, without taking your fingers off the triggers. Although it took me a few minutes to get used to, that portion of the controller is actually brilliantly designed. Not only was it comfortable but, after some practice, it turned out to be more efficient too.

There are really no glaring weaknesses when it comes to the design of the HF-2 but there are still a few minor things I’d like to see changed for a future model. For starters, the face buttons sit a little bit too high on the controller and require a long press to get them all the way down, meaning you can’t mash them quite as quickly as those on other controllers. And while I loved the customizable analog sticks, the tiny flares they have on each side are just a tad annoying. I’d love to see Gioteck just round them off and make the top of each stick a perfect circle. And of course, I feel compelled to also ask for an internal battery and Sixaxis support, but implementing those two things would likely drive the cost of the HF-2 beyond its very reasonable range of £22-£30.

Small gripes aside, The Gioteck HF-2 is the best third-party PS3 controller I’ve tried to date. It’s not as good of an all-around controller as the DualShock 3 but if you’re hell-bent on finding a pad that has the alternate stick layout, you’ll struggle to find a better one than the HF-2. Gioteck have left themselves room to improve for the inevitable HF-3 model but they’ve still succeeded in creating one of the best non-Sony controllers on the market.