AimControllers Custom PS4 Controller Review
Build your own controller
I am something of a controller design enthusiast. As a user researcher in the games industry, and I’ve always had an interest in user centered design, and how that’s applied both in software, and hardware.
With my PS4, this interest quickly lead me into the world of custom and PRO PS4 controllers. I always felt that the standard Dual Shock 4 was missing something, wanting to press more buttons than I could reach at any one time, or wanting to be more accurate than I felt the standard Dual Shock analog sticks would allow. I always found myself seeking a better alternative. I’ve tried the Astro C40, the Nacon Rev 2, Unlimited, a Scuff Custom, the Razer Raiju, an Evil Controllers Custom, and this week I’ve just received my latest pad from AimControllers.
Before buying any of these controllers in the past, I always try to read reviews online. I may have purchased a lot of controllers for my PS4, but I’m not interested in wasting money on a product that has no value to me. But something that’s quick to pick up on, is that most of these product reviews barely touch upon some critical points. Input latency, stick tension, and the products warranty are rarely discussed.
Because of these issues, trying to get a feel for what these pads are like prior to buying them myself, has often been a very difficult experience. I remember buying controllers like the Razer Raju after watching reviews, only to find that the controller would persistently drop inputs, and controllers like the C40, only to find that the stick tension made the analog aiming feel very loose compared to a standard Dual Shock 4. These types of fairly critical issues were very rarely mentioned in reviews.
These limited reviews aren’t without exception, before moving on to my own review of the aim controller, I’d like to give a quick mention to Airbear’s youtube channel, who’s content on these controllers has helped spur my interest in their design.
For this review, I’m going break things down into various segments based on attributes of the device that I think readers will be interested in. Unlike a video game review, for the most part these controllers aren’t open to artistic interpretation, and I suspect readers are particularly interested in the performance of specific areas of the pad, like the thumb sticks, triggers or back paddles. I’ll start by describing my custom build from AimControllers, then go into specifics on each area.
My Build
My build from AimControllers was fairly simple, I wanted the best they had to offer for everything. I wanted back paddles that had custom remapping, I wanted thumb sticks that were raised so that I could get better accuracy, and I wanted all of my bumpers replaced as digital triggers so that they could be pressed very quickly when compared to the buttons on a standard DS4.
The website itself was fairly easy to use. The option to ‘build PS4’ left me a little confused at first, but upon clicking this I realised that this meant build PS4 controller, and not system (some sites also offer custom PS4 shells). Using the PS4 ‘configurator’ on their website was for the most part, easy. Though at times it was hard to keep track of which item I had selected among the options in the list on the right hand side, particularly as selecting one of these would often unfold into a list of items as long as the page would display.
For the most part, the customisation options were very thorough, there’s a wide range of colours to choose from, and almost everything you’d expect to see from a pro controller available as an option. Despite this, there were a couple of omissions. For instance, the colour options for analog sticks aren’t the entirely the same as the colour options for your buttons. This means your buttons and sticks won’t match with certain colours selected — you can’t get purple sticks, no matter your hearts desire.
But this is a fairly minor issue. It was easy to find a set of options I felt looked good together, and I found the customiser on their webpage, easier to use than others offered by Evil Controllers or Battle Beaver Customs.
There was one unfortunate absence from the list of customisation options though, and that is the option to customise your stick tension. Battle Beaver and Evil Controllers both offer users options to increase the tension (the force required to move) on the analog sticks. Many players swear by this feature, arguing that it allows them to move the sticks with more consistency.
Stick tension is also a handy accessibility feature too, for instance if you experience something like tremors, you might find that involuntary hand movements get picked up by your controller too easily. Upping the stick tension can help players with that kind of motor difficulty play the game without issue. So the option would be nice to have.
With that said, I’ve used controllers with increased stick tension in the past, and honestly didn’t enjoy them over time. I found the increased tension on my Evil Controllers custom was just too high, and actively hurt rather than helped my accuracy in-game. So while the option would be nice to see, I was happy to build a pad without increased stick tension.
From Poland to York
AimControllers is a custom controller company based in Poland, which as someone in the UK, is nice to see. In the past I’ve ordered from places like Evil Controllers and Scuff and the shipping across the Atlantic is always a bit of a pain. The costs are heftier, the time it takes to arrive is longer, and returns are always much more difficult too. I picked the fast build and shipping options, and placed an order with AimControllers on Saturday, the controller arrived with UPS on Wednesday, just three working days from the point of order. Fantastic service.
When my controller arrived it was packed up nice and secure, with minimal risk of being damaged in transit. The black casing that the controller came in felt to be of good quality, and everything was sat inside nice and securely.
Aesthetic
It would be unfair on my readers if I didn’t point our a minor issue with the aesthetics on this pad. While the controller generally lived up to what was advertised on the site, if you look at the picture above you’ll notice that the action buttons (x, square, triangle, o) are not the same colour as the d-pad, and options buttons. One set is purple, one set is pink. This was not my choice, and not what was represented on the site. In the order information all of these are listed as ‘purple’ so you would always assume that they would be the same colour.
On the site itself, it mentions that some shell casings may not be the same colour as advertised because of the hydrographic technique used to apply the graphics, but this is not true for the face buttons. All of these buttons should be dyed in the same way, they feel as though they are made of the same material, there’s no clear reason why the face buttons would be a different shade. A minor issue, but it does spoil desired aesthetic to an extent. I’ve reached out to AimControllers to see what they have to say about this.
Paddles
The paddles at the back of the controller are always one of the biggest incentives to buy a new pad. But whether or not these paddles are placed in a position that’s comfortable for every players hands, is a different story.
AimControllers do a good job with their paddles which sit at the back of the controller running from the center to each of the two handles. Each paddle is quite quite easy to press at any point in the lower half of the paddle, meaning if your hands sit higher or lower at the back, you can simply press them at a different position.
Using four paddles takes some time to get used to, and in my experience there’s always two of the four paddles that feel slightly less comfortable to press than the other two. This is the same for the AimController, as I find the lower two paddles very comfortable, but find it a little more awkward to press the upper two paddles. As a result, I’ve mapped less-commonly used functions to the lower upper two paddles, and I’m using the lower paddles for actions I use very frequently, such as jump and crouch.
When pressed the paddles make a satisfying clicking sound. This click is louder than your typical mouse-click, so players wanting a quieter gaming experience might find this irritating. I personally like the confirmatory sounds that come with button presses — I’m a fan of things like arcade sticks and mechanical keyboards — but if that’s not for you, then these paddles might not be ideal. With that said, the few Pro controllers I’ve used that don’t have clicking paddles tend to be less well rounded.
Thumbsticks
The thumbsticks are make or break for many of these pro controllers. No one wants to buy a £250 controller only to find it becomes harder to aim in their favourite game. With the AimController I opted to get their own custom thumb sticks, these were essentially the same as you get on a PS4 or Xbox One, except they were replacable.
The benefits to this were two fold. First it meant that I could get white thumbsticks, which fit with the shell and overall aesthetic I was going for with the pad. Second, the thumb sticks had replacable caps. You could get caps that were taller, or even caps that were shaped like the thumbsticks on an Xbox One controller.
The thumbsticks felt great. For me, they felt just like the thumbsticks you get on a regular PS4 controller, with the added benefit of making them taller if you wanted to. With that said, it wasn’t long before I decided to attach a Kontrol Freak thumbstick onto the pad, mostly because I’ve been using Kontrol Freaks for years, and for me they just feel a little bit grippier than the stock thumbsticks on PS4 or Xbox One.
It’s worth mentioning that in terms of stick tension, the AimController felt just like a standard Dual Shock 4. Perhaps just a little stiffer than the one I was using prior, but that’s because stick tension tend to get looser over time, as the controller gets ‘worn in’ and the resistance pulling the stick back to its centre point gets lower. In any case, the AimController felt great right away.
Bumpers
One big difference between this custom controller and a standard DS4 is how I had all of the back buttons replaced with low-latency digital buttons. What this means is, the analog L2 and R2 buttons lost their range of actuation and became more like a single mouse click with a very short amount of movement required to trigger the button press. This was applied to the L1 and R1 buttons too, and while these were already digital buttons, these buttons on the AimController require less movement.
In a competitive setting what this means is, your button is going to register slightly faster than your opponents. With L2 and R2, this difference also makes it much more reliable to press the button in rapid succession, which is useful when using singlefire weapons like sidearms, or certain assault rifles.
On the whole, I’d say these are a big improvement on the standard DS4. The L1 & R1 digital buttons make less of a difference by comparison, but the faster-actuation on L2 and R2 is huge, especially on games like Destiny which for whatever reason, features a large deadzone before the game registers the players input on a trigger squeeze.
It’s worth mentioning that the L1, L2, R1 and R2 buttons all have an audible click to them after making this change. Like with the back paddles, if you’re after a silent controller, this isn’t for you, but again, I find the sounds satisfying. It makes it clear when my input is being sent from the controller, to the game, at the exact moment that it occurs.
Buttons
This is perhaps the least interesting change on the whole controller, the face buttons were all swapped out with alternative buttons, with a custom colour. These are no different to what is featured on a standard DS4. The buttons are made of similar plastic (though perhaps a little more matte than glossy), and feel identical to press. This is presumably because while the plastics are changed, the underlying method of actuation is the same. If you like the PS4 D-Pad, then you’ll get the same feel out of the D-Pad here.
In general I’m a big fan of how the PS4 controller feels, and how the buttons feel. So for me, it was great that everything felt the same. In the past I’ve used controller modding services like Evil Controllers, and the give users the opportunity to reduce the actuation time of the face and D-Pad buttons. That could be a nice option for players of things like fighting games, where those milisecond response times on your inputs can make a difference. On the whole though, I was very happy with the feel of the buttons on the pad.
Connectivity
Finally I just wanted to talk briefly about the controllers connectivity. Like a DS4 the controller can connect via bluetooth or with a wire, and I received a cable with the controller. When I placed my order I actually made a mistake buying an extra wire, as I wasn’t aware that the controller came with one. The cable itself was of pretty impressive quality, and the tiny pins on the connector ensure that the cable can’t fall out of your controller if you’re using it in wired mode. It felt better than the micro USB cable that came with the PS4, and it felt like the braided cable was built to last.
Build Quality and Warranty
So here’s where the AimControllers kind of… falls apart. I’ve been using this pad for 5 days, and unfortunately I’m experiencing some pretty horrible issues with the analog stick. This might be a one-off issue, but it’s pretty regretable that this would be happening pretty much out of the box.
The issue I’m experiencing is that the controller simply turns at different speeds, in different directions. For whatever reason the analog input is not reaching it’s maximum threshold. You can see this in the video below, my turning to the left is far slower than my turning to the right.
This is hugely problematic, as it means that my muscle memory for a any games camera controls can’t be applied consistently to land my shots. The camera moving inconsistently simply makes it difficult to be consistent with my aim, and not only that, I’m simply slower to turn. It makes the whole thing frustrating and awkward to play with.
Another issue I noticed, is that you can’t seem to use the traditional ‘reset’ method that works for typical Dual Shock 4’s when using this custom AimController. At least on my build the AimController doesn’t have a functioning reset pin. I’m not sure if this is intentional or a mistake with the build, but as is, the pin-reset that would likely fix the slow aim issue is not available on this pad. Problematic then, as I’ve seen this issue on controllers before, and without the reset button, the controller essentially ceases the function as soon as this occurs.
Final Verdict
I really like the feel of the AimController. I really like the digital buttons, I really like the feel of the triggers, but I’m unhappy with the out of the box performance. Within just a few days using this pad I’m already experiencing some serious issues, and that’s without mentioning the messed up aesthetic thanks to AimControllers miss-matching the shade of the face buttons.
I’ve reached out to Aim to see if they can address this issue. Their website states that their controllers have a lifetime warranty, with any luck they’ll get a functioning controller back in my hands quickly. With that said, the way that the reset pin on the back of the controller doesn’t work makes me think that their mods might consistently disable this, which is going to cause issues in the long-term as there’s no fix if you encounter a scenario where this is needed.
I’m still optimistic that this is just a mistake, and that AimControllers will address this issue quickly, because I really want to like the product. But as is, I can’t recommend their controllers to anyone. I’ll be updating this review in the near future.
Update: Aimcontrollers offered to replace and repair the pad, following which, the stick control issue was resolved. The buttons are still a slightly missmatched shade, but I can’t knock the controller on its performance.
