Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So, a while back in the Xbox 360 era, i had the Collectors Edition of Ace Combat 6. You know, the fancy one with the Ace Edge stick bundled in with it. I played that game to death, a few hundred if not thousand hours worth spent getting S ranks on all the missions, unlocking everything, and generally having fun. Every time i fired up that game, i made sure to have that flight stick plugged in because that was THE way to play the game. It made an arcade flight sim stupidly immersive, and was honestly a perfect controller. Well built, rock solid, 100% accurate, i cant say enough good things about the Ace Edge. That controller isnt still around, but Ace Combat is, and i recently picked up the 7th iteration in the series. Course, while an Xbox One controller is plenty functional in the game, a flight stick is so much more fun. Unfortunately, AC7 is compatible with a very small amount of licensed flight sticks, but remembering just how much fun i had with the Ace Edge and how good a controller it was, i had trust in going with this officially licensed option. Holy crap yall, lightning DID NOT strike twice with this one. Out of the box this thing was just a joke. For one, its all plastic. Now, plastic is not a bad thing, and being made of plastic doesnt automatically trash the quality of something. This plastic, however, was the cheap plastic. Like, the seams barely lined up, sharp edged everywhere, everything rattled around, the joystick even flexed under just the weight of a hand. Not flexed as in moved around like a joystick is meant to, but actually curved. Good plastic exists, but this aint it chief. Another glaring issue is weight, or complete lack thereof. Thanks to the paper-thin walled plastic and the lack of anything of substance, this thing is light. Some of you are no doubt wondering how a low weight is a bad thing, and to that i invite you to look at the bottom of this thing. Now suction cups or grippy pads, just smooth plastic nubs. End result? A controller that slides around when you want to turn. Build quality aside, lets take a look at functionality. First off, the joystick, the meat of the controller and what youll be spending the most time with. Wiggle the joystick about and that controls your plane, sure, but look at the buttons. You have a trigger for the main gun at your index finger, standard fare there, no problems yet. On the front side, you have a big stripet button to fire missiles, again standard fare. Next to that button, you have one more button to make 2 on the front. Ace Combat has 4 buttons you need to press with regularity, one to fire the gun, one to fire missiles, one to switch from missile to special weapon, and one to cycle through targets. Keen eyed viewers will note here, 2 is less than 4. Now, granted, there is another button on the back of the joystick, just above the trigger, in a location thats awkward to hit at best. To Thrustmasters credit, the buttons still exist, theyve just been relocated to the throttle. 3 of the buttons are reachable and laid out halfway intelligently, but the Y button is placed in a spot where you have to awkwardly twist your wrist to press it. What is flat out gone is the right stick, i.e the stick that would be on the right side of a standard Xbox controller. In Ace Combat, that stick is used to allow you to change the camera angle, to see around you. Not having that is somewhat rather detrimental. That little nubbin on the top of the joystick? Thats not a jowstick, its a hat switch. No analog axis on that one, which is a massive problem. As the final cherry on top, i dont know if i got a defective unit or what, but the throttle control, in addition to being poorly designed with regards to the button layout, has no resistance to it, none, nada. If you pushed it forward out of the center throttle detent it just flops about once you let go, theres nothing to keep it in place. Want to go a set speed, push the throttle forward and have it keep itself in place? Too bad! Poor build quality, layout and quality control make this a horrible followup to the Ace Edge controller, and the price makes it even worse. At $80, the quality should be miles better than what it is, especially for a licensed tie-in. Save your money, dont bother with this one, especially not if you liked its predecessor