The gaming industry has no shortage of controller designs and configurations. Xbox One has an insane amount of colour and customisation options and even has a couple of official pro controllers. In this sense, it’s always been an area that PlayStation has been lacking in. Luckily, if there’s a gap in the market, then it’s bound to be filled, which leads me onto the MEGAMODZ PlayStation 4 Macro Controller. The PlayStation scene certainly lacks modded controllers as a whole, and many aren’t very well designed or efficient. MEGAMODZ is hoping to change that, so now’s the time to see if they manage to do that with a controller review.
The Packaging
The MEGAMODZ controller, as I’ll be referring to it as, plays it safe when it comes to packaging. Using the original and official PlayStation 4 Controller packaging, it certainly does it’s job. It looks neat and clean, but given that MEGAMODZ didn’t actually design the packaging, it’s hard to give the credit to them for this one. Even so the MEGAMODZ controller looks great in its packaging and sits nicely as a display piece when not being used.
It’s also very safe and durable, again, thanks to using the original PlayStation 4 Controller box. It stores the controller, manual and additional bits very nicely and is easy enough to put away. My only recommendation is that the packing is a bit more personalized to the brand. With a name like MEGAMODZ, I have no doubts there are many possibilities for epic packaging designs.
The Instructions (Macros And Mapping)
I’ve owned quite a few scuff controllers and pro controllers. The main difference between all of them is how easy the controller is to pick up and change to my play style. This is one thing that I found very hit and miss with the MEGAMODZ controller. The actual instructions themselves on how to use the controller in many different ways are clear and easy to follow. The problem is just how many instructions there are. Whilst other controllers may have a handful of pages to help out the user, the MEGAMODZ controller has quite a large operational guide.
This large operational guide somewhat put me off using the controller, as trying to follow and understand each individual setting and option was quite daunting at first. Luckily, as mentioned earlier, the instructions were quite easy to follow, so doing a quick macro button mapping was fast and easy. The operational guide has a nice amount of pictures and in depth detail, however I feel that a lot of it could be condensed down to allow a more concise A to B style instruction set.
The Macro Buttons
The Macro Buttons themselves are easy enough to notice and to use. Their unique triangular type shape allows them to be easily identifiable and allows the user to find them easily when holding the controller. The Mod Switch, which is used to map a button to a macro button is also easy to find and use. As far as design goes, these are quite well done. The main underlying problem with these Macro Buttons is the PlayStation 4 Controller itself. Unlike the Xbox One Controller, the PlayStation 4 controller really doesn’t compliment back buttons.
Due to the placement of the sticks on the PlayStation 4 controller, it’s near impossible to have your hands on the back buttons whilst also on the various other areas of the controller. In fact, when playing multiple different types of games, I found that it was actually easier to just hold the controller normally and use it without the macro buttons. This of course is not MEGAMODZ’s fault, it’s mainly just the way the PlayStation 4 controller is designed. However the placement of the Macro Buttons might be more fitting closer to the top of the controller, acting more like R3 and L3 triggers, rather than buttons directly on the back of the controller.
The Top Buttons (R1, R2, L1, L2)
The top buttons on the controller are not edited at all for the MEGAMODZ Macro controller. They are used exactly the same as the original PlayStation 4 controller. Honestly this is quite a common thing with this controller, as the main focus is the Macro buttons and mapping ability. This does make the rest of the controller feel somewhat downgraded in comparison though, especially considering the price of the controller.
It would certainly be nice if the MEGAMODZ Macro controllers allowed for full piece by piece customisation, allowing more than just a change of colour per section, but also a change of feel. This would help the controller to truly feel like a mega mod, rather than a standard PlayStation 4 Controller with a couple of extra buttons.
The Sticks
The sticks, much like the top buttons, suffer with the same problem. Credit where it’s due, anyone can customise the colour of near any part of their controller. However, not being able to customise the functionality of these parts once again takes away from the feeling that MEGAMODZ is trying to sell with the Macro Controller. With the goal being additional gameplay options, it feels like things like the Sticks would be a great option for additional choices, such as modded sticks.
The Buttons
Whilst the buttons remain the same as an original PlayStation 4 controller in terms of design, sadly they do not remain the same in terms of functionality. This is primarily down to how the controller was designed. I opted for a personalised design for the front of my controller, along with the Mega Mods Macro Recap on the back of my controller. It seems that the shell of the controller proves to be a little bigger than the default PlayStation 4 controller, meaning the buttons don’t stick out of the shell as much as they should.
This lead to a few problems involving button presses and appearance. The directional buttons are one of the main examples, in which the down directional button is the only one to correctly press in. The left, right and up directional buttons do not press in correctly and have a very strange feel to them when doing so. Again, this may be caused to me customising my controller and having specially coloured direction buttons, but it is still a big problem when playing a game.
Despite the directional buttons not pressing in correctly, they were not the worst buttons effected by this customisation problem. The share button, options button and home button were by far the worst buttons effected. They were on the same level as the actual shell of the controller, making pressing them near impossible. When they were pressed, there was no feeling or indication that the button had been pressed at all on the controller, with the only indication being from the game itself. It’s unfortunate that customising the controller seemed to cause these problems, and made me wonder if even more issues would occur had I chosen full customisation on all parts of my controller.
Summary
One additional piece of information that was not included in the information above is on a piece of paper provided with the controller. It reads as follows:
It’s best to use the original PS4 USB cord for charging as our products may not work with some third-party charging supplies. If the L1 and the R1 buttons on your controller don’t work, it means that the modchip is in a sleep mode (It’s an indicator of non compatible charging supply). To wake it up you’ll have to change your power supply, charge the controller and press the PS Home button.
This may not seem like a big problem at first, but the only way to obtain an original PlayStation 4 USB cord is from an original PlayStation 4 controller purchase, meaning if you don’t already own a PlayStation 4 controller, or have been using a third party wire, you’ll be unable to correctly use this MEGAMODZ controller. Unfortunately the MEGAMODZ controller doesn’t come with a wire, so this could potentially ruin any and all use of this modded controller.
Keeping the above in mind and the issues that occurred with the customisation options, I’d say there are certainly still a lot more improvements to be made. Taking the cost of each customisable option into account, along with the price of the Mega Mods Macro Recap, I’d say the price unfortunately did not meet the quality in this instance. Whilst I’m hoping that I just had a one off experience with the button problems, I’d say it’s likely that the more customised your controller, the more issues you may have.
I’m hopeful that the MEGAMODZ team will read through some of the points made in this review and will investigate their customisation process to ensure buttons and more work correctly after modification. look forward to seeing MEGAMODZ progress with their projects and thank them for creating a Macro controller for the PlayStation 4.
You can find more information about the MEGAMODZ PlayStation 4 Macro Controller on the Official MEGAMODZ Website. The images used in this review were taken by myself. The controller was provided by MEGAMODZ. You can also read MEGAMODZ own in depth breakdown about the controller, along with detailed online instructions on how to use the controller.
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