Logitech RumblePad 2

Specifications

• Dual vibration feedback motors
• Feel all the hits, crashes, explosions, and many more effects.
• Rubber grips : Specially textured rubber gives you a solid grip
• Familiar button layout : 10 programmable action buttons
• Mode and Vibration selectors and 8-way D-pad
• Analog control : Two analog sticks give you a performance edge with smooth 360-degree control
• Software included : Customize buttons, download game profiles, assign shift-button, and more
• Quality construction : As if you’d expect anything else from Logitech

I have been looking for the perfect PC gamepad forever, and have easily gone through at least 5 different ones over the past few years. When I received this controller for review, I was skeptical. It’s rare to find a controller that works great, and feels great. After taking the controller out of the package, however, I was immediately impressed.

At first glance, you will immediately notice how similar in design it is to the Playstation 2 controller. It even feels near identical to the PS2 Controller, except for the addition of rubber hand grips on the each side of the Gamepad. No more awkward controller to hold on to.. this one fits your hands perfectly. The Gamepad comes with a total of 12 programmable buttons, even though the tech sheet states there are only 10. On top of the controller are the four shoulder buttons. On the front are the normal four main buttons (A,B,X,Y or Square, Triangle, Circle, X). There are two front buttons in the center of the controller that can be programmed to be Select and Start buttons, which I personally did. In addition, the two analog sticks push in, for another two programmable buttons. Depending on what you prefer, you can use the normal D-Pad for movement, or the Analog sticks. For most games, I personally prefer the D-pad, as I find I have better control. However, your opinion may vary, and it could really depend on the game you are playing.

Here is a picture of what you can expect to be bundled on the CD-Rom. You don’t need to install anything other than the drivers, and you can even skip those if you have Windows XP.

Installing the drivers will also install the Logitech Game Profiler, which allows you to create various profiles for all the games you play. Not to say the Profiler is not good software, but I definitely prefer to set up all my profiles in each individual game. What the Profiler is good for though, are games that do not offer Gamepad support, but you want it. You can configure every button on the Gamepad to act however you want it to. In the game I tested it with, for instance, I configured a key to do a ALT+X, so it would bring up the in-game menu. It worked well, but one thing you should know: If the game you are playing doesn’t have Gamepad support, it’s probably because the game is clunky with it. However, if you are desperate to use your pad with the game, definitely give the Profiler a try.

Not only is this a great looking Gamepad.. it also has rumble features! If the game you are playing supports it, you will get rumble action, just like on the consoles. The controller allows for two intensities for the Rumble, so you have a choice of how rough you like it! Both games I tested, Need for Speed: Underground 2 and Tony Hawk’s: Underground 2 both support the rumble, and supported it perfectly. I am sure a lot of games are still out there that do not support the rumble feature, but most of the newer games likely do.