Whilst the Duelshock 4 is a great controller for both Playstation 4 and PC, it's still rather expensive if you want more than one, or if you need a replacement (prices are still high even with the Playstation 5 now available), so it's a good job Gioteck are around with their VX4 controller, and at a much more digestible price.
**The VX4 Premium Wireless controller was reviewed using hardware provided and sent to us by Gioteck, but in no way influenced the review.
UK company Gioteck engineer a range of gaming peripherals for all consoles and PC, for this review, we're taking a look at the VX4 wireless controller. Straight away, there's no denying the design of the controller, it's very reminiscent of the official Duelshock 4, and it shares a lot of the same features too.
Whilst the word 'premium' is in the name, that doesn't follow suit through the whole controller - don't get me wrong, for the most part it ticks all the right boxes, but it's definitely much lighter than Sony's own offering. It's not a huge deal-breaker, and it still feels nice to hold, but it certainly doesn't feel like it's made with the same kind of plastics.
The triggers, face buttons and analogue sticks all perform fine, I encountered no noticeable issues with traveling, which is usually a red-light on third-party controllers, and the D-Pad performed generally pretty solid.
The triggers require a little too much force, and I think that could be that they overlap a little too much, but they work fine, and I didn't have any major concerns with the performance in game, it just felt like I needed to put more force onto them than I would have liked.
My biggest critisms come from two things that never really get utilized at all on even the DS4 - the touchpad and the lightbar.
The touchpad works fine, and is surprisingly robust, but it is a lot smaller than the official DS4, so any games that actually take advantage of the touchpad are going to suffer. The lightbar on the other hand, well, isn't there - there is an LED light on the front of the controller which changes to the same colours as the lightbar would have been, but this is purely for decoration, and has no impact on the game, so PSVR games are out of the question.
However, the VX4 does have full six-axis motion controls, plus a built-in speaker, both options which are generally missed on third-party controllers, so they are a welcome edition.
Rounding off the face of the controller are the share, options, home and a turbo button - all performing the tasks they intend to, and the share and options buttons are actually more prominent than those on the DS4, with a more satisfying click to them.
Overall, for £24.99 the VX4 is a fantastic controller, it's half the price of the official Duelshock 4 and it performs really well, meaning it makes a great second controller, and providing you don't play many games that use the trackpad too often and don't intend on playing any PSVR titles, it makes a great first controller option too.
Gioteck VX4 Premium Wireless Controller:
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