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I’m constantly amazed by GameSir. Amazed at their progress over the last couple of years, as they’ve gone from plucky upstarts focusing on the mobile scene, to relative powerhouses across the gaming sphere. In fact, aside from the odd misstep, what they have produced and delivered to market, in the last twelve months or so especially, has been nothing short of sensational.
And here they are again, pushing the GameSir Kaleid Flux Controller to the world of Xbox. And you know what? It may not be the snazziest thing you’ll ever have laid hands on, and it can’t compete with some of the very top end pads, the alternatives to the Xbox Elite controller for instance, but that doesn’t mean it’s not very good. It’s the exact opposite.
You know when you unbox a product and are immediately wowed by what is found within? Well, that was us with the GameSir Kaleid Flux Controller for Xbox, as we eased it out of its all cardboard packaging to reveal a controller that, on the face of it, is punching above the asking price.
This is a controller that looks cracking in a black and gold skin, as well as feeling great in hand. Sitting in the usual size range as most other Xbox controllers, it’s lightweight, full of texture and complete with buttons that just beg to be hit. That lightweight nature is probably going to be one of the very first things you notice with the Kaleid Flux too, as this is a wired controller. Now, don’t walk away already, for that wired nature allows GameSir to do a couple of things. It brings the weight right down for one, but it also lets them go to town with some serious light shows; something that would no doubt kill a wireless controller’s battery.
I’ll get on to the lighting later, but for now, we’ll focus on what is good about the Kaleid Flux. Buttons, triggers, bumpers and Hall-Effect sensing thumbsticks all feel great to tease, with plenty of texturing in all the right places. There’s some on the bottom and side of the arms, plenty around the slightly concave thumbstick tops and across the front face of the triggers. It means that no matter how heated your gaming session will get, and we’ve had exactly that as the UK has experienced some hot weather thrown in too, your fingers and thumbs will rarely slip. We’ve been appreciative of that texturing from the get-go and it’s made the Kaleid Flux a controller we’ve happily used for the last few weeks, pretty much non-stop.
There’s none of that texturing on the bumpers, the standard-sized face buttons, nor on the brilliant D-Pad, but we’ve not found it to be needed in any of those locations. They all do the job requested of them, and they do it well.
With the Xbox Nexus button in the usual place (albeit smaller than the norm) and the Menu, Select and Share buttons surrounding it, everything you would want from an Xbox controller is in place, as well as the all-important 3.5mm audio jack should you use wired headphones. There are even a couple of programmable back buttons around the rear, sitting perfectly for pulling through your middle fingers. They are of decent size too, and should come in handy for anyone needing some back-button assistance in their gaming lives.
Mapping of those back buttons should be done via a hold of the front-facing M button, accompanied by various button presses. We’ve found this to be tricky to action, failing to get anything registering. It’s no massive deal though, as thanks to the free GameSir Nexus App on Xbox, full profiles, button mapping, vibration settings and more can be worked through there. We’ve found that App to be pretty decent, if a little confusing in certain aspects. It has been our go-to for button mapping though. However, we’ve noticed that adding an ‘A’ face button to those rear-mounted buttons does occasionally cause issues, with accidental pressing, especially should you just throw the controller to one side for a few minutes. Again, a work around is possible, but it’s not the most ideal of things; those back buttons are extremely easy to depress.
That M button can be used for a variety of other things. Shifting triggers through to a hairline setting or turning up and down audio settings, muting mics as you go. We’ve mostly found it to be of use when messing around with the lighting that the GameSir Kaleid Flux brings to the party.
Yep, us gamers love our lights, and GameSir has gone to town here. Kicking around inside the controller, beaming as bright as you would like, are four different segments of lighting. These can be amended to your own personal preference, either through the App (the easiest way) or on the controller itself. Frankly, those lights are brilliant, and we’ve settled on them circling through some rainbow settings as we’ve played. Perhaps they won’t be required by all, but it does also allow for some inner-circuitry vibes and GameSir logo to come to the fore.
Just remember, the GameSir Kaleid Flux is a wired controller, powered by a USB-A (console end) to USB-C (controller) cable. It’s included in the box, comes in at a fairly decent length (3m) and means that you’ll never have to worry about your controller running out of juice again. Of course, should you not sit within those metres of your Xbox, that’s going to be an issue, but for the most part we can get on with wired controllers without hassle. There are an absolute ton of vibration motors kicking around in this thing too, all of which feel great in use. Imagine all that without a cable…
The GameSir Kaleid Flux Controller for Xbox comes together to brighten up any gaming night. It’s full of colour if you so want it, but, more importantly, this is a controller that feels great in hand, full of textured elements and some cracking features. Note the required cable, and a slightly confusing App that goes along with it, but should you be scouting around for a new wired controller, you’re going to have to consider this one. Yep, GameSir has done it again.
Huge thanks go out to GameSir for providing us with the Kaleid Flux Controller for review. You can grab one yourself from the likes of Amazon. Maybe even consider the standard Kaleid Controller too – it’s just a few pounds more.
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