Nacon has made their name in Europe for many years by providing high-quality accessories including things like a PS4 pad that was influenced by the Xbox-style of sticks, as well as triggers to help make that system more appealing for folks who prefer the Xbox layout. Now, thanks to the acquisition of Plantronics' RIG brand, they’re expanding into North America with new headsets and a new compact controller for the Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC. One thing that makes this controller stand out to others on the market – wired or not – is the inclusion of Dolby Atmos support for a more immersive audio experience via a wired headset without the need of a separate home theater speaker setup or soundbar.
The controller itself has a unique shape and design to it, with Dual Shock 1/2/3-style handles, only a bit chunkier, and a thicker d-pad with offset analog sticks and different textured grips on each stick. The left stick features the entire concave portion of the stick being filled up with circular divots – acting as a bit of a grip, while also providing ventilation. The right stick has a dragon-style design etched into it and is grippier than the left stick. Both have a rubberized look, but it doesn’t stick to the fingers as well as the OEM Xbox sticks, which is both a pro and a con depending on what kind of game you want to play.
For games with snappier movement, like a first-person shooter, having sticks like this takes some getting used to, but can still yield fantastic results. Playtests with both Titanfall and Battlefield games showed off that a speedier game like Titanfall was still a lot of fun to play with this stick style even though in theory it should control worse with a slicker stick surface. Thanks to the sticks being concave and fitting the thumbs nicely, it didn’t result in a notable drop in maneuverability in Titanfall. There, fast movement and slicker sticks can work in the player’s favor if you’re surrounded and need to take out a slew of enemies in a close proximity.
In a slower-paced shooter like Battlefield, the slicker stick surface did lead to an increase in being able to swiftly shift aim from one foe to the next, but aiming and moving didn’t feel as natural. One nice thing that FPS players will enjoy is the ability to use the Compact Pro app on the Xbox itself and change trigger sensitivity. The app makes any trigger-extensive game more intuitive because players are able to adjust the trigger sensitivity either to genre-set pre-sets or to their own liking. You can even change each trigger’s sensitivity – so if you don’t use a lot of sniper rifles in FPS games, you can keep LT at full sensitivity, but take the right trigger to 50% so it takes less time to shoot. This offers up some Elite or SCUF-style customization without any additional cost beyond the controller and is a fantastic feature. Using a toggle button on the back, players can adjust between tailor settings or OEM as well, making it a good pad for competitive play amongst friends.
Run and guns like Blazing Chrome and Hard Corps: Uprising benefited from having comfortable bumpers and triggers and being able to adjust the trigger sensitivity since it enables the player to enable stationary movement with less fatigue. It’s a small thing in theory, but makes a world of difference for a longer play session as it puts less wear and tear on your fingers and allows not only longer play sessions, but better ones since you aren’t thinking about the fatigue of constantly holding a trigger down at some point and having to cut a play session short while you’re in the zone. Twin-stick shooters such as Geometry Wars don’t work as well with the slicker stick setup, but trying out some Kontrolfreek Xbox One sniper stick extenders on them resolved the problem quickly. Beyond giving the sticks more height, it also gave more of a surface to grip to and made movements more precise. This made twin-stick shooters work better, and when combined with being able to adjust trigger sensitivity – which for this genre is usually for things like screen-clearing bombs – it worked well.
The Pro Compact’s larger d-pad and buttons are something that may seem odd on a surface level, but work out wonderfully in execution. The d-pad enables precise movements in games like the aforementioned run and guns, while also working perfectly for Shovel Knight as well. The latter is my go-to test for any new controller as it requires not only a great d-pad, but quick reflexes that rely on great face buttons to excel. In that game, not being able to use both the d-pad and A and X buttons quickly will result in a swift death in most scenarios, but the Pro Compact pad passed the test with flying colors. It was a breeze to jump and then downward-strike on opponents there, and it held up nicely to other 2D platformers as well.
Both the Mega Man Legacy Collection and Capcom’s Disney Afternoon Collection controlled easily – with the latter also offering up Mega Man-style thrills thanks to Darkwing Duck, and in all instances, the face buttons were quick to respond and the d-pad was easy to move around without any sponginess or stiff movements. In the hand, the controller feels a lot like a pre-PS4 Dual Shock , just with a chunkier hand grip – although the usage of Dual Shock 4-esque button placement for the menu and view buttons is odd when compared to pretty much every other Xbox controller on the market. They are raised high, so they are easy to press compared to the DS4’s share and options, but don’t feel as natural to press being close to the face buttons and left-stick especially. The latter is odd to press since it’s easy to accidentally hit it when you’re moving the left stick. It would appear that this was done to put the Nacon branding front and center, which makes sense on a corporate level, but does get in the way of a more logical and organic-feeling experience for the user.
It’s far from a deal-breaker, but it’s something that hopefully isn’t repeated in the future. That branding could have just been put on the back of the pad where it would be less prominent to be sure, but wouldn’t get in the way of a more logical button placement. The design as it is looks better in photos, but doesn’t work as well as it could due to that issue. Fortunately, the inclusion of Dolby Atmos support for 3.5mm headsets helps make up for this oversight and provides a more immersive experience in a lot of games. It’s something that’s surprising to not see in other pads, but it’s a great inclusion here and makes this an easy recommendation for audiophiles.
All one has to do is get the Dolby Connect app, use either the free trial or the two year promo code included in Nacon’s new RIG headphone line, and hook up a 3.5mm headset. Trying out Atmos for Titanfall 1 and 2, it was incredible to hear not only where rivals were at, but environmental sounds that I couldn’t hear with just my existing Logitech headset before – like the sounds of all of the titans fighting and clanking around the stage. Being able to get a better idea of where foes were at was nice and made it easier to quickly bump up the kill count. For games like EA UFC, the Atmos support enabled more of the in-arena sounds to come though – so it increased immersion for things like audience chants and drove home the intensity of hard strikes.
Closing Comments:
Aside from the view and menu buttons being positioned awkwardly on the controller and the slick stick surface, the Nacon Pro Compact Controller is a home run. The d-pad and face buttons are fantastic, while its triggers and bumpers feel natural in the hand. Having Dolby Atmos support baked in is nice and results in a more immersive experience provided you have the service. Otherwise, it works fine with the 3.5mm audio jack and the large braided cable helps ensure a tangle-free experience. It should also help prevent any issues with cable fraying – especially near where the controller and cable meet as that’s a common stress point for cabled controllers. Nacon’s international reputation for well-crafted controllers continues with the Pro Compact Controller, and anyone looking for a slimmer controller with a larger d-pad and face button setup will be happy with it. It’s also fantastic for first-person shooters thanks to the ability to tailor the trigger sensitivity. The controller is available in both white and black – so owners of either the Xbox One, One S, One X, Series S or Series X will find one that matches their preferred color scheme.
