Controllers come, and controllers go, but accessory manufacturer PowerA has been working away over the years to build a strong catalogue of innovative products, known for their reliability. The newest innovation is the FUSION Pro Wireless Controller for Xbox Series X|S (alongside the FUSION Pro 4 Wired Controller for Xbox Series X|S), both offering significant advancements, while also looking bloody cool.
I’ve spent some time with the FUSION Pro Wireless Controller over the last couple of weeks, and its amazing style is the most instantly striking thing about it. Using Ghost RGB LED Lighting technology on this wireless edition, the plain-black controller has a hidden design on the faceplate that lights up when turned on. It’s the kind of over-the-top equivalent to dude-bros who have lights underneath their cars as they drive at night, and so your level of love for RGB will impact how much it’s worth your dollars, but I can’t deny that I gasped the first time I lit it up, and it looks fantastic charging and glowing on my gaming shelf.
“…to have something so dynamic and interchangeable like this is a pretty easy sell.”
Even more neat is that it’s customisable, with six unique lighting modes; Solid, Cycle, Breathing, Wave, Pulse Reactive, Ripple Reactive, and four zones can be personalised as well. As a controller collector, and somebody who always gets a kick out of new designs as they release, to have something so dynamic and interchangeable like this is a pretty easy sell for me.
Of course, visuals aside, the controller needs to actually feel good while you’re playing with it, and FusionA has done an excellent job at making it feel premium, landing somewhere between the entry-level Xbox Series X|S Controller and the Xbox Series X|S Controller Elite Series 2 when it comes to overall quality and features, which is exactly where it sits price-wise, too.
The customisation allows for similar levels of tinkering as the Elite Series. The FUSION Pro Wireless Controller has four mappable Advanced Gaming Buttons, 3-Way Trigger Locks, and Quick-Twist Thumbsticks that offer three adjustable height settings, and there are no removable parts which saves the hassle of keeping a kit nearby (or, losing them amongst the gaming rubble). It can all be adjusted to your liking via the PowerA Gamer HQ App, which allows you to tweak to your heart’s content.
In theory, the 3-Way Trigger Locks allow you to set the “travel distance” of the triggers, which essentially is a depth setting that means you can modify them to be super-fast in something like Call of Duty, or push the pressure of the accelerator in Forza Horizon. I didn’t notice a massive difference when playing around with this, personally; but I found the controller to be fit for whatever I was playing. The tactile feedback on the triggers also feels good, with something called Hall Effect Modules in the thumbsticks and triggers, to help with precision. The controller certainly stood up compared to long gaming sessions, with textured rubberised grips, not quite as comfy as the Elite Series but a good middle-ground compared with regular controllers.
I used the FUSION Pro Wireless Controller primarily on my Xbox Series X, and found it to measure up well when it came to low-latency connectivity. Of course, one downside is that it connects to the console via a Wireless USB Adapter, not just Bluetooth, which is always a bit of a pain when I have so many of them lying about from controllers, headsets and the like. I do love the aforementioned magnetic charger that it comes with, though, which gives around 30 hours of gameplay on a single charge, which anecdotally seems correct after my testing.
At the end of the day, the quality of the FUSION Pro Wireless Controller is high enough that it justifies the price tag, but the real kicker is the Ghost RGB LED Lighting. It’s a bonus that is entirely based on aesthetics, but it has undoubtedly made it one of my favourite controllers I own, on visuals alone. When you factor in the other clever customisable elements and the fact that it feels so premium in your hands, it’s easy to recommend if you like a bit of neon in your life and are looking for a Pro-level controller without wanting to drop more than $200 on an accessory.
The PowerA FUSION Pro Wireless Controller for Xbox Series X|S is available now for $199.95 RRP.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, hosting bear events and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
