A Pro Controller for Everyone?
Is there a harder working product development team than those at GameSir? Perhaps, but there’s no debating that this is a company with many fingers in many pies, focusing on providing gamers a whole ton of options, across a whole host of formats.
They have standard controllers. They have mobile offerings. They have stuff for tablets and more.
And they also have the GameSir Cyclone 2; a super classy controller that should well be suitable for most gaming needs. It even comes with its own neat charging station.
GameSir sells the Cyclone 2 with the tagline ‘Pro for Everyone’. Whilst we can’t get right behind that motto, this is certainly a controller that covers many bases, allowing players across multiple formats to enjoy one lone controller, full of kit, gear and tech.
The thing is, one of those formats that the Cyclone 2 doesn’t play particularly nicely with though, is that of Xbox. Out of the box, you won’t be able to hook this up to your Xbox Series X|S console, instead getting your Xbox fix through the power of Game Pass and the cloud, whether that be on PC or on mobile. In those respects, it all works fine.
The Cyclone 2 is in fact a controller that does enjoy anything that is PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS or Android related, and whilst we would have loved for GameSir to integrate in some Xbox (and maybe even PlayStation) play, it is what it is. We’re not going to slate them too much for not going all-in with everything, and besides, Microsoft themselves want us to consider that ‘Everything is an Xbox’.
Phantom White and Shadow Black
Get hands-on though, and you’ll be extremely impressed by what has been created by GameSir. That comes as no real shock to us, after-all, we’ve spent time with an absolute ton of GameSir products over the years, with the company’s general trend one that is on the up, moving towards more premium products packed with tech.
That’s the case here. Whether you pick up the Phantom White (the one we’ve enjoyed) or Shadow Black variety, you’ll be instantly familiar with what is included on this Xbox-controller-sized pad. A couple of thumbsticks, a micro-switched D-Pad, and the usual array of Xbox face buttons, will all be called upon on the daily, whilst triggers, bumpers and programmable back buttons fill things out further.
There are then the usual plethora of menu buttons that frequent any GameSir controller: Home, Menu, View and Share. There’s then a little M button to help personalise the pad to your liking.
In hand, the Cyclone 2 feels great. It’s extremely lightweight, running at a mere 227 grams, and is complete with a load of laser texturing across the arms of the controller; the touch points that you’ll be holding for hours on end. Some subtle detailing on the faceplate helps aid the aesthetics. Personally, we love how it looks, however it is extremely rough to the touch, and as such may not suit all players. We’ve handed this to others to get a quick lowdown on their thoughts, and it’s that texturing which has proven to be a little marmite-y.
Textured Thumbsticks and Triggers
There’s just about as much of that texture kicking around on the Mag-Res™ TMR thumbsticks too, ensuring that at no point your thumbs will slip off these in use. With a pronounced lip to the sticks, and then a concave nature to them, they feel stunning in use, easy to rotate and get in the flow, helped by the fact that they promise high-precision and an ultra-long lifespan. We can’t judge the latter too much over our weeks of testing, and that lifespan will only really be found months and years down the line, but the precision the sticks allow is extremely high.
And whilst we can’t say we’re the biggest fans of a D-Pad, preferring to game with thumbs fully attached to sticks, the one included on the Cyclone 2 is of similar quality. There is no plastic-feel, nor sponginess, about this D-Pad and it’s a proper joy to utilise. Similar too for the face buttons; full size, tactile beyond belief.
Moving around to triggers and these are also very interesting. Again textured, there’s little chance you’ll find yourself slipping off of these at any point during your gaming sessions, but integrated into them is a trigger-stop-like switch, slidable to increase/decrease the length of their travel. That’s not anything particularly new, but we’ve never seen this style of integration before, with the switch itself built into the trigger. What’s most impressive is that it actually allows the player to decide on whether they wish to use those triggers with Hall Effect motion, or on a micro switch. It’s a clever little trick, but we’re not sure it is a better solution than having a slider located around the back. But again, it’s not a controller feature that we find ourselves using an awful lot. If you’re one who likes to switch up your triggers on the fly, this could become a little frustrating as it is a little tricky to action.
Bumper-wise, some gold detailing see these stand out against the Phantom White stylings, although there is no real feel to what is present. Fine and dandy is how we’d best sum those up.
What we really, really like though is the placement of the programmable back-mounted buttons. Of a really good size, they sit right under your middle finger, as you naturally hold the controller, easily hittable without even thinking about it. A pair may feel slightly tight when many may be used to quad-back buttons, but they are simple to set up when paired with that front-facing M button.
GameSir Cyclone 2’s Additional Features and Functionality
Sound good? Great, because there’s even more hidden inside the GameSir Cyclone 2 controller; features that may or may not be important to you. Fancy some gyroscopic motion? You got it here, as well as some Turbo settings, 3.5mm audio port, stick deadzone calibrations, switchable face button layouts, amendable vibration levels and more. In fact, we’re not sure that there’s too much known in the controller world that GameSir haven’t included here.
Consider the multiplatform support, the ease of play of Game Pass titles on PC or your mobile (we’ve mostly enjoyed A Little to the Left and some downhill skiing in Snow Riders), connection via Bluetooth, a wireless (PC) dongle or USB-C cable, and it’s easy to see how this could be the one controller you need in your arsenal, for a whole multitude of gaming purposes.
Charging and Battery Life
And of course, with the integrated stand that allows charge via a 4-pin system, as well as a delicate little LED lightshow emitting through the controller itself, you’ll struggle to batter the 860mAh included battery into submission. Even if you do, multiple LEDs allow you to see exactly how much charge is left in the controller in a cinch.
A Near-Perfect Controller for Multiplatform Gamers
We’d love to have seen GameSir go and deliver a one-stop controller that would cover every single gaming base, but even without proper Xbox or PlayStation integration, it goes extremely close. The GameSir Cyclone 2 feels great in hand, it comes powered with a ton of tech and features, and is simple to chuck on a station for charging. As a Game Pass, PC, mobile or Switch focused controller, this is about as good as you are going to get and it’s now our Game Pass controller of choice.
All from a mere £49.99 too.
‘Pro for Everyone’? Nearly.
Huge thanks go out to GameSir for providing their Cyclone 2 controller for full review. Pick up either the Phantom White or Shadow Black version from GameSir direct.
You’ll find that the Charging Station Edition costs a little extra, but it’s probably worth it.
