It should come as no surprise that gaming peripheral maker Razer makes video games controllers. While the brand doesn’t deviate much from the quintessential controller design much on the outside, the company does try different things on the inside, such as using what the company calls Mecha-Tactile buttons. The same applies to the new Wolverine V3 Pro, this time with mouse-click back paddles.
But while that is the new main selling point of the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, it is, at least in my opinion, not the best thing about it, But we’ll get to that in a bit. That aside, it’s got most of the bells and whistles that you’d expect from a third-party premium controller. Emphasis on most, though.
What Am I Looking At?
The Razer Wolverine V3 Pro is the latest entry in the line of Wolverine controllers, made primarily with the Xbox layout. You can, for the most part, think of this as a third-party Xbox Elite controller, complete with all the issues inherent to the layout such as the asymmetrical analogue sticks. But on the plus side, you got an eight-way Dpad, two pairs of paddles at the back, and even an extra pair of shoulder buttons to go with everything else.
By default, the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro has analogue sticks with concave caps, though it does come with an extra concave stick and one convex one. But if you want both to be convex-capped, you’re out of luck. Also in the box is the 2.4GHz wireless dongle and a 3m braided USB-C to USB-A cable. There’s also a case to carry everything with you, but I wouldn’t consider it a hard case the way the case for the DualSense Edge is.
Adding the extra premium touch are the textured rubber on the grips of the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro. The rest of the controller comes pretty standard as far as Xbox-style controllers go. Probably worth highlighting among them are the analogue triggers that can be locked for more shallow presses.
What’s Good About It?
The first thing you notice once you have the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro in your hands is the way it fits comfortably in them. The overall shape may have something to do with this, but I would chalk most of the additional feel-good factor to the textured rubber on the grips.
Much of the same can be said for just about every button on the controller. The aforementioned Mecha-Tactile face buttons feel like an in-between of your average controller buttons and the mechanical keyboard keys. This also applies to the shoulder buttons to some degree, but it’s not an improvement that’s felt as immediately as the face buttons.
Of course, there are the rear paddles with are said to be the equivalent of the side buttons of the Viper V2 Pro. They are positioned brilliantly, so that your middle and ring fingers would rest on them while you’re naturally holding the controller, meaning they’re always within range when you need it. Owing to the mouse-equivalent mechanical bits, they also feel great to press. All that being said, it still feels like a bit of a missed opportunity, as the Viper V2 Pro’s best feature was its optical switches, which the side buttons were not.
The absolute best thing about the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro has to be the analogue sticks. Their asymmetry aside, these are Hall Effect sticks, which makes them much more durable. But probably more important than that is they provide just the right amount of tension and resistance that they don’t take too much force to move, but are stiff enough that when you let them to they don’t spring into the opposite direction, leading to a misinput. And to make sure they last, the receptacle for the sticks come with anti-friction rings to prevent the two from grinding against each other.
What’s The Catch?
Objectively speaking, if there are any issues with the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, price not withstanding, it’s to do with its connectivity options. To start, Bluetooth is not an available option. On one hand, if you like very casual games, then that’s one less way to make use of it. But if you like fast-paced action titles, then it doesn’t matter as much as you would probably not find the latency to be acceptable anyway.
But even then the wireless dongle is also not as great as it could be. For just about every other peripheral the brand makes, their built-in HyperSpeed Wireless tech grants them a 1,000 Hz polling rate. But with the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, this is for whatever reason only limited to 250Hz. Sure, unless you’re a pro being paid to compete in tourneys , you can argue that it’s not a perceptible difference. But it’s still a strange exception to what otherwise was the norm.
And finally, we get to a missed opportunity, which will be familiar if you’ve read my review for the DualSense Edge. Rather than just using Synapse, the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, like its predecessors, make use of the dedicated Controller Setup app. There, you get the full range of customisations available to you, from stick deadzones to vibrations strength, as well as assigning buttons to the six extra buttons.
The problem with that is, like the DualSense Edge, you can only set these six additional buttons as one of the already existing buttons on the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro. Singular buttons at that, so no combinations and macros. The latter is understandable, especially when tourneys get into the equation. As for the former, I would reuse my previous Tekken example from before and say button pairs should be registerable when games already allow for it.
Should I Buy It?
On paper, then, the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro is a great alternative to the Xbox Elite controller. While it sports fancy rear paddles, as well as an additional pair of shoulder buttons, the limited remapability means their utility is limited. The real highlight here are the Hall Effect sticks. No Bluetooth, and the wireless dongle being a USB-A connector, means no using it with mobile devices, which is a small price to pay for some.
But as someone who experiences physical pain when using controllers with asymmetrical sticks, it’s definitely something to keep in mind for those who prefer their analogue sticks located at the same spots on both sides. Of course, there’s also the four-digit price tag – between RM1,029 and RM1,079 depending on where you get it – to consider. But to answer the question, I would only recommend the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro if asymmetrical sticks don’t actively cause you physical harm.
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