Product Review: PDP Afterglow Prismatic Controller for Xbox One

The Afterglow Prismatic Controller for Xbox One is the latest offering from PDP in their Afterglow accessory line. When you first pick up the box you’ll notice the snazzy lenticular controller image on the front that shows off one of the controller’s features, it’s ability to change the color of the led light to the color of your liking. Don’t like blue? Turn it green. Don’t like green? Turn it red, yellow, purple, pink or almost any color you’d like. Controller too bright? Turn it down. In addition to being able to change the color, you can also adjust the brightness of the led. You can’t turn it completely off, but odds are, if you are buying this controller, you want one that lights up anyways.

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Another feature of the Afterglow Prismatic Controller are the two multi-function wheels on the back. The wheels are located where your fingers would normally grip the controller in the back and are programmable with up to three different functions (up, down and click) to set up the controller to your liking. For example, if you are playing a first-person shooter like Call of Duty and want to be able to return to shooting quicker after throwing a grenade, you can map grenades to one of the wheels so both the grenades and fire are always at your fingertips.

The Afterglow Prismatic Controller is a wired controller and is about, if not the exact, size of the normal Xbox One controller. It also has dual rumble motors and impulse triggers, which also have their own led’s that light up when the motor is activated and can be turned off. In addition, the controller also has a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can use pretty much any headset. A neat feature of the controller is the fact that it has audio controls built in, so if the game is too loud, you can turn it down or if the game audio is overpowering the chat audio, you can bump the chat and lower the game. The controller also comes with a 10 foot cable so you don’t have to be all up in your tv’s business. It’s also detachable for easy storage and you can charge your phone with it.

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The buttons on the controller feel very responsive, like they would feel on an official controller. There isn’t any noticeable lag and the buttons aren’t mushy like some aftermarket controllers. The rumble feels just right, not too strong and not too weak. The back programmable button wheel feel a tad squishy, but they do help a lot. Playing Grand Theft Auto V, for example, the default settings for the right wheel down is R1 which corresponds to the vehicle handbrake. Because of the controller’s size and how it fits in my hands, it allows me to make sharp turns a lot more easily.

Now for the negatives. Honestly there were only 2 things, I personally, disliked about the controller. First thing is the size. As I mentioned before, it is about, if not, the same size as a standard Xbox One controller. Which is a slight problem for me as I also find that a tad small for my liking. Second, the shell is smooth plastic which, again as a matter of personal preference, I do not like. That is it. However, for me, even with these two personal dislikes, the ability to change the color of my controller and the button mapping will probably make this controller my controller of choice.

There is also an Xbox One app that will allow you to adjust the features of the controller and save different presets for every game or user. The app was not available for download at the time of this writing, but should be available soon.

You can find this and more PDP Gaming Products here