Xbox One Controller: Hands-on With Call of Duty: Ghosts

Our first impressions of Microsoft's new design with a fast-paced FPS.

This week's Call of Duty: Ghosts event wasn't just the first opportunity to see the game's much-anticipated multiplayer content, it was also my first chance to see how the new Xbox One controller performs when playing a competitive first-person shooter. While the controller wasn't paired with the Xbox One console — rather, PCs configured to next-gen specs — the demos highlighted the new changes to the ergonomics, thumbsticks, d-pad, and trigger design.

Upon starting the first match, the upgrades made to the thumbsticks were immediately apparent. Microsoft has made the overall surface area of the thumbpads slightly smaller, but implemented texturized edges and a concave surface. The thumbsticks also have a wider range of motion, which affords increased precision. The minimum draw before an action is reflected on-screen is much smaller on the Xbox One than Xbox 360. Moving either stick slightly off center resulted in small movement or aim adjustments on-screen. Naturally, raising the in-game sensitivity made those small gestures result in a much larger on-screen action. Overall, players will seemingly have a much greater level of control and personalization when using the next-gen gamepad.
The other big change is the d-pad, which has long been a headache for shooter and fighting game fans on the Xbox 360.  This week's demo solidified that the era of the Xbox 360's loose, imprecise disc-based d-pad will soon be a distant memory. The 4-way button is incredibly responsive, with a distinctive click when calling in a killstreak. Most importantly, the design is easy to differentiate on-the-fly, so you can make quick, decisive taps without error.

After finding a lack of impulse trigger-enabled titles at E3, I had hoped that this week's event would finally showcase how the haptic feedback works with a shooter title. Unfortunately, my dreams were quickly dashed. While Microsoft has promises that the Xbox One controller will be capable of weapon-specific vibration effects, the rumble motors in the triggers were disabled.
All the same, I was able to get a feel for the new trigger and shoulder button designs, which have now taken on rounded, tapering edges. The shoulders and triggers now seamlessly blend with the base of the controller, which in effect, makes them feel like a natural extension of your fingers as you play. The design feels so good and intuitive, in fact, that I struggled to notice much else about them.
The Xbox One controller builds upon the Xbox 360's legacy as a proficient shooter gamepad. All of the ergonomic features you love are there with significant refinements and increased precision. With Sony making FPS-centric improvements for the DualShock 4, it'll be interesting to see which controller reigns supreme when the systems ship later this year.