When it comes to controllers, I want to be stimulated throughout all my six senses for gameplay: feel, sight/look, smell of the new, unwrapped plastic and metal, the taste should be smooth and crispy…Okay, I will stop while I am ahead. The main idea is that a controller’s features should be able to offer the user a more enjoyable experience with either re-invented standard buttons and toggles or new buttons with placements that are purposeful. The worst thing is to have a button that works as a detriment to the user.
While you may be playing different games with a controller, the Victrix Gambit Dual Core Tournament Controller shines for competitive gaming. As someone who plays a lot of ranked matches in Apex Legends and Halo Infinite, it is important I have reliable technology to keep me alive and come out on top in sticky situations. The Victrix Gambit Dual Core’s dual-core processing power is great in terms of speed and almost had me accidentally clicking buttons a little too easily.
The kit for the Victrix Gambit Dual Core contained the controller, 2 faceplates, 2 interchangeable gates, 2 types of D-pads, 2 additional types of analog sticks and 2 back paddles for different purposes, a 3-meter braided USB Type C cable and a carrying case. In total, there were 14 various components I played around with. It was a thrilling experience to test out different variations and see what helped make my gameplay feel better and how I changed different parts for specific games.
As someone who started their battle royale gaming career on a controller on Xbox One and PC, finding a controller that allows me to keep up with mouse and keyboard players is always nice to add to my arsenal. One of the first things I wanted to try was the bigger D-pad that has a greater surface area compared to the traditional cross-style D-pad. I thought this feature of the Victrix Gambit Dual Core was great for someone like me who has fat thumbs and sometimes hitting precise D-pad arrows on a cross shape is tricky.
The next thing I went on to try with the Victrix Gambit Dual Core were the backplates. The two types of backplates act as quick paddles that can be programmed to the user’s choice. By default, the 2-button backplate is programmed to perform what the A-button and B-button typically does. In the 4-button backplate, the default setting included the quick paddles for the X, Y, B, and A-buttons.
“The kit for the Victrix Gambit Dual Core contained the controller, 2 faceplates, 2 interchangeable gates, 2 types of D-pads, 2 additional types of analog sticks and 2 back paddles for different purposes, a 3-meter braided USB Type C cable and a carrying case.”
From the multitude of games I tested with the backplate variations of the Gambit Dual Core, I concluded that more simple shooters like Apex Legends and Halo Infinite, the 2-button backplate was great for freeing up my thumbs to jump and slide—which are two mobility-heavy buttons. This meant I had more time to switch weapons or reload with my thumbs. In the shooting games listed above, I found that using the 4-button backplate caused a lot of frustration with muscle memory and mis-clicks because the four paddles are fairly close and sometimes the pressure on one button triggers the other. This may have resulted from my chubby fingers, but it was still somewhat problematic for me.
The next customisation I wanted to try was to see how well swapping the tall, sniper-style thumbstick would help steady my shots using sniper rifles. While aiming-down-sights (ADS) with a sniper in Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone, it does help with not ADS-ing too fast when scoped. Even though I do not typically use snipers, I found this custom thumbstick helpful, and it had some impact in helping me find the right bullet drop and timing of my shots as quickly as possible.
One of the most interesting physical features of the Victrix Gambit Dual Core is the clutch buttons, which help set the travel distance of the controller’s triggers. This means you have the options to adjust how much you squeeze the trigger to get a response in-game—for example, the default setting is super quick and the tiniest of pressure on the Right Trigger will fire your gun in an FPS game like Call of Duty or Battlefield 2042. This can be a great feature for pros or tournament players who have great control and shortens the latency response time of pressing the triggers.
“The two types of backplates act as quick paddles that can be programmed to the user’s choice.”
On the opposite side, the perks of having longer trigger squeezes are great for driving games where the right speed is crucial between making clean overtakes and ending up in the guard rails. I was able to test this setting on the triggers with these driving/racing games: GRID Legends, Riders Republic, Forza Horizon 5 and Project Cars.
The results were nothing too crazy, and I found that the sportier racing games did not have a significant change in finding the right speed throughout races, but in more technical racing games like GRID Legends and Project Cars, I liked having the stopgap in the Right Trigger to help me not go over the speed I needed to make proper turns.
While the Victrix Gambit Dual Core Tournament Controller had so much potential with its various component combinations, it did not have a revolutionary experience. I would have loved to maybe see the different notches of the different levels of trigger squeezes because, so far, it is only on feeling. The Victrix Control Hub app makes an effort with dead zones, but it does not necessarily explain or translate the feeling into the controller itself. Overall, the Victrix Gambit Dual Core is a great controller with numerous customization options that competitive gamers can reap some benefits from, whether they are playing games like Rocket League or Overwatch.
