Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave Review: A Wired Xbox Controller With Little Capacity to Excite

If you’re looking for a inexpensive Xbox controller that goes a spot beyond the basics, the Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave mightiness beryllium tempting. Its $49 terms tag is connected the debased side, yet it tacks connected RGB lighting, remappable other buttons and Hall Effect technology, similar immoderate of the champion Xbox controllers connected the market. But down that archetypal interest, there's unluckily small that distinguishes the Afterglow Wave. And though $49 is little than a first-party Xbox controller astatine MSRP, determination are plentifulness of deals connected Microsoft’s controller, and adjacent much third-party alternatives that bash much to acceptable themselves apart.

Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave – Design and Features

The Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave is, by each accounts, a reasonably modular wired Xbox controller astatine archetypal glance. It has the aforesaid power layout, astir the aforesaid size look buttons, and the Xbox fastener is prominently placed astatine the halfway of the controller successful a benignant that stands retired from the bold colors elsewhere. It doesn’t person the bulging shoulders of the Xbox controller though, alternatively sporting a level illustration on its beforehand borderline similar the PowerA Enhanced controller.

The Afterglow Wave besides has a fewer extras to basal isolated from that well-known first-party option. On its back, it includes trigger locks to shorten the analog trigger question distance, providing 3 antithetic levels. It besides has 2 ample paddle buttons for your mediate oregon ringing fingers that tin beryllium remapped to antithetic inputs, giving you entree to controls with fingers that would different beryllium doing thing portion gaming. There’s besides a microphone mute power connected the look of the controller, portion the d-pad has audio measurement and chat premix settings baked successful arsenic secondary controls.

Then there’s the eight-zone RGB lighting. The controller has 3 wavy lines moving up each broadside and translucent rings astir the joysticks. Both joysticks person a lighting portion and determination are 3 much zones per side. Counterintuitively, the 3 lines connected each broadside aren’t abstracted zones. Rather, the lines person a bottom, middle, and apical lighting zone. How chiseled each portion appears depends heavy connected color, too. For instance, yellowish gets washed retired by bluish rather easily. The broadside stripes look decent, but the joystick rings are lit from 1 corner, truthful immoderate colour you take volition lone amusement partially, and immoderate colour from the sides zones volition blend in.

Beyond each this, the controller is alternatively mundane. There’s small astir the carnal plan of the controller that stands out. The handgrips person a wavy grid texture, but aren’t rubberized successful immoderate way. The joysticks person small texture either, speech from a raised rubber ellipse nestled wrong the apical of each.

Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave – Software

The Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave supports customization done 1 of Turtle Beach’s galore bundle packages. In this case, it’s the PDP Control Hub, disposable successful the Microsoft Store connected PC oregon connected Xbox. This provides plentifulness of customization for antithetic elements of the controllers, though it’s not laid retired sensibly oregon adjacent explained each that well.

You tin remap each power connected the controller, for instance, but you bash truthful by selecting each power from a drop-down paper and past choosing the caller power from a 2nd drop-down menu. This is horribly tedious compared to clicking connected the power connected the representation of the controller and past pressing the power you privation connected the plugged-in controller. The surface wherever you bash the remapping besides is abstracted from the surface that shows you each the remapping you’ve done.

You bash get immoderate astonishing options, though. You tin swap the roles of the joysticks and triggers. You tin besides present mic monitoring for a connected headset done the app.

There are a fistful of RGB customization, with colour selections and effects. The bundle besides lets you prevention 4 abstracted lighting profiles. But connected the enactment of profiles, the controller doesn’t fto you make aggregate profiles for each the different customizations, which is simply a immense letdown if you program connected playing tons of antithetic types of games and similar to tweak things for each.

Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave – Gaming and Performance

While it mightiness person panache acknowledgment to its RGB lighting, the Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave is different reasonably unremarkable erstwhile it comes to performance. Hall Effect triggers whitethorn beryllium bully implicit the agelong haul, arsenic they ought to stay accurate, but I’ve had small contented with mean analog triggers successful the past. Joystick drift tends to beryllium a much communal contented that Hall Effect tech helps benignant out, but Turtle Beach didn’t opt for Hall Effect thumbsticks.

There are a mates nods to show with the 2 customized buttons connected the underside of the controller and the adjustable trigger locks. A fewer years ago, that would person been a somewhat breathtaking inclusion - but these features are present astir array stakes for each but the astir basal third-party controllers. Turtle Beach is astatine slightest providing them alternatively cheaply, but that cost-cutting is unluckily rather evident.

There's nary different mode to accidental it - the Turtle Beach Afterglow Wave conscionable feels benignant of cheap. Most of the buttons are rather basic, with nary peculiar switches underneath. I tin mash distant astatine them, and they bash the job, but they consciousness conscionable similar stiff plastic, acold from an upgrade implicit a banal Xbox controller. The d-pad lacks texture and besides doesn’t person a precise pronounced actuation, making it consciousness conscionable that small spot much nebulous than I’d similar from an input device. The texture of the thumbsticks is incredibly unsatisfying, lacking grip portion simultaneously roughing up my fingertips.

The rumble motors astatine slightest consciousness decent. Two supply dense rumbles, portion 2 much “impulse” motors supply much subtle high-frequency vibration. The rumble is beardown capable that it’ll bounce the controller astir connected a array if you acceptable it down during a crippled cutscene.

The enarthrosis buttons are possibly the champion feeling, adjacent to the triggers, with a much clicky feel, but adjacent they are a small off. They really determination similar a small lever, truthful to deed them, you request to pat the extracurricular edge. This makes for an inconsistent effect depending connected wherever you enactment your finger. And if you spell up excessively acold connected the button, pressing volition simply bash thing – not what you want.

And each of this functionality is coming implicit a wired connection. For $29, you tin get a likewise competent 8BitDo Ultimate 2C controller with galore of the aforesaid capabilities, positive wireless connectivity, Hall Effect joysticks and triggers, and cute colors – you conscionable won’t get RGB lighting oregon authoritative Xbox support.

Mark Knapp is simply a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything electronics and gaming hardware. He has implicit 10 years of acquisition successful the tech manufacture with bylines astatine PCMag, Reviewed, CNET, and more. Find Mark connected Twitter @Techn0Mark oregon BlueSky astatine @Techn0Mark.