Ballistics Report

Workmanship:

Big thumbs up on the killer ergonomic design and quality materials. The glaring problem here, as usual, is with the directional pad. It's poorly designed, with ridges that seem to promote pushing the wrong direction. It's also quite unforgiving in extended play, and probably would have been a lot more comfortable if it was made of a more pliant material than the other buttons-- perhaps something similar to what the throttle uses.

Software:

This controller and Motocross Madness were literally made for each other. Luckily, the full version of the game is included, and it's an absolute riot to play with the Freestyle Pro. You will love it. The SideWinder software, though you may never truly need it, is about as easy and intuitive as it gets.

Compatibility:

It's great to see a gamepad that supports both gameport and USB connections. This is, to my knowledge, the only currently shipping PC USB gamepad of any type. I didn't particularly care for the heavy gameport-to-USB dongle that USB users are saddled with, but I can appreciate the flexibility. Also, the basic drivers for the Freestyle Pro are included with Windows 98; you can plug it into a USB or gameport under this OS and start playing without installing any additional software at all.

As for the issue of game compatibility, although it will technically work with any Windows game, the serious flaws with the digital directional pad mode make this a difficult controller to recommend for actually playing many of those games. The analog mode works well, but doesn't provide very good control for anything except motorcycle or racing games, and it's not ideal in the latter. It's just too difficult to tell exactly how far you are turning, since the controller itself provides almost no positional feedback.

Price:

The Freestyle Pro has an exorbitant MSRP of $69.99, and is rarely seen below $50 even via mail order. This is simply too much money for a PC gamepad in my opinion, especially one that has flawed gamepad functionality.

Technology:

I have to give Microsoft credit for originality here. I can't recall many examples of companies attempting this type of control through the years. I do vaguely remember a similar type of controller for the Atari 2600 that consisted of a joystick handle with no base; you would move the stick around and it sensed your movements.

There are very few so-called "innovative" game controllers out there that actually work as advertised (FragMaster anyone?). But the analog tilt component of the Freestyle Pro is both innovative and useful, and in the right circumstances provides extremely intuitive control.

Versatility:

The claim to fame of gamepads is versatility, but the Freestyle Pro fails miserably at this because of the problems with the digital directional pad. The only thing saving this controller from a 1 star showing in this category is the analog tilt. It's amazingly effective in the few games that it works well in, largely motorcycle games like Moto Racer 2 and Motocross Madness. With practice, it is passable in driving games that don't require very precise steering, but beyond that you're pretty much out of luck.