Moga Pro Impressions

Not this guy again...

In my experience, the idea of a handheld console is often better than the reality. The problem is, when I have them I rarely take them anywhere with me, but also don't really use them at home because that's where my full fat gaming hardware is. We're living in an age of convergence, where devices dedicated to a single function are considered old hat. Indeed, it's more practical to take a tablet or smartphone that has access to email, ereading, social media, streaming, music, the Internet and gaming with you than it is a backpack full of separate bulky gadgets. What we're seeing with the Vita and 3DS are likely the twilight years of dedicated handheld consoles with physical buttons, as mobile gaming continues its inexorable march towards touchscreen multipurpose devices.

Hardcore gamers are understandably wary of this trend, as the touchscreen controls are a mixed blessing in gaming terms; they're often seamless and eminently practical in titles designed around a touch interface, but fall short when awkwardly paired with more traditional gaming experiences. A number of physical controller solutions for Android devices have hit the market since its meteoric rise to mobile dominance in an attempt to rectify this, the most well regarded of which are PowerA's Moga controllers, which come in both vanilla and Pro flavors. Being a gaming veteran, the Pro seemed like a better choice for me, following my recent acquisition of a Nexus 7. 

The standard Moga is similar in size and shape to the Wii Classic Controller, and was clearly designed with maximum portability in mind. The Moga Pro, however, apes the now industry standard Xbox 360 controller design, and caters for the more discerning nomad gamer, who spends most of his or her time playing full size console-indebted offerings. Both iterations feature an extendable arm to hold your phone or tablet in place just above the pad itself, promising an experience on par with that of a dedicated gaming handheld, although you'll struggle to make it accommodate anything much larger than six inches. Luckily, they pair via Bluetooth, so nursing your tablet on your knee or using the included separate stand is possible should it prove too bulky. 

The standard and Pro models both feature a switch on the back to allow them to function in either A or B modes. Mode A works in tandem with the required Moga Pivot app to allow your device to recognise the controller as a Moga and offers full compatibility with a respectable list of supported games. Mode B however, makes your phone or tablet see the Moga as a generic human interface device for use with anything that isn't officially supported. It's worth mentioning that some legwork may be required to get certain titles to work acceptably in Mode B, and trigger input isn't available in this mode for some reason. 

The Moga Pro is no slouch in terms of build quality - the satisfying pull of the analogue sticks, rubber finish on the handles and reassuring click of the triggers put it on par with any premium console controller, yet it is far lighter than most of these. Setting it up was a doddle, as the Moga Pivot app guided me through the procedure with explicit and easy to follow instructions.  The thus far pleasant experience soon soured, however.

The first issue I encountered was with redeeming the free download copy of N.O.V.A. 3 that came with the controller. The game is little more than a heavily plagiarised hybrid of Halo and Crysis from a company renowned for pedaling shameless rip-offs, but as a first person shooter, I thought it would serve as an excellent test bed for the Moga. I was disappointed to find that the website offering the free downloads wrongly identified my original Nexus 7 as the recent 2013 updated version and told me that I couldn't download N.O.V.A. 3 because my device wasn't compatible.

I decided to leave emailing PowerA about my download code related problem for later, and jumped right into testing the controller. I firstly tried the recent Sonic The Hedgehog update which has native Moga support. On such a twitchy, high speed platformer, the delay between button presses and their onscreen results became apparent almost immediately. Reviews I'd read online had specifically stated that input delay was not an issue with Moga controllers, so I fired up a number of other titles, some of which required me to switch to the aforementioned Mode B, in attempt to see if this was just a Sonic-specific issue. The exact amount of input lag varied between titles, but of everything I tested, only Beloko's exquisite Quake Touch source port of the original Quake seemed totally unaffected.

Bottom line; crippling input lag makes the Moga Pro unfit for purpose. It may be pairing it with different Android hardware will yield better results, but for now I've now returned to my staple bitesize gaming diet of touchscreen-centric strategy games such as Plants vs Zombies 2 and Star Command, more than a little disappointed.