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Let's face facts - you've got to come up with something phenomenally good to justify charging £70 for an aftermarket Xbox 360 joypad when the standard controller supplied out of the box isn't bad at all, let down only by its miserable digital d-pad. Razer's proposition with its new Sabertooth controller is fairly straightforward - it essentially copies the basic design of the standard Microsoft pad, ramps up the build quality and materials in all areas, and introduces customisable functions designed to appeal to the ultra-competitive first-person shooter crowd.Opening up the package offers up some pleasant surprises. The pad is found within a robust fabric container, protected from harsh outside forces by a flush foam insert with netted pockets for the accessories. Prising the pad free from its deluxe receptacle, we find the controller itself to be a class apart from the standard 360 effort. A rubberised skin offers a reassuring non-slip surface, the high-quality impact of the materials only slightly diminished by the rather cheap-looking embossed snake motifs on the bottom right. On the rear of the pad we find a din-style interface into which a 3m braided cable is inserted, the other end finding a home on the USB port of the console.
The joypad has just about the right level of heft and the control elements themselves feel outstanding - the analogue sticks have a good level of travel and remain glued to your thumbs via a non-slip, rubberised finish (optional day-glo coverings are also provided for an even higher level of grip). The face buttons and the two bumpers are deliberately shallow, and micro-switched to boot - giving a feeling of immense confidence in the controls compared to the equivalents on the standard controller, which now suddenly feel somewhat sponge-like and sub-optimal in comparison.
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