Awarded as one of the Best of CES 2014, the SteelSeries Stratus Wireless Gaming Controller has reached our Singapore shore recently, only available exclusively in Apple online store. Here’s the review of the SteelSeries Stratus

Aesthetic/ Handling
I was delighted to receive the controller from Apple Singapore less than 24 hours via courier; kudos to Apple’s speedy delivery. The Stratus is kinda small, the width is comparable to NES controller, it feels comfortably in my hands, i have no problem playing continuous 4 hours of gaming, no sore fingers. The Stratus has comprehensive pressure sensitive set of buttons; A, B, X, Y, L1, L2, R1, R2, and two analogue sticks, almost equivalent to a PS3 controller pad.

The Stratus comes with a plastic hard cover attach at the top of the controller to protect the buttons, it can also easily attached at the back of the controller so you have to find place to keep the cover, it also provide a better gripping. I was kind of disappointed that the packaging does not include the soft casing, which was only available in US packaging. (Youtube review at 0:31 sec). The tactile feel are good, feels like your any other game console controller.

Operation
You need to bear in mind that this controller can only use on Ipad, IPhone, iPod, you can’t connect to your iMac, or MacBook. The Stratus Bluetooth set-up is easy, once it is set up, your device will recognize the controller once the controller turns on next time. It allows you to play more than 8 hours of game play once fully charged.

I’ve tried the Stratus on couple of games like Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for iOS, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Bastion, Real Racing 3,  Ocean Horn, and it worked perfectly! I need to place to ample space to place my IPad/ IPhone on stable surface to enjoy the best gaming experience.
List of available games here

Another similar game controller you can find in the market is the Logitech PowerShell Controller + Battery, but i dislike about this controller because… restricted to only Iphone 5 similar model, limited buttons (no analog sticks, L2, R2 buttons), looks like a remote controller. I give it a miss on this controller.

Features

• Bluetooth 2.1 enables easy pairing as well as multiplayer functionality
• Extended battery life, with over 10 hours of play time
• Pressure-sensitive D-pad
• Dual analogue joysticks
• Four pressure-sensitive shoulder buttons
• Four pressure-sensitive ABXY action buttons
• LED indicator lights display battery level, mode status and multiplayer indicator
• Protective cover makes transport easy and doubles as an underside grip

Pros

• Small and Portable
• Excellent button layout
• Good Battery-life
• Precise control/ handling in game play

Cons

• Expensive – SGD $129.00; include shipping
• No soft case (Singapore packing)
• Limited Awesome Games

Conclusion
The SteelSeries Stratus Wireless Gaming Controller is a great iOS device game controller if you have some cash to splurge. It is a good-old game tactile controller, that allows you long hours of game play. No doubt there are only a handful of games compatible with Stratus, i believe the Stratus is the beginning, where it triggers more game developers to develop more enjoyable MFI-certified games.

Available exclusive in AppleStore – Available in White and Black

SteelSeries just UP-SIZED the Stratus, click here

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