Razer is back again with another product release and this time they’ve teamed up with Xbox and had the product officially licensed through Xbox, saying that might have given a small hint to what they have released. The Wolverine is back for its V3 and there is no better name than the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro. This controller has been designed around speed, control, and precision so you can feel like your favourite ESports pro and clutch those wins on your favourite title. Razer has ticked all the boxes.

I’m starting to see more and more companies going with the nice dark packaging which Razer does super well, you pick up the box and you get this beautiful matte black front and back with the Razer neon green wrapped around the sides, and the product picture and the name in a beautiful holographic so it grabs your attention. Once you flip the box over you get some details about the product to get you more enthused to rip that box open and start playing. You slide the box out of the sleeve and open the top little tab to be greeted by a beautiful-looking carry case, which we will go into more detail about shortly, and a nice little box down the bottom that holds the huge cable.

You have a couple of little booklets that no one ever reads, be honest with yourself. Once you have removed the contents you get to hold this beautiful feeling carry case with Razer on the top of it. You open it to see the controller and a little cutout for the extra thumbsticks. The whole thing is quite light which is ideal if you want to take it somewhere to do some gaming. The controller itself is the iconic black that Razer always uses with a nice matte finish, and not to forget it says Razer across the front which lights up when the controller is on and is RGB which was a massive yes from me. There is also a cutout for the USB dongle and a little stretchy net in the top section for the 10-foot braided USB cable to use the controller wired.

There are heaps of features and functions built into the controller and Razer has not held back with what has been put into the controller. The first feature we will touch base on is the Razer Mecha-Tactile Action Buttons and 8-Way Floating D-Pad, which if you are a keen gamer you will notice the difference immediately from your standard run-of-the-mill controller. Razer has put a 0.65mm actuation distance with a three million tap life cycle so you know you are set.

I loved picking up the controller and as soon as I hit the buttons I knew I was in love, everything felt so crisp and accurate. Using the controller has made it hard to go back to using a standard Xbox controller, the buttons feel a little less responsive and not as clicky, and the D-Pad even had a great feel to it compared to the standard controller, but you pay the price of quality products compared to the $100 you would spend on a standard controller.

Once you have finished pressing all the buttons and fallen in love with the controller, you can move your thumbs onto the thumbsticks and Razer has given you a couple of options that can be swapped out quite easily. The first set comes on the controller which is short and concave, which if I needed to describe feels more or less like what you would find on the Xbox controllers. The second set you have the option of using is tall and concave, which for me felt a little bit awkward at first and didn’t feel as natural. The last set is short and domed, which again took me a little while to get used to using, but after a brief bit of research they are used more by pros who like doing the run and gun offensive plays with SMGs or Shotguns, because of its shape you can move around a little quicker if needed for that close combat.

I stuck with the short and concave ones as they felt the most natural. Changing them is as simple as pulling the thumbstick up and it will click off, then click the new one on by pushing down on the thumbstick of choice. The thumbsticks on this controller can be personalised in how they react, but we will touch more on that with the software. Razer has added some anti-friction rings and made them with pro-grade material so you feel like a pro even if you are a noob.

This next feature is easily my favourite and it felt great running around on xDefiant or Call of Duty, it made me feel like I was much better than I am in shooters and I’m not mad about looking better. Razer has added Pro HyperTriggers to the controller which again if you are used to the normal Xbox controller triggers you will adore. Razer has added different modes to the triggers on this controller which is instant actuation with no travel time, so as soon as you hit the trigger you are doing what is needed or you can change it to ultra-precise analog control, which allows the full range of movement out of the controller which is better for things like racing games to offer that little bit more control.

These can be changed super simply with the flick of the lock buttons located at the back of the controller right near the triggers, so you can quickly move your finger over adjust and then keep dominating.

The actual mechanism in the controller triggers feel so clean and precise which made it super hard to even jump on the standard Xbox controller once I had used this. Using the zero actuation function in the trigger did not work on something like Forza as you would just accelerate super quick and not have a throttle controller for corners and stuff, but running around with a sniper on xDefiant to test things was great and made those sneaky little shots much quicker.

I’m going to splice the last couple of features together as they are all related to each other in one way or another. If you have ever used an Xbox Elite Controller you would be used to the back paddles that come with them. Razer has taken this idea and expanded it majorly adding x4 mouse click-back paddles which are super accurate. I’ve never used an elite controller before so I needed to get used to these, which ended up being helpful in more ways than one in all the games I was playing, and with the mouse click switches in them it was super responsive which made for flawless gameplay.

The previous Wolverine controller used to have these bumpers but this controller is made for gamers, by gamers, and with this I learnt that some people like holding the controller differently. There are two primary controller grips which are standard and claw grip, for the claw grip gamers they have added x2 bumpers which you will find on the inside of each trigger. These buttons took me a little while to get used to using as I hold the controller in a standard grip, and with all the buttons you can remap on the controller it made it a little harder getting used to using these, but once you found a job for them it worked well. If you rest your fingers on the right bumper and left bumper it’s just a matter of stretching your finger out a little to use the two buttons.

The last but not least feature in this controller is that it’s completely wireless, which means you get to plug the USB Type A dongle into your Xbox for flawless gameplay, and with that comes 2.4 GHz ultra-low latency which is great for those tight moments. You can plug the controller into the Xbox or PC if you need to charge it and keep playing which is quite handy for people like me who forget to charge their controllers.

If you are using the controller on the PC and have it plugged in (so wired play), you can activate a feature called Tournament Mode which will unlock the 1000Hz polling rate which will improve the controller to a noticeable ultra-responsive, which reduces the input lag and provides a great advantage in those fast-paced matches. You can set up the controller to toggle competition mode on one of the buttons or use the software to toggle Tournament Mode. If you are running the controller on your Xbox in wireless mode you can score up to 20 hours before you need to charge the controller, and if you turn off the rumble and chroma RGB light you can get closer to 30 hours of game time.

The great features in this controller don’t stop with the hardware and go further into the software, Razer has released a dedicated Razer Controller App available on both the Xbox and Windows. The software is super user-friendly and can be launched and used easily, allowing you to unlock the controller’s full capabilities. You can do anything from customising thumbstick sensitivities and remapping buttons, or you can even create profiles if there is more than one setup you want to run depending on the game you are playing. I didn’t feel the need to adjust the thumbsticks too much.

I can understand why someone would want to adjust them as you can change the sensitivity and be one of those sweats on Call of Duty we all hate that flick super hard like there on PC, but I’m more casual with my playstyle so the default felt great. You can also jump in and remap buttons on the controller which is great if you are toying around with different setups and how you want the controller to perform. If you are like me sometimes and don’t want the controller vibrating and want to chill out, you can adjust this down or up and if you crank the vibration up it gives you a nice little hand massage. You can unlock the full power of the controller but like most products, you don’t need to use the software if you don’t want to and the controller performs great from the box.

Razer has created a beautiful product in the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, and I could not find a thing about the controller to fault, which was pleasing. Razer has ticked the boxes for something casual or professional gamers would need or want. This controller is a little more on the expensive side but I feel like the price is warranted for the quality and how the controller performs, this will be retailing at AUD 349.94. I mentioned before I’m struggling to use my normal controller now, so I might need to retire that and use the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro controller and who knows I might become a good gamer one day.

Written by: Hayden Nelson