Razer Hydra
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We have collected 4 reviews of the Razer Hydra. Experts rate Razer Hydra 7.3/10. Reviewsor.com helps you find reviews, best prices, user reviews of the Razer Hydra and Razer Gamepads.
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Razer Hydra Reviews
Razer Hydra
The Razer Hydra ($139.99 direct), a motion-sensor device in the vein of the Nintendo Wii or the Playstation Move, is one of the most precise controllers in its category. Although you'll be kept on a wired four-foot leash that may inhibit your range of motion while waggling your way through a bundled copy of Portal 2, it helps communicate your motions from the Hydra to your PC faster than any wireless device could currently hope to. The Hydra has three parts: the two nunchuck-style controllers (one for each hand) and a magnetic orb that tracks your movements. Every inch is covered in a soft matte plastic coating, except the orb, which has accenting lines that glow green underneath its black translucent glossy plastic when turned on. The nunchucks scream hardcore gaming - sorry Playstation Move, you're not the only motion controller with buttons anymore - each with its own joystick and four tactile buttons, as well as bumper and trigger buttons. The controllers curve and conform nicely to your hand - much more than Nintendo's rectangular Wiimote. The base station that houses the magnetic orb also acts as a handy place to rest your controllers. Several dips in the base station cradle the rounded grips of the controllers.
Razer Hydra
Razer has always been about the computer peripherals; only recently has the company gone off the beaten path and started dabbling in laptops - gaming laptops to be specific. However, even before Razer began its epic crusade to bring back PC gaming, it always focused on PC devices that were every bit as good or better than what its console counterparts had to offer. One of the clearest examples is the Razer Hydra, a motion control device done a la Wiimote or Playstation Move style. With two remotes - one for each hand - PC gamers can waggle themselves to victory in over 125 titles such titles as Portal 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Deus Ex, Witcher 2, and more. Some of the listed games, like Torchlight and Darkspore stand out as strange partners for the Razer Hydra, unlike the first-person titles that seem like sensible picks. The controllers scream hardcore, each sporting a joystick, four buttons, right and left bumper buttons, as well as right and left trigger buttons. The matte black plastic has a rubberized finish, which is great for keeping a grip on the controllers, and is curved so they fit nicely in hand. The Hydra motion sensing orb connects to your PC via a braided wired cable; the two controllers connect to the orb also via braided wired cables.
Razer Hydra Review
Traditionally, motion control has been the domain of the consoles. Between the Wii, Xbox Kinect, and the PlayStation Move, the tech has developed a reputation as an arm-wagging, casual experience—emblematic of the overall shift away from the kind of deep, demanding, rewarding gameplay that the PC as a platform is known for. With that in mind, you can imagine that we were a little surprised when we heard that Razer—a company associated with competitive, hardcore gaming—was releasing a motion controller for the PC. Is this the beginning of the end? In a word, no. Whether or not the Hydra is the beginning of anything at all is debatable, but it’s definitely not trying to dumb down PC gaming. When you first lay hands on the Hydra, you can tell that this is a motion controller designed for a more serious audience. It includes two “nunchuk”-style handheld controllers, each with an analog thumbstick and seven buttons. That’s right, seven buttons. By comparison, the Wii’s nunchuk has only two buttons, the PlayStation Move has plenty of buttons, but only a single joystick, and the Kinect—well, don’t talk to the Kinect about buttons. The Hydra is, in other words, equipped to play even very complicated games. Each of the controllers is ergonomic and significantly larger than the Wii nunchuk, which they otherwise resemble.
Reviews: Gamepads and Controllers
A Wiimote for PC? It has already been five years since Nintendo revolutionised the way we play video games. After Sony and its Playstation Move, it's over to Razer to target the market for motion controllers, this time with a product for PC gamers. In contrast to the Wiimote (infrared) and Playstation Move (Ps Eye with camera), the Razer Hydra is a wired solution that is linked to a base station with a magnetic field using Sixense technology. This improves the responsiveness of the Hydra and gives more precision than on these other wireless solutions. The electromagnetic field used for motion detection accurately captures your gestures. To fully enjoy the technology without any loss of signal, the gamer must stay facing the base station and its black ball with green LEDs. If you move off this axis, it affects your movements on screen, so you're recommended to sit down facing the base station. Each of the controllers has four numbered buttons (1 to 4) with two triggers, a joystick and a start button and it sits comfortably in any hand, small or big. The Razer Hydra doesn't look like any other motion detection controller we've seen and has a nicer design and finish than the Wiimote cube or the imposing Playstation Move. You'll almost forget the light, anti-tangle wires.
