PC Gamer A3D 8/97 Review

The Assassin 3D may look like an ordinary trackball, but it's really a 3D game controller!

To successfully complete the latest true 3D shooters (like Quake and Hexen II) --- and more importantly, to be competitive in Deathmatches --- you've got to turn look up and down, jump, duck, sidestep, swim, fly, write a thesis, etc. All of these actions translate to an inconvenient number of keys to remember and find in a hurry. You can incorporate a mouse into your strategy, but that can be awkward.

Enter 3D controllers. Gamers' taste for controllers dedicated to first-person shooters was piqued with the success of the love-it-or-hate-it SpaceOrb 360.

Unlike the SpaceOrb or the upcoming Logitech Cyberman II, the Assassin 3D is not a complete 3D controller. Basically, it's a 3 button trackball, but it has a few surprises tailor-made for 3D shooters, and, unlike those other 3D controllers, it doesn't pack a huge learning curve.

Unlike standard trackballs, the Assassin 3D isn't a replacement for your mouse; it doesn't even plug into your mouse port. It's a fully digital controller that attaches to your game port, and it works in conjunction with your joystick; any joystick plugged into the Assassin 3D becomes a digital device (which means you get mor3 precise calibration as a bonus). The Assassin adds three extra buttons and trackball-style viewpoint control in first-person shooters. While it's programmable, the ball is typically is used to look up and down and turn left and right; the joystick (or keyboard) controls forward and backward movement and sidestepping.

The Assassin has one advantage over a standard mouse or trackball; it gives you proportional control. that simply means that when you turn the ball 45 degrees, your viewpoint turns exactly 45 degrees. Put your thumb on one side of the Assassin's ball and whip it to the opposite side, and your onscreen counterpart will do a perfect 180 as quickly as you can move your hand. Similar accuracy can be achieved with a mouse, but only by tweaking it's resolution and speed (making it awkward to use in Windows).

The Assassin works with DOS and Windows 95 games, but each game requires its own specific driver. Support for new games is added to the Assassin web site as it becomes available. Software included with the Assassin consists of Win 95 joystick drivers for use with different joysticks (CH, Thrustmaster, generic, and none), a Win 95 mouse emulation program, a DOS overlay for use with DOS games, and support for a host of popular first-person shooters.

Final Verdict:

HIGHS: Versatile and easy to master; offers digital control with any joystick.
LOWS: Not a stand-alone 3D controller; requires unique driver for each new [DOS] game.
BOTTOM LINE: The Assassin 3D takes control beyond the standard keyboard or joystick, and it's easier to learn than the new 3D controllers. It is not, however, a six axes monster like the controllers it competes against.

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This page was last updated 06/13/04