Purified3d reviews the Panther XL and rates it a 8.7 out of 10. George 'Coyote' Paps took a look at the Panther XL and was impressed enough to say
"it turns out the Panther XL is not your regular joystick. It also features a 3D controller, a trackball based on the Assassin 3D technology (acquired by Mad Catz, btw) which behaves BETTER than a mouse." Take a look at the full review

The May/June 1998 issue of PC GAMES reviewed the Assassin 3D. They highlighted their story with a quote from Mark Johnson. Check out this review.

DemoCity USA is a new Gaming website, They have Hardware and Software reviews along with a few demos tro download. They say "The Panther XL is the ultimate deathmatch joystick" and "In the near future no longer will you hear people talking about the best mouse for deathmatches, you will hear people talking about the latest game added to the Panther XL's list of compatible games.
Check out this Panther XL Review , rated at 9 points out of 10.

Gamerz Online gives the Panther XL 9 stars.

They say...
The Panther XL is all in all a very solid good peripheral for your PC and highly recommended. It's got anything you could possibly need for gaming and is perfect for you quakin' maniacs!
See this Review

Reviews the Panther XL and gives it a must have rating of 5 X's and the Gameworthy award.

Gordan Goble says: "If anyone from Mad Catz wants their Panther XL back, they're going to have to come up to Canada and pry it from my cold, dead fingers."
See this Review

The GameDr over at GameSages reviewed the Panther XL and he gives it a "Must Have" 5 Stars.

"If you want total game domination and ultimate control the Panther XL is for you! The price is resonable and the controller is one of the best on the market. Get it today and really get into the game!
Check out this review

Edward Fielding over at Games Domain got a look at the PantherXL. He posted is thoughts in the reviews area. Here is part of what he had to say...

If the flight stick was all there was to the Panther XL we'd chalk this one up as an "OK" stick for our little nephews but Mad Catz has cleverly teamed up with the guys at FP Gaming who make the Assassin 3-D . I reviewed the Assassin 3-D from FP Gaming a year ago. This is a joystick add-on device that looks like a track ball with a bunch of buttons. It is a programmable digital device that handles viewing and aiming. With this device you can perform all kinds of neat tricks that will make your deathmatch opponents wonder what hit them.

Read the whole story at

Next Generation Online enjoys using the stick given that it is so versatile and so customizable.

Bottomline: For now, the Panther XL will sit along side our Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro as our favorite PC controllers.

Read the entire review

Cal over at PlanetQuake finally got his hands on a Panther XL and seems to love it. He says......

"If you are in the market for a 3D game controller, or just want the greatest advantage, even over a mouse + keyboard combo, this is the way to go"

Check out his full review at Planet Quake http://www.planetquake.com/cal/pantherxl.html
When you get a chance check out Cal's Hardware Shop

John Romero gets his first look at the Panther XL, here's what he put in his finger file 12-15-97

James Barnes from First Person Gaming and Ali Hussainy from Mad Catz were both over here and they dropped off one of the new Panther XL joystick/trackball units. Wow, I'm pretty impressed with this joystick! This is basically the Assassin and a WingMan Extreme all in one unit and I was running through Quake 2 doing almost everything I do with a mouse in about 15 minutes of learning. Very cool! It should be on the shelves in the near future, so if you can't get the hang of the mouse/keyboard combo you MUST check this out.

It's a trackball, it's a 3D controller...hey, it's both! The Assassin 3D may at first appear to be a simple trackball, but underneath the normal white-gray exterior lies a secret identity. Plug it into your game port (not your mouse port), plug a joystick into it, and voilà!--you have a tag-team 3D controller.

For me, the Assassin had the lowest learning curve of all the special 3D controllers...

Check out the entire CNET Review at the GameCenter

The Assassin 3D looks like your standard trackball, but it's actually something much more specialized and deadly, deathmatch-wise. Very much a tool of the serious gamer, the Assassin 3D connects your existing joystick and your computer to provide frighteningly precise two-handed game control.

Very much a tool of the serious gamer. Chris Hudak

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

Here is their 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.

We at FPgaming want to thank the gurus over at PCGamer Magazine for their awesome review of the Assassin 3D.

Many thanks to Doug Reed of CompuNotes for his review of the FPgaming Assassin 3D. In conclusion, Doug says "I am extremely impressed with the Assassin 3D". Once mastered, movement through games like Quake, Hexen, and Descent II takes on a new dimension. The suspension of disbelief and immersion into the game is all that more complete when both hands are occupied with the controllers and not looking for the right key to press. Movement becomes more fluid and realistic - less stilted. I have always hated having to come to a complete halt to look up (trying to run and find the key to look up usually ends in disaster for me). Plus there is the sheer speed of the thing; it makes it much easier to out-turn opponents and get behind them or simply get off the first shot, an extremely important advantage whether facing human opponents or monsters. I'd put both thumbs up but they are too tired from playing!

CompuNotes has a new Web Site, http://www.compunotes.com

I emailed Doug to let him know that I found it and updated the link. He wrote back with these comments.

Thanks for updating the link! A long while back I did check your website and saw some of my comments on your website; it was a wild experience! I still love the Assassin 3d - you guys build a great product! Only thing I wish I could add to my original review is that now that I've been using it for an entire year, I'm also impressed
with the longevity and durability of the Assassin. Despite heavy use, it still works like a champ.
I have tried the new drivers - they work just great with WinQuake and Jedi Knight! I'll ask Patrick to mention them in an upcoming issue of CompuNotes, to make sure our readers know they exist.
-Doug

Another new kind of controller is First-Person Gaming's Assassin, which has been designed primarily for first-person shooter games like Quake, Doom and Duke 3D. The Assassin resembles a trackball but connects to your joystick port, and is used together with your joystick, which is connected to the unit. Assassin's configuration software is DOS-based, but pretty straightforward. A Windows 95 DirectInput driver was in the works at press time. Also, documentation is detailed, with setup instructions for a dozen titles.

Like Spacetec's SpaceOrb 360, we had to get through a learning curve before the Assassin got really fun. On the upside, the Assassin provides excellent free-look control, allowing minute movements in Quake and Duke 3D, handy for shooting through those hard-to-reach places.

If you're a hard-core action gamer, you may want to consider the Assassin as a tool of the trade.

Pros: Allows very smooth free-looking in 3D shooters.

Cons: Somewhat steep learning curve, and it requires editing of config text files for each game.

This joystick add-on, which bears a striking resemblance to a plain ole trackball, was specially designed for first-person shooters. It can be configured to work with the best of them, including Quake and Duke. Essentially, this digital device allows you to turn, strafe and look around much more quickly and accurately. This is an absolute must for multiplayer.

Using the Assassin 3D for circle strafing is a great way to eliminate your opponents.

Assassin 3D, To kill or not to kill...

Game controllers have been getting a lot more capable recently, and the Assassin 3D is no exception. First of all, the Assassin 3D is a trackball, not a joystick. Second, it's designed primarily for first-person games such as Jedi Knight and Quake. And third, it requires another joystick (or keyboard) to work.

The Assassin 3D sounds complex, but it isn't. Just plug your joystick into the game port provided on the Assassin 3D controller, and plug your Assassin 3D into the game port/joystick port of your computer. Together, you'll have a unique two-handed solution. Use the Assassin for full 360° viewing (left, right, up, and down), and the joystick for movement, weapons, and assorted game controls.

A micro-controller inside the Assassin monitors trackball, joystick, and button activity up to 10,000 times per second, and digitizes the information to provide faster, more precise control. The movement is very smooth, and more than 100 movements speeds are supported. The Assassin sports three fire buttons, too.

The Assassin 3D trackball is well constructed and comfortable to use, even after several hours of continued game playing. There is a slight learning curve, but once you've mastered control, reverting back to a keyboard or joystick will feel less intuitive. The Assassin 3D is remarkably similar to the WingMan Warrior (both controllers were designed by the same company), but the Assassin has the advantage of being programmable (you can even program the joystick buttons - up to 17 in all), and it doesn't require the use of a serial port.

Currently, the Assassin 3D can only be used with DOS games (or games running in a DOS shell under Win95), but DirectInput drivers and a graphical programming interface will be available early this year. - Brad Craig

The Assasin 3D is one of the most exciting pieces of hardware that has entered my gaming lair in a while. It is built by people who actually play deathmatches and know what capabilities gamers want that traditional joysticks lack. It is refreshing to see a product in which the concept is completely carried out to the working finished product. If you are into deathmatches or first person games check this product out! Take a look at their full review.

The Stomped Clan has reviewed the Assassin 3D. Here's some of the juicy parts. Check out Stomped for the full review.

Zor:
One word: "Thisisprettydamncool". I must admit I was a little skeptical about this thing before I received it in the mail. I didn't know what to expect. Maybe some cheap piece of hardware that was just billed as a "Game device". But no. The A3D is surprising well made. The trackball itself is the most accurate Ive seen. If you are a mouse player then this is a must. I used a Wingman 3D to test this thing. I had a total of 11 buttons that could be configured to anything that you want. If you want a button that just fires a single rocket. No problem.

RonSolo:
I must say - this thing completely rocks.

I am using the CH F-16 Combat Stick joystick and really loving all the nifty buttons and hats. Get this - I have 17 buttons ( WOW! ) to assign to whatever I like. This is enough buttons for all my usual keyboard bindings plus a few taunts ;) Being able to play without fumbling with the keyboard is an absolute joy.

Most of all I like the configurability. You can set the sensitivity of the joystick to exactly what is comfortable for you. This is completely different from playing with joystick by itself. For those of you who hate playing with the joystick - I completely understand. But after using the Assassin driver to really control the joystick, I have found the light.

I have played with keyboard only, 2 button mouse, 3 button mouse, Logitech TrackMan, SpaceTec Avenger (predecessor to SpaceOrb), and VFX1 VR Helmet with CyberPuck controller. In my opinion, the Assassin 3D is the best of them all, and I play with it exclusively. Well I still use the VFX1 occasionally just for grins, but I use the Assassin when I need to do serious damage :)

Deathwynd:
After a very easy install, idiot remove joystick plug, put in assassin then plug in joystick to assassin, E..a..s..y! I booted up the machine and installed the software. After the install was done I configured my joystick, crashed once, but only once, then I ran Quake. Impressed so far I started to play, after 3 seconds of fustration getting used to using track ball in assassin to turn I looked into manual and was again impressed when it gave play techniques for each game, and also told you how to configure the shit out of your assassin. After dip and twiddling, I love being able to do that to stuff makes it more mine, I ran Quake and for fun spawned the reaper bot. Then bamn I started getting off accurate shots like I never could before in the vertical plane. After a 20 to 5 wipping of the reaper bot on hard I started to play with a freind over modem on a custom level. This level has a lot of over head walk ways that are fun to nail people from below as they run by. Before I could only nail the half the time, but with the smooth movement of the free look on assassin I nailed his ass to the wall. being now overly impressed I collapsed to sleep and dream of neat techniques I could invent to play Quake.

Robert Selitto:
I have also had the chance to review this controller and my reaction is simply "WOW". I found the Assassin3d made it much easier to get a good KeyBoard + Mlook config (I have been looking for this for a long time). Once I started playing Quake with the Assassin3d and I found that my frag count almost doubled. I am all and all pleased with this controller.

Rick Brewer (dragon):
Wow.
I just received an Assassin 3D from FPgaming in Fremont, Ca.
Unbelievable.
Walk, no, RUN to your nearest hardware store.
Get one.
Get it now.

Check out these preview comments, These are the people that saw the Assassin 3D first!

Gamespot Assassin 3D Preview
PC Games Assassin 3D Preview
Computer Gaming World Assassin 3D Preview