 What
is a computer joystick?
Besides it being a stick that creates joy, as its name suggests, joysticks
are controlling devices. Unlike the traditional movements of playing games
with a keyboard and mouse, joysticks and game pads allow you to have more
control over the games you play on your computer. Some joysticks and game
pads look and feel like the ones that come with a game station. A gamed
pad is a device that usually fits in between two hands. Numerous buttons
and toggles are located along the edges. Joysticks vary in size and have a
stick-like figure stemming from a base. The stick usually rotates 360
degrees and buttons are located on the base as well. One hand wraps around
the stick. Game control devices of course are no longer limited to
joysticks and game pads. A whole new line of life-like controls has
revolutionized the world of computer gaming. Flight Simulation controls
and steering wheels with pedals are some of the hottest gaming gear
around.
There are some games where a keyboard and
mouse combination just doesn't cut it as a control system. In the early
days of Quake and, to a lesser extent, Doom, you were automatically at a
disadvantage if you used only the keyboard sans mouse to control things.
Moving your crosshair in any direction via a keyboard would be slow and
inaccurate compared to a mouse user, and on most servers you'd quickly be
picked out as a "keyboard lamer" and probably be called such.
Then came Descent where none of the better
players used a mouse or a keyboard. If you tried to take them on
with a mouse and keyboard they'd quickly fly circles round you and blast
you to smithereens. The controller of choice for this Descent gaming
elite? The joystick. Over time, the joystick has become an increasingly
useful piece of gaming kit to have around for titles such as Freespace 1
and 2, Independence War, fighter plane sims such as Falcon 4.0, and the
various games from the MechWarrior series. If you want to make the grade
in any of these titles, you want to have a joystick. To help you decide
which to get,I've tested the top joystick from most of the joystick
manufacturers out there, giving each one a thorough workout in games such
as Motocross Madness 2, Freespace 2 and Tachyon: The Fringe. Here's how
they stack up.
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