PowerA Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox Series X Review

PowerA are a company I've known over the last year for making high-end elite controller replacements. With tons of customization options and some smart design decisions, they have mostly managed to find their niche among the most expensive controllers you can find. The PowerA Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox Series X does the exact opposite, providing a unique-looking controller for around half the price of a standard Series X controller. In doing so, they've managed to take over even more of the market, justifying its place in my controller collection once again.  

How does it look?

Unlike the PowerA FUSION pro 2, this controller doesn't come with a changeable faceplate. What you see when you first open it is, functionally, what you get. The front plate is a sleek black, intended to emphasize all that RGB around the sides of the controller and between the inlays for the buttons. It is rather striking when you turn it on, looking particularly great in dark rooms. 

Before we properly get into the controller's main selling point, let's talk about the rest of it. For all intents and purposes, it looks like a standard Series X controller with where its buttons are placed. Its D-pad only has four distinct directions, as opposed to the 8 of the Microsoft controller, and it has an in-built mute button at the bottom of the front. This can be toggled left to turn down your mic or right to turn it up. Otherwise, you can click it in to mute yourself. Although this gets in the way of the pristine faceplate, its functionality is well worth it. 

At the back of the controller, you can find treated grips on the handles, a separate button for the colors and switches right next to the triggers. These have the handy function of changing the resistance you feel and how much you have to press to activate it. If you want to get to the trigger quickly, set it to have a short arc, saving milliseconds every time. Unfortunately, these sometimes move with play. On a few occasions, my trigger has randomly switched, putting me off while playing. It's not nearly common enough to be a real issue but worth mentioning when talking about them. 

Now that the rest of the visuals are out of the way, let's talk about all that color. You can decide to turn it all off if you don't like it but I think it looks great. As well as this, you can customize the color on the fly with the button on the back. If you hold it down, one part of the controller will flash. You can use the D-Pad to move this to a separate part of the controller. You can then click A, B, X or Y to change it to the color that represents. The RGB is split up into 3 main sections, all of which can be customized. This means the top can be red, the middle might be yellow and the bottom could be blue. This ability to customize the look is a great one. 

How does it feel?

The PowerA Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox Series x is a surprisingly comfortable controller, under that flashy exterior. It fits well in the hand without feeling overbearing and most of its buttons and triggers work well. The D-pad is a noticeable exception to this, feeling just a little clunky. It's not awful but noticeably worse than its other buttons. The grips feel good and stop you from letting go of the controller too often. Placing it on your lap or on a counter won't often have it flying off. 

What is a noticeable downside to these types of controllers is the lack of wireless functionality. If you can deal with this, alongside its other minor issues, the controller feels and looks great but, if that's a dealbreaker, you may have to put up your budget for something just as good. 

PowerA Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox Series x - Verdict

The PowerA Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox Series X is a very pretty and reasonably priced Xbox Series X controller that finds its place in the market with ease. If you don't mind a wired controller and don't want to spend more for a standard Series X controller, I can't think of a single better Xbox dedicated controller in its price range. It doesn't compete with the more expensive range, but for what you're buying, this is a comfortable, good-looking controller with just enough features to feel unique.

The PowerA Spectra Infinity Enhanced Wired Controller for Xbox Series X was provided by PowerA and can be purchased on their site now or via Amazon.