Caught In the Crossfire
Enter Penguin United, accessory maker for the PSP, DS, Wii, 360, and PS3. Their Crossfire Remote Pistol is an all-in-one device that fits the technology and features of a standard Nintendo Wiimote into a controller that looks like a semi-auto pistol. Unlike Nintendo’s Zapper or Nyko’s Perfect Shot, the Crossfire does not require a separate Wiimote, it has one already included. Including this adds convenience, but bumps the price up to about $40, which is the cost of a normal Wiimote anyway. Of course, you probably won’t be playing non-light gun games with the Crossfire though.
So after eating my way through the blister packaging, I removed the Crossfire pistol and immediately took note of its weight and feel. The pistol has a nice shape to it that is made to compliment left and right handed gamers comfortably, thanks to the A button on both sides. The A button couldn’t be located in a better place; right at the top of the pistol grip where your thumb normally rests anyway. The A button is also very well sized and feels great, providing nice feedback in the form of touch and a stiff clicking sound.
Below the A button on what I would call the ‘back’ side of the controller is the battery compartment. This compartment is located inside the grip and is opened by sliding the detachable door down and towards the muzzle end of the pistol. The Crossfire takes two AA batteries. Lower still, on the very bottom of the controller, is the Nunchuk slot, ready and waiting for your Nintendo Nunchuk controller.
Near the rear site, which would be just above the grip, is where you find the d-pad and the 1 and 2 buttons. Just like the other buttons on the muzzle end of the controller, these buttons are small and stiff, which keeps accidental presses to an absolute minimum. Truthfully, you’d have to really go out of your way to press these buttons unintentionally. On the other hand, when you need to bring your thumb back to press 1, 2, or the d-pad, it’s still very easy to keep your trigger finger where it’s supposed to be, and you shouldn’t disrupt your aiming at all — that’s good design.
The trigger housing is generously large and should easily accommodate the biggest fingers. The trigger, which corresponds to B on the Wiimote, operates with a single stage, half inch pull. Feedback is provided with a sturdy spring action inside the controller’s housing, as well as a satisfying click per trigger pull.
Also on the backside of the pistol is the Sync button that sits below the overall frame of the gun so that you cannot accidentally touch it. You will need a pen or key or some other kind of small object to press the button, but as you only sync rarely, this isn’t a problem, and it would have been obviously worse if accidental presses of the sync button were possible.
On the flip, or front side of the controller, beneath what would be the slide on a real pistol, are the four blue LED lights. These of course correspond to your player number on the Wii system. Just above these on the back side is the speaker. I thought Penguin United did a nice job of integrating the speaker and the sync button so smoothly into the design of the controller. Check the pictures to see what I mean.
Flipping over once more to the front side, towards the muzzle end you have the Plus, Home, and Minus buttons in a row, followed by the Power button. All four of these buttons are small and stiff, making accidental presses during gameplay nearly impossible. Then of course comes the orange tip of the controller and the Penguin United logo below that.
In terms of button layout, I’m not sure how you would do it better. Everything is accessible without being too accessible or taking away from the pistol’s neat look. The complete package feels very sturdy and comfortable, perfect for brief or extended playing sessions.
Test Firing
After admiring the design of the Crossfire, it was time to take it to the range and test it out. Afterall, what good is great design without solid execution, right? Setting up the Crossfire couldn’t be much simpler. You need only to drop in two AA batteries (not included), fire up your Wii, and press sync on both the system and the controller, just like adding a new Wiimote. A few seconds later, simply use the Crossfire as you would a Wiimote. The Crossfire has all of the same functions and is just as accurate, although the Crossfire does not support the Wii Motion Plus.
For testing, I went to the shelf and grabbed three titles: Sega’s Ghost Squad, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles from Capcom (who else), and Konami’s Target: Terror!, which also happens to be one of Schardein’s favorite games. I started with Ghost Squad and went into the training area which provides a variety of different speed and accuracy mini-games to test your mettle. Some of these training mini-games don’t use a crosshair while the actual arcade mode and other mini-games do, so I thought going both routes would be good for testing.
Right away, I didn’t have any discomfort or problem holding, firing, or pressing any of the buttons on the Crossfire. The built in speaker kept me attuned to the action and it sounds as good as a Nintendo Wiimote speaker. The Crossfire also has a built in vibration function, too. Accuracy was as intuitive and responsive. As this works just like a Wiimote — except more comfortable and better looking (for light gun games) — accuracy fell in line with what I expected.
I found myself replaying through a lot of the arcade mode, enjoying myself more so than when I played through Ghost Squad a couple of years ago with the Wiimote. I turned my attention to Target: Terror! next. Target: Terror! requires a heck of a lot more reloading than Ghost Squad, and if you could call it testing that, the Crossfire performed again very well. It made the game a little more enjoyable, but as Steve pointed out, there’s not a lot you can do for that one.
Finally, as if I didn’t already know what to expect, I loaded up Umbrella Chronicles for the first time in a long time. With this game, I also needed to use the Nunchuk, so I popped the Nunchuk into the slot on the bottom of the Crossfire and it worked without error. Almost needless to say, the previous tests results were repeated here, and all was well. I feel like I’m more prepared for Darkside Chronicles than ever.
When the last shots rang out, the Crossfire had won the day. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Penguin United, having actually never heard of them before, but the Crossfire Remote Pistol has impressed me.
Let’s get to the summary…