KontrolFreek’s Call of Duty Revive! and Modern Warfare Thumbsticks Review – Simple But Effective

Looking for something to get an edge on the competition without having to break the bank? Check out our full review of KontrolFreek’s latest thumbsticks and find out which is best for you.

When it comes to the competitive nature of gamers there is a tendency to always seek out anything that could give them an edge on the competition. This generally comes in the form of glasses, chairs and even custom controllers. Which means the costs can range from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. Thankfully, one of the cheapest and most effective accessories gamers can get are new thumbsticks, and KontrolFreek’s sticks are among the best.

To start off, the cost of KontrolFreek’s new Call of Duty Revive! thumbsticks and their Call of Duty Modern Warfare thumbsticks are on the higher end of the price range when compared to thumbstick covers, as they are retailing for $17.99 each. But, when it comes to actually improving your experience with a quality product that feels like it will hold up during an intense match, then you are truly getting what you pay for.  

Both types of KontrolFreek’s sticks use a clip on mechanic that attaches to the top of the existing sticks on your controller’s analogs. After extended usage they did not do any noticeable damage to the controller itself, but still gave a firm grip with no wobble or concern that they would fall off. Having had those issues with different thumbstick covers from other brands is why I fully recommend KontrolFreek’s design. As nothing is worse than having your thumbstick get knocked off in the middle of a match, causing you to miss a shot.

But, this does leave the question. Which one is best for you? Read on for a breakdown of each of the thumbsticks.

KontrolFreek’s Call of Duty Revive! thumbsticks are a limited collector’s edition designed with the Call of Duty Zombies aesthetic. While normally, the design of the stick would have a limited effect on the performance of the sticks themselves, but the bottle cap design on each of the sticks offer a very high level of comfort with an improved grip around the sides. This is due to the mimicked ridged design that would be the folded metal of a bottle cap, which creates a number of folds or ridges that work great to maintain grip.

Both sticks are equal in height, so they do correlate well to the normal dynamics of a standard controller, but do increase the overall height of both analogs by around 50% of their normal base height. This gives gamer’s with smaller hands a viable option when it comes to getting some added range of motion, while not pushing the analog too far up.

Overall, this is a fantastic option for all types of gamers, as it adds a great deal of comfort, as well as a marginal level of added height for any genre. Their comfortable texture mixed with its bottle cap design is simply fantastic and the safest bet for gamers who want an improved and balanced experience across multiple genres.

KontrolFreek’s Call of Duty Modern Warfare thumbsticks are geared towards shooters as it combines a high-rise thumbstick which is around double the height of a normal stick for an even higher range of motion, with a lower height stick. This staggered design is to allow gamers to better utilize higher sensitivities for aiming with the right analog, while having only a slight increase for directional movement with the left analog.

While this could work for a number of different genres, I have found that the increased height of the right analog can create some distance between your right thumb and the face buttons. This distance can actually slow down your ability to press those buttons, and therefore can make this setup less useful for titles that make regular use of face buttons while still needing regular usage of the right analog.

Thankfully the majority of shooters generally push most of the heavy lifting to the shoulder buttons, since the need to aim and fire at the same time is so paramount. For this, the Call of Duty Modern Warfare thumbsticks are fantastic. On top of the staggered design, the right analog has a concave design for added grip and comfort, while the left thumbstick has a wider base with a convex shape to keep your thumbs from slipping off.

While new thumbsticks might not sound like must-have for many gamers, those that are using them are finding that they can be incredibly helpful in the right hands. Both the KontrolFreek Call of Duty Revive! Thumbsticks and the Call of Duty Modern Warfare Thumbsticks retail for $17.99 and are available for the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

Dan Oravasaari

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