The third and latest XBOX/PS2 keyboard & mouse
adapter to hit the market is the Max Shooter. Before this
adapter was released there was a good chance that the guy
destroying you in Halo 2 was using a regular XBOX controller
and not one of the previously released keyboard & mouse
adapters. Enter Max Shooter stage right. Now you should be
afraid, very afraid, as the Max Shooter basically turns the
console FPS into a PC FPS with all the accuracy that that
entails. After spending a good few days playing Halo 2,
Socom II, and Unreal Championship 2 there is little doubt
that FPS games were mostly made to be played with a mouse
and keyboard.
What’s In The Package
The Max Shooter, both the XBOX and PS2 versions, come in
a small package that holds the actual hardware and an
instruction manual. The adapter only accepts PS/2 compatible
keyboards and mice so if you have USB peripherals you’ll
need to get an adapter or head over to the old used PC shop
and pickup an old keyboard and mouse combo.
The actual adapter is small in size and doesn’t hog any
serious amount of extra space. The XBOX version features an
extra slot on the backside of the adapter for a memory card
to plug in.
Features
The Max Shooter, both for XBOX and PS2, is packed with a
wide array of functionality which can be accessed by using
certain keyboard key combinations listed in the manual. It
is fully programmable and also comes with game presets for
many titles. The XBOX and PS2 presets are listed below.
XBOX Game Presets
- Halo
- Medal of Honor: Frontline
- The Chronicles of Riddick
- Counter Strike
- James Bond 007: Nightfire
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein
- Unreal Championship
PS2 Game Presets
- Socom II
- Medal of Honor: Frontline
- Time Splitters 2
- James Bond 007: Nightfire
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3
- Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein
- REZ
If your favorite shooter isn’t listed above, the Max
Shooter also has three programmable controller setups to
fill your needs. The variables that can be adjusted include
key assignment, deadzone adjustment, mouse speed, and mouse
inversion. Most seasoned gamers know about all these terms
but might not be familiar with the deadzone. The manual
describes the deadzone as the zone within an axis range that
is interpreted as being at rest.
Along with the game presets, the factory default preset
automatically assigns keys in the following way.
The selection of game presets and programming for custom
games is all very straightforward, if not time consuming,
and is well explained within the manual.
All these features are great but what really matters is
how it holds up in the games. So without further ado let us
jump in to our first game.
Halo 2
My first experience with the Max Shooter and Halo 2 was
less than stellar, but that was completely my fault. Like
most gamers I know I jumped in head first without reading a
single page of the instruction manual which was a really bad
move. The factory default setup is pretty much only suited
for menu navigation.
So I popped open the manual and found out about the
presets, sadly no Halo 2, and decided to try out the Halo 1
preset so I could get a quick start. Everything worked ok
but it wasn’t better than the XBOX controller I had become
so accustomed to. In fact, it was much worse. The mouse
sensitivity was horrible and the keys were mapped
semi-incorrectly. But again this was my entire fault and I
dove back into the manual to see how to fix my problems.
An hour and a half later I had finished tweaking one of
the user programmable presets included in the Max Shooter
and things were starting to feel much much better. The mouse
responded close to what I would expect from a PC FPS and the
keys were all mapped to my liking, but I was still sprawled
out on the floor in an awkward position. I wasn’t quite in
FPS bliss.
Another thirty minutes later I had a table setup with the
TV, mouse, and keyboard in the regular PC positions and
things were feeling even better. The Halo 2 bots didn’t
know what hit them, but the mouse movement was still a bit
off. Then I noticed in the manual that this is one of the
biggest issues that needs to be resolved when setting up the
Max Shooter and that I should max out the sensitivity
settings within the game for optimal “PC Like” results.
So I did that and it proved to be the one tweak that turned
Halo 2 into my first PC FPS on a console. The controls are
that good.
I finally decided my setup was ready for prime time and I
headed online to face the masses. I must note that my
ranking in Halo 2 was quite low before I got the Max Shooter
and that the PC FPS setup has always been better for me than
any console controller. So with that said, I jumped into an
online match and low and behold I got my rear end handed to
me like always, but it was just the first match so I pushed
on.
I changed my weapon setup from what I usually used to
what I thought would be great for accuracy based shots and
wow did that make a difference. Now all I use is the Battle
Rifle. Four hours later I emerged with a better ranking and
an awesome kill to death ratio. My hit rate and shooting
speed went way up with my new found accuracy and the
competition was destroyed because of it.
Once the Max Shooter is tweaked to a gamers liking, it is
an incredibly deadly controller for Halo 2. But Halo 2 is
just one of the FPS games out there so lets see how it holds
up with the others.Unreal Championship 2
I confess this is my favorite all time XBOX game, so I
was extremely excited to see how it would hold up with a
mouse and keyboard. I once again tried out a preset which
didn’t hold up so well and then went on to create my own
setup. Once the setup was done I headed online for a FPS
shocker.
I used the same mentality I had in Halo 2; go for the
accuracy based weapons. I loaded up the sniper rifle, headed
to a dark corner, and started sniping. My TV echoed
“Headshot” many times before the match was over, but
that was mostly because no one ever found me. The next match
was much different.
The rest of the matches I played online with the Max
Shooter were populated with very good players. They would
find me sniping and then destroy me. It seems the problem
with Unreal Championship 2 is that it was designed to only
be a console FPS. Much of the gameplay really relies on the
button configuration on the controller. Thus I couldn’t
bounce around the walls, dodge, and reflect as well as I
could with the controller. This could be because I have
spent so much time with the controller that I couldn’t
break my habits, but I believe this is one case where the
Max Shooter isn’t superior.
So one game is completely changed by the adapter and one
is built too much around a standard controller to benefit
from it. Next up is the PS2 and Socom II; let’s see how
the PS2 version of Max Shooter fairs.
Socom II
Once again I connected the keyboard and mouse to the
adapter, plugged it into the PS2, and immediately got a good
connection. I surfed through the menus with ease and entered
an online game. This time around there is a preset available
for the actual game I’m playing. I loaded up the preset
and was pleasantly surprised to find the preset layout to be
perfect for Socom gameplay.
It felt good and worked just as well as it did in Halo 2.
I don’t play a lot of Socom but I found myself playing
quite a bit in this setup as I could never get into using
the PS2 controller for FPS gameplay.
With the large amount of customization, the ease of use,
and the low price this adapter is really worth every penny.
If you really want an advantage in games like Halo 2 or just
want to try a new controller setup I would definitely
recommend picking the Max Shooter.
Pros
- Plug and Play
- Customization and presets
- Low price
Cons
- Lack of new title presets
Overall Score: 9.5
This article was posted on August 26, 2005
