PDP Victrix Pro BFG Wireless Controller review: multi-talented

Introduction

Are you a 90s kid that still turns their nose up at third-party game controllers? We’ve come a long way from the days of shoddy plastic pads that guaranteed you’d lose to your mates at FIFA or Tekken. Custom controllers are now so popular with hardcore game console owners even Sony and Microsoft have gotten in on the action – yet specialists like PDP are still leading the way on customisation.

The Victrix Pro BFG landed last year for the PS5, bringing interchangeable analogue sticks, mappable rear paddles and adjustable hair triggers at a price that comfortably undercut the DualSense Edge. Now there’s an Xbox-flavoured iteration, which brings welcome improvements like controller vibration and Bluetooth connectivity.

As someone who’s spent more hours playing Street Fighter than he’s willing to admit, I was most excited about the BFG’s swappable six button layout – but there’s plenty here to please FPS players and fans of other genres too. However, the official Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 is now regularly available for less than RRP – is this a worthy alternative?

Design & build: get a grip

The Victrix Pro BFG comes in a handy hardshell carry case, which gives you somewhere to stash the 3m braided cable, USB wireless receiver and the controller itself – plus all those interchangeable parts, and the screwdriver needed for swapping them. It’s built to survive knocks and bumps while travelling to tournaments, and coped just fine when I threw it in a backpack to take to a friends’ house for some couch co-op.

The controller itself is a slightly chunkier take on the official Xbox shape, with textured rubber in all the right places (including the Menu and Share buttons) to give plenty of grip. It’s barely 5% heavier than an official Microsoft pad, at least in the stock configuration, so feels equally as premium. The black and purple colour scheme is distinctive, without being too in-yer-face, and PDP has resisted stuffing it full of RGB lights. The only LEDs are functional, showing which wireless mode and button profiles you’re in.

It feels familiar up front, just with a few more visible screws than you’re probably used to. The analogue sticks are offset, the face buttons clearly labelled, and the triggers fall naturally under your index fingers. The USB-C port at the rear puts a firm grip on the cable, which is handy for avoiding accidental disconnections when playing in wired mode; the 3.5mm headset port up front can pipe through game chat just like an official controller.

Around the back it’s all change, with switches to adjust how far each trigger travels, a button to toggle between profiles, and four mappable paddle buttons. These are a gamechanger in faced-paced FPS games, where you never want to take your thumbs off the thumbsticks; it’s why almost every ‘elite’ controller has them now, and they’re standard fit on the Steam Deck.

The paddles can double for any other button on the controller, either using PDP’s Victrix Control Hub software on your PC, or entirely on the pad with a few inputs. They’re easy enough to change on the fly that I’d regularly mix things up mid-game, while I worked out which buttons I used the most.

Features: stick it to me

It can remember three different button profiles, which are easily swapped between with a few taps. This is great if you regularly play the same few games, as it saves customising again whenever you boot up a different title.

I found the triggers took more getting used to, because they were so damn sensitive. Feather either one just a little bit while the ‘hair trigger’ mode is active and they’ll register an input. This resulted in more than a few accidental gunshots while I was playing Starfall, which quickly turned the local constabulary against me – but I thought it was worth the trade-off for some lightning fast return fire in Call of Duty Warzone. You can adjust how far in you can squeeze the triggers, but I largely left them at their shallowest setting for multiplayer gaming.

It’s the swappable analogue sticks, D-pad and face buttons that set the Victrix Pro BFG apart. Undo a few screws and the modules pop out. Prefer a PS5-style twin stick layout, with the D-Pad up top? No problem, they’re reversible. The right stick and face buttons can’t be flipped for a truly cursed controller, though.

The list of bundled extra pieces is extensive, with a choice of concave and convex analogue stick caps, plus a taller one designed for precision sniping; octagonal stick gates for better directional accuracy; and three styles of directional pad, including a simple four-way pad that’s perfect for retro gaming.

I was most interested in the six-button fightpad module, which trades out the right analogue stick for six clicky face buttons. So many fighting games use Street Fighter’s three punches/three kicks layout, and pulling off certain combos can be a nightmare using a regular controller; this is a huge improvement. I was quickly landing attack chains I’d usually only manage on an arcade stick.

Someone at PDP clearly pays attention to the fighting game community, as there’s even an SOCD mode. Pressing up and down at the same time, but having the controller register an up input, can give you an advantage, so it’s banned in many tournaments; that’s not an issue here.

Getting the fightpad out again is a little tricky, with no lip to get your fingernail underneath. I like that the screws are long enough that you never need to remove them the whole way, which should hopefully stop me from losing them.

Software experience: tweak it out

While you can get away with simple plug and play for the most part, the Victrix Control Hub app makes calibration and button mapping a whole lot easier. I like how it prompted me to install a firmware update as soon as I opened it, but wished it had told me to plug in with a cable; the update stalled when using the wireless dongle.

The app is otherwise very clear and easy to navigate, with different sections for buttons, paddles, sticks and triggers. There are the usual suspects, like adjusting the trigger dead zones (essential if you find them too sensitive), but there are more advanced options like swapping the stick or trigger inputs, so moving the left stick on the controller registers inputs for the right stick in-game. It’s a real accessibility win that not all games support. You can even remap the face buttons if you prefer a Nintendo-style layout.

The sound section is pretty comprehensive, with options to tweak the game/chat balance and amount of microphone side-tone. It also qualifies for a lifetime subscription for Dolby Atmos for spatial; just plug in to an Xbox console and you’re good to go. This is a nice add-on, but I do imagine gamers spending this sort of cash on a controller have probably already invested in a wireless headset already.

Performance & battery life: fighting fit

As you’d expect from any top tier controller, the Victrix Pro BFG had basically zero input latency. Whether I was playing wired or wirelessly. A Bluetooth connection to my Steam Deck was perfectly playable, too.

The analogue sticks were satisfyingly accurate in all the games I tried, and didn’t need recalibrating after I swapped out the gate and stick cap. The rear paddles were so perfectly placed I found I was using them more than the regular face buttons, which could be a little mushy. I had no complaints about the springy trigger actions, especially once I’d tweaked the deadzones for less competitive gaming. It was easily up there with the best ‘elite’ controllers I’ve used.

I saw north of 19 hours of wireless battery life, which is a decent showing. That’s less than an official Xbox Series X controller can manage, but comfortably better than the PS5’s pad.

PDP Victrix Pro BFG verdict

If you’re a sucker for Street Fighter, but equally like to light it up in Call of Duty, I’m not sure there’s a better does-it-all controller out there for you. The Victrix Pro BFG is brilliantly customisable, was designed with high-level play in mind, and the accessories to please fans of multiple genres.

Price isn’t quite on the side of this Xbox variant like it was for the PS5 edition, given Microsoft’s official Elite controller is a fair bit cheaper than Sony’s, but the addition of vibration and Bluetooth connectivity go a long way to making up for it. The triggers are possibly too sensitive for casual play without some tweaking – but that’s ultimately where the PDP’s appeal lies. If you have a preferred playstyle, this controller can make it happen.

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