Game Accessory: Krom Kaiser Elite Wired Gaming Pad
System: PS3/PS4/PC
Release Date 6th March 2019
Developer: Krom
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The Esports and also the competitive gaming scenes has seen many different competitions type game controllers for console gaming. Whenever it is Nacon with their very expensive Esports controllers to some developers Hori making cheaper Xbox style controllers like the Oynx Wireless Bluetooth Controller for the PS4 as well as the rare Hori Pad FPS Plus Controller for PS3 and PS4 which were really good. Then you had some smaller gaming controller manufacturing companies that wanted to try their hand on the Esports controller scene like the ASUSPORACE Wireless Controller for PS4 which tried to be a cheaper alternative to the Esports controllers available from Nacon but did its own by adding not only Back Buttons but also a Turbo Button Function which is something you don't see anyone in this day and age. Developer Krom who has made their lineup of pads and steering wheel controllers tries its hand on a competitive type controller with the Krom Kaiser Elite Wired Gaming Pad which like the ASUSPORACE Wireless Controller I talked about before aims to be every bit as much of a professional competitive style controller that allows you to have a more competitive experience for those who are unwilling to fork over £100 or more for a pro controller. While it has the advantages of a pro controller it does its own thing to stand out but makes some not so good design choices of its own.
Unlike other Esports or other pro controllers that I have taken a look at over the years the Krom Kaiser is a fully Wired Gamepad with some similar functions and being compatible for not only the PS4 but also the PS3 and PC as well.
Unboxing the device, you get an instruction manual and of course the controller which connects through USB and the cable is about 3m long in length. It has all of the buttons needed for a controller including the Analog Sticks and D-Pad having the layout of an Xbox/Nintendo Switch Pro Controller alongside trigger and bumper buttons plus also it has a Touch Button. It has a slot on the bottom of the controller for your headset, it even has a Light Bar indicator on it which is pretty cool. Setting up is simple enough you just plug the device through USB into the game console and then press the Home Button on the controller. However, there is a switch on the back of the controller that allows the user to switch between PS3 and PS4 modes, which you need to do so if anyone is going to use either one of the two systems.
The Krom Kaiser also has a switch for how you want to operate the controller, it indicates Normal and Program, normal means it will work like any other Dual Shock controller while as Program will allow you to use the Back Buttons. The device has a Set Button which will allow you to set any of the buttons on the controller to any of the four Back Buttons and assigning what button you want onto it is straight forward like any other pro competition type controllers.
Now the controller feels pretty good to hold, the Analog Sticks don't feel too bad and the buttons have some impact and feeling to actually pressing one of them. The D-Pad is decent and actually feels really good to put your thumb on, it is easy to put one of your fingers on the Back Buttons, the triggers don't require a lot of travel to use them and everything responds very well with zero latency. The Thumbsticks are what you would expect from this generation of gaming and I am never fond of any of the Thumbsticks that have to be designed with a downward curve but you always put any kind of Third Party Thumbstick Grips that have an upward curve onto it to make it more comfortable.
It is a competition-based controller that is meant to be used for a lot of competitive type games so it is obvious that people who pick this controller up for competitive gaming. It works with big name shooters like Call of Duty, Fortnite, Paladins, Apex Legends and any other Battle Royale type game. The D-Pad is good for 2D games and Fighting games as you can pull of special moves and finishers well. It even works fine with Racing games and also Sports games. I played with this controller for a couple of months and each game I tried works fine with the Krom Kaiser Elite Pro Controller and the Back Buttons that you have setup that allows you to get competitive, especially online.
The controller however does not have any kind of Touch Pad functionality which means that any game like Killzone Shadow Fall, Infamous Second Sun or playing PS2 games through emulation on the PS4 won't be able to use the Krom Kaiser perfectly with those said games. It does however have Light Bar functionality and works fine with games that relay on the Light Bar Motion Controls and surprisingly work fine, whether is used for Until Dawn for examining items in the area or just any game on the PS4 that uses Motion Controls. It can even be used for PS3 games that support Six-Axis Motion Controls like in Killzone 2 or Uncharted 1 so if you like playing PS3 games with Six-Axis controls then the Krom Kaiser will be good for PS3 gaming.
I should mention that it is possible to use this controller on the PlayStation TV console, that's right I tested it with the PlayStation TV and to my surprise it actually does work with it as long as the controller is set to PS3 mode. During my play sessions with the device, I noticed no latency issues or any kind of compatibility issues when using it on the PSTV. The controller worked fine with whatever game I had installed on the PSVita from PSOne games, PSP games to PSVita games that I tried it with. So, if you wish to get competitive also on the PSVita games Online with games that are PSTV compatible than you can use the Krom Kaiser Controller on it.
The controller also works on PC for gaming but however you do want to set it to PS3 Mode because plugging it in while it is set to PS4 Mode causes all of the PC audio to the controller speaker which is a little off putting. It is designed well to work with PC games that work for a controller scheme if you are using Steam or any other PC game launcher that you use.
While the compatibility with the controller is impressive and works fine with the vast majority of games that you want to get competitive with it has a bizarre design choice with the speaker functionality. Normally with the PS4's Dual Shock 4 it would make special noises which would play out on the controller's speakers, only some third-party controllers like the SC3 Wireless Pro Controller implemented the feature but with the Krom Kaiser Controller the speaker doesn't play special sounds like the Dual Shock 4 does. Instead, the controller's speaker acts like a headphone speaker that plays out only party group chat feedback from other players which is kind of a little bit dumb because player voice feedback should be coming from only the headphones or the TV. Plus, also the speaker volume is too low even at the highest setting so you won't be able to hear what people online are saying anyway and doesn't sound very clear either so having the controller speakers for party chat is kind of pointless and should be used for headsets. You can plug in a headset on the controller's headphone jack slot and the feedback for using a headset on the Krom Kaiser works really well like any other controller that uses a headphone jack so you can use a headset with the device for chatting with friends online.
I also kind of noticed a bit of issues with the Analog Sticks where only moving the sticks gently by a little bit it would cause some incorrect movement or sometimes when I move the stick all the way in a diagonal direction sometimes don't register as full movement. I'm not sure if this is caused by Analog Stick placement, build quality but the issues don't always arise and I'm able to play my games just fine with those sticks. That said I have been using the controller for months and I think that the Analog Sticks will then start to get Analog Stick drift but there is a fix for Analog Stick drift anyway so it is not really a big deal. For the most the Krom Kaiser functions fine and many games allow you to alter the Analog Stick Deadzone and other settings for any Analog Sticks that have faults with the Analog Sticks so the issue isn't all that big of a deal unless otherwise you are using a controller with Analog Sticks that don't have a good build quality.
The Krom Kaiser functions well for the most part as a cheap pro controller for the PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4 and if you ever wanted to find a pro controller that would work with the PlayStation TV then this controller is for you. It may have problems but for much it costs on sites like Amazon it does what is advertised on the box and it works fine with zero latency and it is customizable with the Back Buttons just nowhere near as functional or reliable as any of the expensive controllers from Nacon or any of the other pro controllers I looked at before. Overall if you are going to use it for competitive games for the PS4 and want to also use it for the PS3, PC and PSTV and can look past the controller speaker issues with no Touch Sensitive Pad functionality then you'll get a decent amount of use with the Krom Kaise Elite Wired Gaming Pad and it is recommended to competitive players looking for a cheap functioning controller that ticks the boxes what they would want a pro controller for.
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Console Score: 7/10
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The Goods
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Customizable Back Buttons that you can assign and change anytime
Great Build Quality and Ergonomics and it is very comfortable to hold
Works with PS3/PS4/PC and also the PSTV as well
The Bads
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Has no Touch Sensitive Pad functionality for games that utilize the Touch Pad
Controller speaker's volume is too low and plays out party group chat feedback from other players rather than playing special game noises which is dumb and pointless
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