Gamestick 14

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Review: Gamestick 14

My first response to the new CH Products Gamestick 14 was "thank you." It has buttons in places where buttons should be. This more fully featured follow-up to the earlier Gamestick product is a joy to use, and it's the first CH joystick to include a throttle lever-like Microsoft's SideWinder Pro. CH's second entry into the mainstream stick market offers nothing significantly new and no surprise technological updates, but what it does, it does very well.

Of the Gamestick's 14 buttons, there are your normal trigger, a small, hard-to-see button right under that, two on top near the familiar hat-switch, and two more hat-switches and two buttons on the base. The base hat-switches are placed on either side of the joystick, catering to both left-and right-handed users. The throttle lever is below the stick on the base, allowing you to use it with your thumb.

If a game doesn't directly support the Gamestick 14, you'll need to use the included Joystick Control Center program to make the extra buttons emulate keyboard commands. Otherwise, the peripheral becomes a basic four-button joystick with a hat-switch.

When I first fired up the Joystick Control Center, it was a little intimidating (CH programming software has a huge reputation for intimidation) because it comes with only one paragraph of documentation. Luckily, what you need is documented in the online help program. (For those whose grasp of reality is more easily secured by holding a "real," paper-based manual, this might be a bit distressing.) After I read the online help, the Control Center was simple enough to use, and I was up and running in no time. It also has an option to program a button with up to five different modes, allowing the same button to perform that many functions, depending on which mode you're in. This is where I ran into a snag. All in all, this'd make a good beginning joystick at a reasonable price for the average gamer. But hardcore types should look elsewhere, especially if you're a flight-sim enthusiast.-- Chris Tou / GamePro