Neo PC Gamepad Montana

Rating: 8/10

Since the Xbox 360, a few manufacturers have set out recreating a gaming pad that has a similar look and feel to Microsoft's admittedly impressive joypad. One such gaming pad is the Neo S gamepad for PCs by Joytech. Whereas the main Xbox 360 pad is wireless (at least in the premium incarnation of the console), Joytech's Neo S is a wired (USB) affair and it's a good one at that.

At first, it will no doubt feel quite small when compared with other joypads out there on the market but give it time and you'll adjust to this. The Neo S is certainly robust, with rubber grips and a 'sculptured ergonomic design' making it a supremely comfortable pad. As for functionality, well I'm not sure you couldn't ask for much more really. It offers you upto 24 programmable actions with ten programmable action buttons allowing you a firm degree of control over your gaming prowess.

Another function it has in its locker is 'Mouse Mimik Technology' which allows you to use the right thumbstick as a mouse. Along with the programmable buttons this provides a great option for FPS gamers who don't really want to use the keyboard keys (although we still prefer the keyboard and mouse ourselves for our FPS antics). In fact, the fully programmable nature of the joypad makes it compatible with pretty much any game on the market.

I really like this joypad. It's robust, responsive and really easy to setup and use. My one criticism would be that it only provides you with two trigger buttons instead of the usual four, but then that's a minor quibble seeing as you can program other buttons on the joypad to replicate them anyway.

For more information, visit Micromart.co.uk