Nacon’s entry into the Android mobile controller space is led by the MG-X, which slides neatly below the price of the only other Designed for Xbox Android mobile controller, the Razer Kishi. This also happens to be the first of two Nacon controllers entering the fray, with the MG-X Pro slated for release later this year and featuring an Xbox controller-shaped design. The MG-X, though, is a little beast in its own right and offers an experience perfectly suited to casual titles and arcade racing games, wrapped up in a neat package that slips into your bag without taking up too much room. Nacon hooked us up with one of the units so we could take it for a test drive; this is what we thought about it. Upon opening the MG-X packaging, you’ll notice the device comes in a matte black plastic finish, much the same as the Xbox controllers do. The middle section is rubberised, however, so your mobile is safe once it’s clamped in, and is secured further by a small lip at the bottom of the MG-X. The rear is coated in a rubberised grip with the Nacon logo emblazoned in the centre. Being a ‘Designed for Xbox’ device, the MG-X includes the Xbox sphere which acts the same as the controller when playing on Xbox Cloud Gaming — holding the button down to turn the device off and on, and when pressed, brings up the dashboard so you can interact with friends, view achievements, etc. Its general design for the toggles and buttons is based on the standard Xbox controller layout, just a little more condensed and rounded off (more on that in a bit). It’s a smart-looking device and small enough to slip into a bag pocket and not take up very much room, and it certainly beats loading a full-sized controller and/or a mobile clip into your bag. The MG-X also comes packaged with a USB-A to USB-C charging cable due to the device running off of its own battery, instead of your phone’s. Battery life fared pretty well over extended periods of time, outliving my phone, and seeing my gaming habits through multiple evenings without needing a recharge. Nacon states that it can last for 20 hours of usage, and I’d be happy to say that I was getting around the same out of it. The centre of the MG-X is spring-loaded to allow various sizes of Android phones to snuggle in, extending far enough to fit a ‘Plus’ size device. I use a base Samsung Galaxy S10 (yes, I’m due an upgrade), and I found that it fits perfectly in the designated spot, aside from the fact that I needed to take it out of its case whenever I wanted to use it. It’s not a huge issue, just… inconvenient? I use a slim armoured case on my phone, and the niggle could be circumvented by making the available space a couple of millimetres deeper, but in reality, it’s a small price to pay for the convenience of a compact controller. Once I had launched my phone to-and-fro a few times before realising my case was the issue, the rest of the setup went smoothly. All you need to do is turn on the MG-X by holding down the Xbox sphere, then hold down the Bluetooth connection button on the bottom of the device until the small LED light on the front flashes blue. From there you head into your phone Bluetooth settings, locate the Nacon and pair them both. Quick, easy, and a breeze, especially seeing as your phone should remember to connect automatically the next time around.The MG-X works just about the same as a regular Xbox controller when used with Xbox Cloud Gaming, aside from its slightly smaller design. It doesn’t quite boast the precision necessary to play quick-reaction titles like shooters, but certainly excels at arcade racers like Wreckfest. My first game to play using the MG-X was World War Z, because zombies are fun, and my preferred style of genre. Now, bear in mind that everybody’s hands are different sizes; there is no “one-size fits all” solution here. But with that said, I found the toggle on the right side to be a little too low when attempting to aim and use the right trigger for sustained gunfire. On multiple occasions, I’d fire a couple of bullets before all gunfire would stop, and I’d be swarmed by rabies-ridden-infected due to not holding down the trigger hard enough. After accepting my fate, and armed with the knowledge that precision-focussed games didn’t bode well with the controller, I moved on to some other more positive experiences.As it turns out, the Nacon MG-X is the perfect match for casual, strategy, and racers. I spent a fair amount of time playing Jurassic World Evolution, and the controller was ideal for the slower-paced gameplay. I was building and managing the park just as easily as I would on console, aside from the fact that much of the time I was laying in bed with the MG-X held above my face — reminiscent of my childhood days playing the Game Boy. The same ideal situation occurred when blasting around the tracks on Wreckfest, a sentiment shared by our very own TrueTrophies wordsmith, Kes, who is the tallest member of our team, and as such holds the record for the largest (and appropriately proportioned) hands — he also happens to be a fan of Wreckfest, and I think the experience might have won him over on the Game Pass front… he just hasn’t realised it yet. Kes did note, though, that although the A, B, X, and Y buttons are closer together, he felt that it was easy to mispress the buttons when moving quickly, but the way that they’re designed means that once you are pressing a button it feels secure. Again, leading to the slower-paced games and titles that use them minimally becoming the crowing champions.Nacon’s MG-X Android mobile controller is the perfect fit for casual players, favouring less precision-intensive games or those that require slower reaction times. It’s a slimline controller that’s perfect for a long commute or lazy afternoon in bed. Aside from a few design choices that don’t allow phone cases to sit properly, or offer the user a comfortable way to use some of the buttons, the MG-X is a great and lower-priced entry into the mobile controller market. A test unit of the MG-X was provided by Nacon for the purposes of this article
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