PS3 Real Triggers Review: Squeezes with No Slips

From the Vault — originally published July 10, 2009. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.

I had the opportunity to order these from Amazon.com last week with a larger order. The whole free shipping on orders over $25 thing strikes again. I had read some raves about these Playstation 3 controller trigger attachments on various sites including NeoGaf so i figured I would drop the $4.99 and give it shot since shipping would be free.

The PS3 Real Triggers are essentially plastic attachments that snap on over the existing Dualshock, or Sixaxis controller L2 and R2 trigger buttons. The snap on and are locked securely in place. They did not slip off or slide out of place at all. The trigger attachments turn the standard convex shape of the PlayStation 3 controllers to a concave, or crescent shape which is a shape more similar to an actual trigger. The benefit of the crescent curve is that your fingers do not slide off. Its also seems to takes less effort or movement to depress the trigger and this is useful for twitch games.

At first the difference is very noticeable because your fingers now have a place to rest as opposed to the curve of the stock controller. Its weird at first though after a while I figured that the PS3 controller should have been made like this in the first place. While a convex shape may seem more sleek its not as functional as a trigger as the shape provided by the PS3 Real Triggers.

Also its worth noting that few PlayStation 3 games actually use the L2, and R2 “trigger” buttons to “fire” or shoot in games. Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid 4, 50 Cent Blood in the Sand, Infamous, and Killzone 2 all use the L1 buttons for shooting at least in default control schemes. The only game I could find on my shelf that used R2 to shoot was The Club and the use of the PS3 Real Triggers was an improvement over not using them. With that said, I think that most will find that racing games are your best bet for use of the PS3 Real Triggers. Most racing games use R2 for acceleration and the improved ease or squeeze and non slip ergonomics of the PS3 Real Triggers will be a godsend to racing game fans. I tested these out with Purnout Paradise and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and I found it to work great for both games.

The bottom line is that at the $4.99 price point yes do grab a pair of these. If you see these in a store for 4.99 or can get free shipping with them on Amazon then go for it though i do not recommend paying any more because they are just small plastic pieces. I will keep these on my controller because I think the PS3 Real Triggers do fix a fundamental ergonomic design issue with the stock controller. They are great for racing games that use the L2, and R2 buttons for acceleration in addition to being better than the stock for games that actually use those buttons for shooting.