Hyperkin The Competitor Controller Review: A DualSense Copycat

The most striking difference is that the Hyperkin product replaces the typical Xbox approach of asymmetrical controllers with the PlayStation’s horizontal layout. It also separates the D-pad (it’s a single piece inside the pad, but splits its cardinal directions so each appears to be its own button), while the ABXY face buttons are spaced slightly further apart. Where the DualSense’s touchpad would be, we have the Xbox’s home, menu, view and share buttons, all integrated quite cleverly. An LED ring around the home button roughly echoes the lights that run around the periphery of the DualSense’s touchpad, although it’s actually more of an inversion of the classic Xbox controller, where the home button itself lights up.

The competitor’s controllers feature caps that mirror those of the PS5, an outer ring with a convex center point, but a pair of Xbox-standard concave caps are included. These slip on and off easily and can be mixed and matched, if you’re (strangely) inclined.

There are two areas where this deviates from the standard Xbox and PlayStation controllers in terms of inputs. The first is the presence of two programmable rear buttons, M1 and M2. By default, these duplicate the input of the A and B buttons, but holding down the Mode button between them lets you remap them. There are also physical button locks to prevent their use altogether. The other is that while the competitor has a 3.5mm headphone jack like Microsoft’s official pad, it adds a built-in audio mute button, hidden in the dark between the controllers – a nice little upgrade.

Oddly familiar

In use, the Competitor looks… well, a bit like a PS5 pad. The slightly larger grip fits comfortably in the hand, all inputs are accessible, and these symmetrical controllers are well within the reach of all but the smallest hands. A micro-textured underside provides a solid grip which, combined with its 232 gram weight, makes the Competitor particularly suitable for longer periods of play. This is all very familiar if you’re already a multi-format gamer, to the extent that it sometimes messed with my muscle memory slightly, reaching out with my thumb to perform a PlayStation touchpad function and only finding the Xbox system buttons.

Photography: Matt Kamen