Razer Wolverine V3 Pro review – undeniable quality hampered by price

The Razer Wolverine V3 Professional is a implausible Elite-style controller for Xbox and PC, specializing in responsiveness and luxury in hand. Designed in collaboration with 24-time Halo champion Eric “Snip3down” Wrona, this new Wolverine is touted as real professional-grade gear, and it’s onerous to argue with the outcomes.

I discover the Razer Wolverine V3 Professional to be among the finest PC controllers available on the market proper now, and regardless of its eye-watering worth, there’s loads of worth on show to justify the price. The feel and appear of the controller are nice, and the pure positioning of its again paddles instantly gained me over, however must you ditch your commonplace gamepad in favor of this dear professional different?

Specs

Options

The Razer Wolverine V3 Professional is a wi-fi Xbox and PC controller able to as much as 1,000Hz polling when wired. Razer takes classes discovered by making a wide range of aggressive gaming mice and applies the learnings to the Wolverine V3 Professional. This leads to an excellent slick design, detailed customization choices, and tremendous responsive efficiency.

The Wolverine V3 Professional has Corridor Impact joysticks and Mecha-Tacticle switches in its ABXY face buttons, together with an eight-way D-pad. Twin-mode triggers can even undertake a brief mouse-click fashion activation alongside a regular lengthy pull activation that feels a lot smoother. The 4 rear paddles are textured for improved grip, plus the shoulder-mounted M1 and M2 buttons don’t protrude a lot that they smash the look of the controller, however can nonetheless be positioned simply with out having to look down.

There’s no hiding the influences of gaming mice on the Wolverine V3 Professional, but it surely’s actually not a nasty factor as a result of Razer is understood for making a number of the greatest gaming mice and this expertise has transferred over flawlessly. This choice to boldly introduce mouse-like fell and options give gamers the sensation of full management and a fast responsiveness.

As a wi-fi controller, the Razer Wolverine V3 Professional additionally comes with a chargeable battery, marketed as providing “about 20 hours” of play, though that is beneath slightly strict situations. The gamepad additionally comes with a protecting material carry case, a set of other thumbsticks, a 10ft USB A to C charging cable, and the hyperspeed wi-fi dongle. All these extras add significantly to the worth of a premium controller like this however a extra barebones model with none of those that saves you $20-$50 would most likely tempt plenty of consumers.

Design

The design of Razer’s Wolverine V3 Professional will be assessed on two fronts. At face worth, the V3 Professional appears like simply one other premium Xbox controller, which isn’t essentially a unfavorable, however in describing it as such, you have got an instantaneous expectation that involves thoughts. It’s an asymmetrical ABXY format with an Xbox brand, view, menu, and share buttons, in addition to a D-pad. On high of this, you have got the 4 rear paddles and extra two top-mounted inputs.

When trying on the Wolverine V3 Professional on a a lot deeper degree, and after having held it in my arms for numerous hours throughout testing, I’m crammed with reward for each facet of its design and format. First, consideration is given to each claw and commonplace grips, that are accommodated utilizing well-positioned rear paddles and top-mounted M1 and M2 inputs.

These are nothing new, and I don’t wish to try to make out as such, however so few controllers make the most of each kinds so effectively. The M1 and M2 inputs are fastidiously positioned subsequent to the LB/LT and RB/RT buttons in order that they by no means intrude should you’re adopting a regular grip, however if you’re a claw-style participant, they’re easy to achieve with no need to stretch and threat messing up your move.

As for the paddles, they’re located loads decrease on the handles, which means they sit extra naturally in your two center fingers. Fortunately, they aren’t so delicate that you simply’ll be consistently setting them off, an issue I’ve discovered with many alternate options relationship again to the unique Elite controller. Add in two set off locks positioned on the rear of the controller, and all of it provides as much as create what’s my favourite and most snug controller expertise so far.

Efficiency

I put the Wolverine V3 Professional by its paces in Madden 25, Forza Motorsport 8, and Name of Obligation: Warzone to get a really feel for a way these video games felt each with out-of-the-box settings and after a while spent customizing inputs by way of the Razer software program on PC.

The efficiency of the Wolverine V3 Professional is at its greatest whenever you tinker with settings to accommodate the fashion of sport you’re taking part in, as I did for my complete time testing the controller. When taking part in a sport like Madden, I tweaked the thumbstick sensitivity to be various, with the left stick being extra delicate whereas the precise stick was much less so. This helped make my directional inputs far snappier whereas permitting me to scale back the chance of errors with the precise stick comparable to a poorly timed juke with my operating again.

In Forza, it’s just like the stick sensitivity scenario, however in racing video games, again paddles turn into the MVP for me. Assigning my gear shifts to those inputs permits me to keep up full management of a automobile and hold my thumbs regular as they management the automotive and my digital camera view.

Lastly, in Warzone and different shooters, the thumbstick lifeless zones are at their most delicate as a result of any delay in aiming will be the distinction between life and dying (within the sport). Whereas your response occasions additionally play a significant position, should you can take away the added milliseconds of needing your controller to hit its energetic zone and reply, it’s a giant benefit. Additionally, I just like the controller haptics turned as much as 11, or on this case, six, as I need to have the ability to really feel each motion and shot to completely immerse myself in firefights. The round thumbstick profile additionally is available in helpful right here because it smooths out the omnidirectional actions slightly than sticking to the clunkier really feel of an eight-direction system.

All through all my testing, I felt in full management of how the Wolverine V3 Professional performs, and it did the whole lot I requested of it with none difficulty. It’s this degree of customization that creates the skilled really feel, and the format of the Razer Controller app is way from intimidating, even when I used to be initially confused as to why the controller didn’t simply use Synapse like all different Razer PC equipment.

Always, the Wolverine V3 Professional felt responsive, however when switching over to wired mode and enabling the 1,000Hz polling, I admittedly anticipated extra however was left underwhelmed. Having examined numerous mice and seeing the distinction {that a} bounce between 1,000Hz and 4,000Hz could make, I used to be excited to see how the Wolverine V3 Professional may fare reporting in at 4 occasions its 250Hz wi-fi charge. The distinction in gameplay felt marginal with solely the thumbstick responsiveness seeming to profit, and whereas it’s nonetheless a step ahead for controllers, I wouldn’t let it scare you away from carrying on with wi-fi play for now.

On its battery life, the Wolverine V3 Professional can go for over 20 hours of fixed use, however provided that you flip off the Chroma RGB and scale back the haptic suggestions to zero. In any other case, the standard battery life, from a full cost, will sit within the 10-15 hour vary, relying on what settings you’re utilizing. That’s a contact on the low facet, with the likes of the Xbox Elite controller boasting as much as 40 hours of battery life, although it’s nonetheless lengthy sufficient for a protected a number of day of gaming between prices.

Going from flat to full cost took simply shy of three hours when left alone, however the wired play means you don’t have to fret about having sufficient juice to play, offered you have got a spare USB port to cost whilst you play.

Verdict

All in all, the Razer Wolverine V3 Professional delivers superfast wired responsiveness and a snug really feel that works effectively for normal and claw grips. The construct high quality is implausible, as you need to count on given the value tag, however general the Wolverine V3 Professional does little or no to innovate within the controller market.

As a substitute, the V3 Professional is the proper marriage of a number of premium options, all introduced collectively within the ultimate shell for PC and Xbox avid gamers. It’s onerous to justify the price when a less expensive, wired model is on the market for half the value – significantly should you’re solely a PC participant. Nevertheless, should you take your gaming critically, the expansive customization gives a fine-tuned expertise that would genuinely give you an edge over the competitors.

Value

The Razer Wolverine V3 Professional has an MSRP of $199.99 (£199.99) and is on the market from the Razer retailer and retailers comparable to Amazon, from August 28, 2024. There’s no sugarcoating the value. It’s costly even in comparison with different premium controllers such because the Scuf Intuition and Xbox Elite Collection 2.

It’s actually in the direction of the very restrict of what I might be keen to pay for a controller personally, however the worth of the package deal as a complete is boosted by the inclusion of all these extras within the field and the presence of Corridor Impact thumbsticks, which the above rivals lack.

Options

Massive Massive Gained Rainbow Professional 2

The Rainbow Professional 2 is a real different to the Wolverine V3 Professional, particularly when it prices a fraction of the value. I’ll concede that the Wolverine feels higher in hand, and the customization choices eclipse that of the Rainbow Professional 2, but when price range is a significant component in your choice, and you’ll deal with the slightly garish design, it’s a viable choice to think about.