Google Gamepad for Nexus Player Review

Google's latest attempt at a dedicated media hub, the Nexus Player ($89.99 at eBay) , left us disappointed. Its few app selections made the system feel stifled compared with the Amazon Fire TV ($69.99 at Amazon) . Google intended the Nexus Player to offer games in addition to media services, and like the Fire TV, the Nexus Player does this with an optional gamepad to provide the physical controls necessary for a real gaming experience. The $39.99 Gamepad for Nexus Player, an Asus-built controller, is a perfectly functional Bluetooth gamepad that, like the Fire Game Controller, also works with regular Android devices. This is its saving grace, as its physical controls can't make up for a general lack of software selection. It's a fine gamepad that just doesn't fix the problems of the Nexus Player.

Design
The gamepad is shaped very similar to the Fire Game Controller, with a flat face; two curved, triangular grips; and a prominent bulge in the back concealing the battery compartment (two AA batteries come with the gamepad). The control layout is DualShock-style, with the two analog sticks parallel to each other and the direction pad and face buttons above. The face buttons are slavishly Xbox-like, though, with X, A, B, and Y buttons matching both their equivalent positions and their associated colors on the Xbox One controller. Unlike the Fire Game Controller and the Nvidia Shield-exclusive Nvidia Shield Wireless Controller ($297.50 at Amazon) , the Nexus gamepad lacks any media playback controls. It only has Power, Back, and Home buttons in addition to the standard face buttons, direction pad, analog sticks, and four shoulder buttons.

It feels very solid in the hand, though I found the analog sticks to feel just a little bit too tight for my tastes. Still, tighter controls are preferable to looser controls, which generally indicate shoddy craftsmanship. The gamepad is also slightly lighter than the Fire Game Controller, weighing 8.4 ounces without batteries to the Fire gamepad's 9.8 ounces, though this doesn't make it feel remotely flimsy or cheap.

Performance
I played a few games on the Nexus Player with the gamepad, including Badland, The Walking Dead Season One, and Reaper. All three games worked flawlessly with the controller, handling both gameplay and menu navigation with the physical controls with ease. The gamepad was well suited to Reaper's side-scrolling brawler/platformer action and Badland's Helicopter/Flappy Birds-like button mashing, and both games were responsive. However, The Walking Dead felt sluggish with the analog sticks, which were slow to move the cursor around the screen. This is a problem with any game designed around mouse controls and altered to work with a gamepad. Neither the game nor the Nexus Player's interface offered options to adjust stick sensitivity, so I couldn't tweak the controls to suit my tastes. Ultimately, it depends on the options offered by the game whether you can adjust the gamepad or adjust your play style to the gamepad, but it's not very promising.

Both the configuration options and the selection of games available on the Nexus Player are very limited. However, you can also connect the gamepad to any Android device. I paired it with my Nexus 5 and it worked perfectly as a game controller, letting me play Another World instantly (a game available for Android, but not released on the Nexus Player).

The Google Nexus Player disappointed us in its limited options, and taken purely as a Nexus Player accessory, the Gamepad for Nexus Player doesn't fix that. As a general-purpose Bluetooth controller, though, it's perfectly functional and solidly built. But the Amazon Fire Game Controller is simply more compelling: It costs the same, feels just as solid, and is just as flexible with Android devices it wasn't explicitly designed for, but it adds a set of handy media controls the Nexus Player gamepad lacks. If you're hard up for an Android gamepad, either one is a fine pick, but the Amazon controller still wins out.