The Force Feedback Pro is one of the more expensive sticks out there,
but Microsoft helps make up for it here by including the full version of
MechWarrior 3. The well-built stick features a large base, which takes
up some desktop space, but also offers a solid foundation for gaming.
The stick itself sports an eight-way point-of-view hat, as well as three
action buttons and a fire button. Your left hand rests on the side of
the base and has access to four programmable action buttons, a shift
button, and a throttle. The shift button provides secondary output for
each of the action buttons, and the swiveling stick can also handle
rudder control. The SideWinder software makes it easy to customize all
the stick's buttons; you can even assign a series of keystrokes (such as
a rocket jump in a first-person shooter) to a single button.

The Force Feedback effects are some of the best around, bolstered by
on-stick sensors that react to your subtlest moves. The Force Feedback
RAM, built into the stick, stores and calculates different forces, and
the Force Feedback Pro's 16-bit processor communicates commands between
the stick and your games. All of this feedback comes with a minor
tradeoff: the cooling fan built into the base can get a bit annoying
during gameplay.

Even with MechWarrior 3, the Force Feedback Pro will cost you plenty.
There are other joysticks out there that dutifully serve their purpose
in flight sims and action games, but none that really provides the
all-around feature set and extras that the Force Feedback Pro gives
gamers.

Pros:

• Great force-feedback effects
• Bundled with full version of
  MechWarrior 3

Cons:

• Fairly expensive
• Heavy
• Takes up desk space