MetalStrike FF Joystick
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Once you install the included drivers you have the full force feedback effects in games that support force feedback, which may be harder to find out for some games than I had thought. I only found one website, Wikipedia, that has a list of games that support force feedback for both joysticks and racing wheels.
Other games may support force feedback so finding out if a particular game does or does not may be difficult but can usually be found out from the website of the game or from the list on Wikipedia. I was trying to find games that would support a joystick with force feedback so I could see some ones I was interested in but did not find ones that I did not already have or have played in the past.
I have Microsoft Flight Sim X and the MetalStrike FF does really well with the most current flight game, others like Heroes of the Pacific, Pacific Fighters, Lock-On Modern Air Combat and a newer combat game called Wings over Israel all handle the force feedback and the MetalStrike very well. The force feedback is subtle enough to not be a problem and in most games or in the control panel you can adjust the amount you prefer.
In control panel you have the usual game controller entry for the MetalStrike joystick with a test of buttons, axis and force feedback with an additional gain settings page. The Gain Settings are the force feedback amount settings on three different slider bars for a nice set of adjustments.
If a game has too much or too little force feedback you can adjust the settings on the three slider bars; one for periodic, one for conditional and one for all others not including periodic and conditional. Just a little tweaking with these three settings and you can easily adjust your force feedback amount and conditions to your own liking.
I found that playing various games was fine at the default 100% setting on all three gains but I was only playing each game for an hour or so. You can adjust them to your liking or not use them at all simply by not plugging in the power cord to an outlet and you won’t have any force feedback if you desire.
The force feedback helps in some games as it gives you an actual indication of forces on your aircraft and can help you tell if you’re pushing your aircraft to the limit with a turn or maneuver. I found that it helped a lot with World War II games as it let me know I should back off trying a turn or other maneuver before I got too close to a stall.
In jet aircraft games it has less of an effect with helping your maneuvers and more of an effect of an in game feel and bringing you closer to the gaming experience. I think force feedback is more about the experience of gaming and less about an in game help but it does help you at least some.
I really enjoy the force feedback in gaming and enjoy the older aircraft of the World War II games but it works equally as well in modern combat aircraft and some other games. The MetalStrike FF has plenty of programmable buttons on the base of the stick but these buttons are not programmable from the control panel but inside games.
This is how it usually works for programmable buttons and reassigning them inside any game I played was simple and worked well. The controller had no problem “remembering” my configurations inside games after leaving the game so use in various games worked well.
The Genius MetalStrike FF force feedback joystick works fine and I had no problems with using, changing button and trigger configurations or force feedback settings. The force feedback worked very well in all the flight and combat games I played including Micosoft Flight Sim X, MechWarrior 4, Heavy Gear 2, Comanche 4, Enemy Engaged 2, Wings Over Israel and a few other games.
I highly recommend the Genius MetalStrike FF for a great and inexpensive force feedback joystick that is simple to set up and great to use.