The remotes for the Wii are rather plain, luckily though you can pick up aftermarket ones that are a bit stylish and colorful. I picked up the Afterglow AW.1 remote because I needed another one and I thought it looked cool. It’s from a company called PDP, and it features LEDs inside of it that make it glow. The controller also has a different button configuration than the official Wii remote does. It seems to work just as the original does, and it has a decent battery life.
Info:
Product Name: AFTERGLOW AW.1 for Wii
Author: Kristofer Brozio
Provider: PDP
Price: $26.01 (from Amazon at time of review)
UPC: 0708056076023
The AFTERGLOW family of controllers breaks new ground in form, features, and radiant aesthetics, delivering gamers an experience sure to have them glowing. The appearance of the AFTERGLOW® controllers is defined by clear a polycarbonate body plastic, within which red, blue, or green circuit boards and components reside. Amplifying the theme, multitudes of LEDs within the controllers glow, matching the circuit board color. The result is a truly vibrant glow in both light and dark gaming situations. The AFTERGLOW AW.1 for the Wii features a refined design and ergonomically modeled grip built for comfort and competition. Each AFTERGLOW controller allows the player to adjust the LED settings to: on, off, or vibration (activates when controller rumble motors spin).
(This review was originally posted on my other site, Wii Digest)
The Review::
The box is large for just a remote, I was thinking there was a cover in it but there’s not sadly.
Inside you’ll find the remote, strap and user manual. The strap doesn’t have a lock on it though, which I wish it did.
I like the looks of clear things, for some reason I like to see what’s going on inside. The Afterglow comes in different colors and the PCB inside matched the color of the LEDs, I got red so the board is red.
On the bottom you can really get a good look at the board, and then you have the battery color that is clear as well.
Inside the battery compartment is the connect button and a mode button so you can control the LEDs.
Here’s a regular Wii remote and the Afterglow together. There are some differences with the button placement and I’m not sure how I feel about it just yet. I really didn’t seem to notice it while I was playing.
The Afterglow is named because of the LEDs inside of it that make the controller glow.
In the dark it glows well, but in the light not so much.
I used it to play games of course and I found it works pretty much just like a regular Wii remote does. The only odd thing I noticed is that it doesn’t work well close up, it skips about a bit. I don’t mean real close, more like a few feet away, but the official controller works fine at that close distance. it’s not a big deal really, but just something I noticed.
The controller has the pretty much the same weight and feel as the official remote does.
The price is $30 to $35 depending where you look, which is close to the same as the official Wii remote but there’s no MotionPlus built-in.
Conclusion:
The Afterglow AW.1 from PDP isn’t a bad choice for a replacement remote, it seems to work just as good as the official controller. The AW.1 looks great with the glowing LEDs inside of it, and the different button configurations makes for a nice change.
The only real drawback is that there is no MotionPlus built-into the controller. I also don’t like the fact that there is no lock on the strap.
PROS | CONS |
+Works with MotionPlus
+Lots of uses for the accessories +Clear so you can see the inside +Seems quality made +Decent battery life |
-Doesn’t come with cover
-Strap doesn’t have locking clip -MotionPlus not built-in -Skips sometimes |
Scores:: | 8 out of 10 |
Overall: | |
Aesthetic: | |
Price / Value: | |
Quality: | |
Usability: |
Disclosure:This product was given to Review the Tech for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products. This product may have also been bought by us for review purposes and does not influence the review.