Review – MSI FORCE GC30 Wireless Gamepad

We know that a lot of peripheral brands are making their own controllers – or as I call it, gamepads, for the past few years. MSI, who has a wide range of gaming peripherals, has entered the market for gamepads. They have two gamepads under the FORCE series – the GC30 wireless gamepad, and the GC20 wired gamepad. The only main difference here is the wireless connectivity.

When we tested the MSI FORCE GC30, we thought to ourselves – why not compare with the Xbox One S controller and also the Sony DualShock 4 controller as well? And that’s what we did – and we also tried multiple different games and gathered thoughts and opinions from our team.

In summary, the MSI FORCE GC30 feels a lot like the original the original Xbox 360 controller from years ago. That means the MSI FORCE GC30 is smaller than the Xbox One S controller.

It  also has two large pieces of textured rubbery material to enhance your grip and to prevent your palm from slipping away due to sweat.

Similar to the Xbox One Elite controller, the D-pad’s faceplate can also be swapped as it is held by a strong magnet. You can change from the conventional 4-directional D-pad faceplate to the heptagonal-shaped faceplate. This heptagonal faceplate is useful for rolling the D-pad with quick and precise movements – especially for fighting games when you want to unleash your deadly combos.

The MSI FORCE GC30 also comes with 4 different modes. The only two modes that we actually care about are the “default” and “Android” modes. The “default” mode literally means that the MSI FORCE GC30 will be detected as a native Xbox 360 controller on Windows 10.

The Android mode is exactly what you think it is – to be used for Android phones. We did test the gamepad with a few different games and surprisingly, there are a few games that has native gamepad support – like Asphalt 9, Bomb Squad, and also Contra Returns.

When it comes to our final verdict, we crowned the Xbox One S controller as our favorite controller, but that is only considering the ergonomics, grip, and overall comfort of the 3 gamepads.

Looking at the features, compatibility, and the versatility of these controllers, the MSI FORCE GC30 is the obvious winner here.