SmartJoy FRAG

Added October 27th, 2004 by coolp

Want to hear about one of the most controversial things to come out this year? And no, I’m not talking about Fahrenheit 9/11, Janet Jackson, Rockstar, or some triple-A game leak. I’m talking about the next accessory from Lik-Sang, the SmartJoy FRAG. Hailed as the gateway to console gaming by some PC aficionados, and decried as the doombringer of console gamers by Xbox Live players around the world, this little gadget is bound to raise some eyebrows. But, the controversy is for another article. The main point is that it works. Very, very, very well. That’s not to say that there aren’t problems, but they are so minor that they are easily overlooked, so read on and discover whether or not the SmartJoy FRAG is right for you.

The first thing you notice about the SmartJoy is its diminutive size, as it easily fits into the palm of your hand, and weighs very little. The second is the two simple plugs, and the controller cord to connect to the Xbox. Setup is simple, just get one (PS/2 compatible) keyboard and on (PS/2 compatible) mouse, plug them into the correct places, and finally connect the whole thing to the Xbox. That’s it. Just pop in Halo, hit F1 on the keyboard to load the Halo keyboard preset, and you’re ready to go! By this time you are probably about to sit down on the couch, which is where the first problem comes into play: the cords simply aren’t long enough, as the SmartJoy’s controller plug is only about a foot long, which just doesn’t make it to most couches. The thinking is probably that they keyboard and mouse both have cords long enough to cover this issue, but that isn’t the case in most situations, forcing users to sit closer to the TV, or in a room where the TV is closer to the couch than it is in many houses. Also, the memory card/Live headset slot is on the SmartJoy, which makes it impossible to use for Live play without a wireless headset, or sitting 2 feet from the TV. This may work great for those playing on their monitor with a VGA adaptor, but for the rest of us, it is a fairly big downer. A standard length controller cord would have gone to great lengths to fix both these problems, and I hope that Lik-Sang looks into it for the next iteration of the product.

Enough about setup and controller cord lengths, let’s get to the good stuff, namely, actually playing a game with it! The default keyset for all games has keys all over the place, with the A, X, B, and Y keys all mapped to the corresponding letters, which doesn’t work well at all for games. Luckily, Lik-Sang was smart enough to include keyboard presets for many different Xbox shooters, including Halo, Riddick, Medal of Honor: Frontline, and Rainbow Six 3. Loading a preset is remarkably easy; simply hit the “F” key that corresponds to the game you want to load a preset for, which for Halo is F1. A little booklet comes with the SmartJoy that lists all of the different games, presets, and their controls and F designation. Upon hitting the F key, the controls immediately switch over, which for Halo maps movement to A, S, D, and W, firing to the left mouse, zoom to the right mouse, grenades to the middle mouse button, and the rest to the buttons around the ASDW keys. Overall the keyset works great, and if you don’t like the way that they are working you can make your own manually.

There are a couple cool ways to customize your SmartJoy experience, including deadzone configuration and mouse inversion, both of which are explained in detail in the booklets included. Another nifty feature is the usage of the keyboard LEDs: The numlock LED shows whether the adaptor is in use, and the caps lock and scroll lock LEDs show whether the keyboard and mouse, respectively, are attached and recognized. You can also reset the SmartJoy to factory default with the press of 4 keys, which just adds to the amount of thought Lik-Sang has put into the keyboard usage.

And thus we find ourselves in the game, after navigating through the game menu with the ASDW keys and the spacebar, a process that is surprisingly easy. In game, prepare to be amazed by a whole new world of control, ease, and ownage. With sensitivity cranked up to 10, you will be able to aim like the best, nailing Elites, Grunts, and Brutes every which way, and nail sniper hit after sniper hit. The only real problem lies in what kind of hardware you are using, as the better the mouse and keyboard, the more accurate you can be. Use a 5 year old ball mouse and you will of course be far less accurate then someone using a brand new 100$ wireless mouse, but thus are the breaks of PC gaming. One thing of note is that most new mice and keyboards are USB compatible, but not PS/2 compatible, which will require you to buy a PS/2-USB adaptor to use said mice and keyboards with the SmartJoy. But, when you are using good hardware there is truly nothing like playing Halo with a keyboard and mouse, as you have just that much more control over the game, allowing you to focus on the game and not the aiming.

Overall, the SmartJoy FRAG is an amazing little device. It does its job, and it does it well. Despite a few rough patches, such as controller cord length and USB slots, the SmartJoy does precisely what it sets out to do: enable a whole new audience to enjoy the Xbox’s fantastic game library, on their own terms and in their own way. This is just another way for the Xbox to reach a new group of players, and I personally welcome it. Whether or not Microsoft will be able to regulate its use on Live is a whole different story, but if you are a PC gamer looking to get Halo 2, sans controller, then this is your ticket in.

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