CRKD Gibson Les Paul Blueberry Burst Pro Edition Guitar Controller review

CRKD (pronounced “Cracked”) has got the band back together to make an all-new yet entirely familiar take on the third-gen guitar controller that kickstarted the golden age of rhythm games in the west. Bringing mechanical switches, Hall effect technology, and even haptic feedback, this CRKD Gibson Les Paul guitar controller marks a new generation of quality rhythm game controllers. And it should survive a generation, too.

Featured around every curve of CRKD’s Gibson-inspired guitar controller body are not just guitar-game buttons but face buttons typical of the best PC controllers out there; a D-pad, joysticks, and everything else you could need are on hand to play any type of game. This isn’t to encourage playing the best FPS games with a plastic musical instrument – though someone will doubtless give it the old college try – it’s instead designed to remove the need to reach for a separate controller to navigate UIs bewilderingly never designed with guitar inputs in mind.

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The CRKD Guitar controller isn’t the first guitar to hit the market in recent years. The space sees a small resurgence every half-decade or so when a publisher decides that maybe the lightning of the late 00s boom can strike twice. But this controller has some pedigree, as it’s designed by some of the folk behind the iconic Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock peripheral that kickstarted the golden era of rhythm gaming. We’ve been using it for a few weeks now, and with a multitude of connectivity options (that stretch even back to the PS3) and dozens of remappable controls to fill in the blanks, it's a serious upgrade. However, for those who mastered speedy slides up to the smaller frets featured on later rhythm games and controllers, last year’s PDP Riffmaster will be the better bet at its current pricing.