Before the lockdown started, I bought the Razer Raion because I wanted a controller with buttons that feel like an arcade stick's, with a dpad, and easy to take out and use. Before I pulled the trigger, though, it took a long time considering the purchase. The Razer Raion is $100, or around Php 4995 here in Manila at Datablitz. I couldn't find it anywhere online, except for maybe Play-Asia, but after shipping, the cost would skyrocket. Question is - is the Razer Raion worth the pretty significant investment? Let's find out.
Accessories and Packaging
Say what you will about Razer, but their packaging is always on point. That's part of the reason why they can charge so much for essentially the same products everyone else offers - premium feel, premium look, premium branding. The box is nice and hefty, with a nice design and feel. Inside, you'll see the Razer Raion front and center, surrounded by padding that hugs the silhouette of the controller.
As far as accessories goes, it literally doesn't have any. And it doesn't need any. In the box is the just the controller, the nicely printed and produced manual, and some stickers. Ever notice how Apple and Razer always pack stickers with their products? They're taking advantage of your brand pride and loyalty to show off your chosen "team."
Form Factor
When playing on a pad, I am used to playing with a conventional grip. A lot of pad players do play using a claw grip, especially for Tekken, but that's just not how I got used to a controller. The Razer Raion is very comfortable when used with a conventional grip, as in with both palms gripping the curved protrusions on either side of the controller. And I find that kinda weird. Even the Hori Fighting Commander Pro has an asymmetrical shape, which lets the player put the pad on their lap, like an arcade stick should they choose.
Build Quality
When I first held the Razer Raion, the word "plastic-y" sprang to mind. I was expecting it to feel more like some of the more premium controllers - maybe a little like Nacon Revolution, but no, it has a much more "plastic" feel to it. However, I do think the choice of plastic is intentional. It's very light, and the buttons feel and sound like you were smacking traditional fighting stick buttons.
The body doesn't seem like there are any concerning potential points of failure, so you'll at least be confident that it won't suddenly crack right when you need it the most.
In my opinion, braided cables just feel much nicer to touch. They don't actually affect durability or flexibility of the cables much -- just a personal preference. That said, the high-quality 3-meter long cable of the Razer Raion is more than enough for a good couch gaming session.
Core Functional Quality
When I first saw the Razer Raion, I wanted to get it for the face buttons. As a King pad player, I figured it'd be easier to input chain grabs with bigger buttons. I wanted to get the best of both worlds - the ease of which I can use a dpad, and the buttons of an arcade stick. In that regard, the Razer Raion performs flawlessly. The buttons are nice and big and easy to hit - you can play them the way you would an arcade stick, just scaled down a tad. You can smash the face buttons and they feel just like pressing into arcade stick buttons. The buttons feel great and the mechanical switches are incredibly responsive.
As nice as the buttons are, the real star of the show is the 8-switch directional pad. Each direction has its own switch, which means the up, the down, left, right, up left, up right, down left, and down right has its own switch. This takes some getting used to, especially if you're used to a Dualshock 4's d-pad, which just has four switches, so to get diagonals, you press two buttons at the same time. This caused me to get a little confused - because I would miss my FC,f moves and get WS instead. In Tekken, moves like King's giant swing consistently never came out for me - after looking at the command history, it seemed that I was missing the down input, going from down back to down forward and skipping down altogether. With practice, I got a little better at it, but it's good to take note of it.
All four shoulder buttons are clicky and have practically no travel before firing.
The shape of the Razer Raion made it feel like it was meant to be held conventionally, and not with a claw grip, so unfortunately, it was much less useful to me than a regular Dualshock 4 on Tekken. Please do note that this is a shortcoming on my end, not the controllers. I have never held a controller with a claw grip - those who already play with claw are going to feel right at home with the Razer Raion.
It's a totally different story on Street Fighter, though. I'm a huge scrub at SF, but I found the Raion made combos and inputs much easier compared to the stick.
My personal preference for controllers is something like this.
Tekken
Dualshock 4 > Arcade Stick > Razer Raion
Street Fighter V
Razer Raion > Arcade Stick > Dualshock 4
It will be different for someone else, for sure. The controller you use, after all, is a matter of personal preference.
Extras
At the bottom of the controller, you have switches and an audio jack. Like most fight pads, you can switch the d-pad function from left stick to the d-pad and the right stick. Then you've got a 3.5mm jack for audio. As far as I know, the audio only works on the PS4. Finally, you've got a function to switch the shoulder buttons from L1 - R1, L2 - R2 to L3 - L1, R3 - L2. I have it configured for the latter.
There's also a mute and volume button for the PS4 audio controls, and pressing them simultaneously activates Competition Mode, which disables the options, share, and home buttons. So you don't lose any rounds by being a dumbass.
Final Thoughts
So, is it worth the $100? I'm on the fence a bit. Although it is a magnificent controller, I'm not sure it should cost that much. I'd be more inclined to recommend it wholeheartedly if it cost maybe $20 less. But that said, it's still a fantastic controller with awesome mechanical face buttons, mechanical 8-switch d-pad, and extra features that can fit in a small bag that you can easily bring around with you to tournaments and casuals.
8.3Overall8Design10Function7Value