Turtle Beach Rematch Core review — An inexpensive wired option

Imagine this. It’s Friday night and you get a few friends on the horn. Halo 8 comes out this weekend, and we just want to get the old crew together for an old-fashioned LAN party. A handful of your crew are still hardcore gamers; they’ll bring their own consoles. Others, like your brother or the three buddies you last saw at the wedding a few years ago, haven’t kept up but want to join. You’ll need to get a few extra controllers so you can all play split-screen together. You all carpool to the nearest Walmart to get snacks, drinks, and those extra controllers for a long weekend of fun. At $30, you’ll undoubtedly reach for several of Turtle Beach’s Rematch Core controllers. Now your weekend is set.

Everyone lauds the flashy quarterbacks, the kings and knights riding home in glory, the space pilots who destroy dozens of enemy craft to save humanity. Anyone with intimate experience will tell you, though, without the uncelebrated men and women in the trenches, holding the lines, repairing armor and phaser beams, those heroes would never get the chance to be celebrated. Turtle Beach has just released their Rematch Core controller, sure to be the workhorse of their lineup. While it won’t likely win any awards or be set apart for its innovation, I anticipate more gamers will celebrate victory and make memories with this controller in their hands. A controller for the unsung masses.

For the price, the Turtle Beach Rematch Core is a solid product. It features a two-tone molded plastic body with a D-Pad, joysticks, and an option button matching the controller’s accent color. With three camo and two solid color scheme choices, there’s some variety there so you can lay claim to your own in a group.

In terms of functionality, the Rematch Core performs as expected. The triggers have resistance and range comparable to your standard Microsoft product. The bumpers feature a familiar range with a solid click at the end of their range of motion. The thumbsticks are smooth, though they lack some of the more actionable rebound of the Rematch’s cousin, the Afterglow Wave. One of the most notable features, and perhaps the most relevant if you’re playing with a group of knuckleheads, is its built-in audio controls, which allow you to mute yourself, adjust the party/game balance, or fiddle with the volume at the touch of a button. I like that they’re including this feature with all their controllers now.

While the Rematch Core is fairly spartan in its design, it will serve its purpose and save you money doing it. At $29.99, it may not have fancy LEDs, programmable buttons, or trigger stops (for those, you’ll want to consider the Afterglow Wave for $49.99), but this tireless beast will get you in the game and keep you there without sacrificing your wallet in the process.