We had decided to test two games with the Panther DC: Quake III and Starlancer. Being bloodthirsty, desensitized, twentieth-century children of violence, we picked Quake III first. In the first round, Crash (an opponent who can usually be defeated by a large sneeze) pummeled us mercilessly as we familiarized ourselves with the controller functions. The default setting has the analog stick controlling where a character looks, while the button where one's thumb naturally sits controls the character's movement. And the trigger is operated by pushing a trigger button with the left hand near the trackball. In short, the default Quake settings for the Panther DC suck. We went into the setup menu and changed the settings to something more to our liking.

It would be pointless to describe all the different setups we experimented with; it took us a long time to find one that suited our particular needs. We can tell you this: While it is certainly comparable (and probably far superior after a little practice) to the controller, the Panther DC will not compare to playing Quake III with a good old mouse and keyboard. Take heed, ye confused legions -- those who have not yet purchased a mouse and a keyboard to play Quake are living in denial. That said, the Panther DC does offer its users a plethora of options. There are so many buttons on the dang thing that it is really easy to find something that perfectly suits your needs. The pinky button is a nice addition to the standard joystick format, giving us another button that just seems intuitive (we like this one for switching weapons).

The analog stick works well, though it doesn't seem as sensitive as one might expect, because it has such a wide range of motion. The analog stick is probably initially best for moving characters forward and backward and making them strafe from side to side, because it's easy to learn that way. Trying to look up and down with the analog stick can be difficult at first, but after some practice, that will be the most useful function of the stick.

The trackball is very touchy and actually doesn't seem (at least in Quake III) to be that useful. It is nearly impossible to target an opponent quickly with the trackball, especially in a game like Quake III, where characters are moving around so quickly. It certainly works fine, though; we played for over an hour and never had a problem getting the trackball to do what we wanted to do. And the thing looks really cool sitting in the middle of the controller, glowing a comforting hue of blue.

When we played Starlancer with the controller, our respect for it increased exponentially. Space shooters are the perfect format for a controller like this. The game feels awkward using the standard Dreamcast controls, and it's incredibly hard to effectively target an opponent. The analog stick on the Panther DC feels like it was made for space shooters, and here the wide range of motion we mentioned earlier really comes in handy. Since space shooters tend to be less spastic in their motion, the trackball also seemed more efficient when playing a space shooter. And, once again, the glowing blue ball made us feel like we were really in the cockpit of a ship, albeit a cramped, messy, office-resembling one.

All in all, the Panther DC is a great controller simply for the fact that there are so many buttons on it. With this many options, nearly everyone will be able to find a setup that suits them best. We recommend it to anyone who wants something different than the standard controller or mouse/keyboard setup. And especially to fans of space shooters.