Review: The Mayflash Max Shooter: Xbox 360-PC Keyboard / Mouse Adapter

Manufacturer: Mayflash
Type: Cable / Adapter
Platform: Xbox 360

The new Mayflash Max Shooter for Xbox 360 is a unique adapter that allows you to use a PS2 controller, or a keyboard and mouse on your Xbox 360. The idea is, you can enjoy First Person Shooters (or any other games where precision targeting is important) the way they are meant to be played.

The ongoing war that is raging in households between console and PC gamers will take another step towards peace. This peripheral will hopefully give those big-mouthed PC gamers playing on Xbox Live a chance to prove themselves and all of the words they seem to orally defecate through their headset. Simply plug in this device, then slap a PS/2 or USB keyboard and mouse into it and you are ready to play with some of the default configurations already saved. The Max Shooter comes preloaded with configurations for many of the latest FPS games out and also allow for plenty of customization.

This, at least, is how the Max Shooter 360 is supposed to work in theory anyway. Unfortunately using a wireless keyboard mouse is next to impossible. And after several other wired keyboard and mouse configurations, I finally managed to get it to work, but with mixed results.

After you have gotten your Max Shooter and your wired controller you are ready. The instructions are really simple and you can have a config on your keyboard how you like it in minutes. The PS2 controller connection works beautifully. The keyboard works flawlessly whether USB or PS/2 connected.

The keyboard works great. The mouse, however, is the issue: there is no automatic magical conversion.

Getting your mouse to work requires striking a balance between the type of first person shooter you are playing, the axis sensitivities within the game and the sensitivities in the adapter itself. Your best bet may be too place the sensitivities in the game you are playing to as much as possible for both the X & Y axis and then fiddle with the max shooter wheels for the best arrangement. This trial and error procedure must be done for every game you play. What works great and feels PC-like for F.E.A.R. 2 will be a complete disaster when you play Halo 3, for example.  Although, at the end of it all, getting the mouse to work really well is tricky at first but doable.

The good thing is, if you have the controller still plugged in you can always pick it up and play some portions with the controller and get back to the mouse and keyboard for the shooting parts like in GTA 4. The Max Shooter supports all connections simultaneously. So a keyboard and mouse and a Playstation 2 Controller and a Joystick can all be connected at once and all can be used to provide input. The max Shooter can only support one player at a time. It cannot function like a Multi Tap. So if you want to be playing 2 player fighting games with 2 PS2 controllers you would actually need 2 Max Shooters.

I haven’t tested steering wheels for racing or joysticks for Ace Combat and such but when I do those reviews will come. Another small down side, there is no headset support on the adapter so you will have to keep the wired controller in the Max Shooter to have that feature when you are fragging online with your keyboard and mouse.

The Max Shooter saves your button layouts so you can turn off or unplug it without having to reconfigure each time. Only the mouse settings may need changing when you play a different game.
All in all, The Max Shooter for the Xbox 360 an okay adapter. It somewhat allows PC gamers on a budget to still play high def shooters without shelling out tons on PC hardware. The need for a wired controller may seem like a lot but you won’t have to worry about battery life and it’s a more comfortable controller by lacking the battery pack bulge in the back.

I do recommend the Max Shooter for the Xbox 360, but at a cost. The question is, how many brain cells are you willing to lose to set it up…

- Ian Simmons

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Posted by admin on 04/26 at 07:38 AM
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