My past experiences with MadCatz products have usually been very hit or miss, but the last couple of products I’ve been fortunate enough to review by them have been surprisingly solid. The flight stick, not unlike my latest reviews of their products, is a quality product that I’m sure will attract some attention from some flight enthusiasts. Similar to the Cymbal Pack for Rock Band, MadCatz’ latest Aviator Flight Stick has been tailored from the ground up around Tom Clancy’s HAWX. Depending on how well you can get past a few awkward design flaws may ultimately determine just how much you are going to enjoy the product though.

Like most peripherals designed for a specific game, the Aviator Flight Stick works great with the title. The rudder is so much more useful on the flight stick, and a lot of the buttons just feel right on the product. With that said, I was surprised about some of the choices on where to stick some of the buttons. For instance, the stick features an amazingly cool switch that guards the missile button, as in most normal jets at least, but in HAWX the switch is used to guard the GPS. Yes, it is as lame as it sounds. Also, I was really sad to see that the thruster had been included on the back of the flight stick. I understand the reason for packing purposes, but I really feel like a thruster on the side would have made the product feel so much more legit.