When I first saw the Strike Force 3D at ECTS, one thing instantly stood out about the stick – the number of buttons and other gadgets on the thing. Looking at the Strike Force now it actually doesn't actually have any more buttons than the regular Wingman Force 3D, they're just more sensibly placed. There are three buttons on the base unit, one of which is actually a scroll wheel that I'll mention more about a little later. The top of the stick has three buttons, with the two on the left being perfect for cycling through enemy targets and the one in the middle being ideal as a secondary fire button. Of course, the ubiquitous trigger button is still right where it should be.

While there may be the same number of buttons as on the previous stick, albeit in more sensible positions, it's the extra little widgets that Logitech has smacked on that make this joystick a control freak's dream. Firstly, there are two hats. One is a squashed cone shape, the other a more traditional concave one and unlike the hats on many other joysticks, they both give a satisfyingly responsive click when you move it in any direction. You can set up either one to be your main hat for looking around in flight sims, and each of the eight directions on the secondary hat can then be set up to act as a DirectX button function using the ever excellent Logitech Wingman software. As if that wasn't enough, Logitech decided to transplant a scroll wheel onto the joystick from its usual place on a mouse. You can click it like a button or scroll it back or forwards, offering a total of three functions from something the size of a single regular button. Why didn't someone think of this idea sooner?

As the force feedback uses cables rather than gears (as it did in the regular Wingman Force 3D) the forces can be much more powerful if you whack the strength setting to full.. They feel smoother as the force feedback movements don't grind slightly like they did with the Wingman Force 3D. If you're a fan of force feedback effects, the Strike Force won't disappoint in that area.