Logic3 Freebird

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In this episode I am going to present the Logic3 Freebird light gun. This controller was made for the PlayStation 2 and just supports Guncon 2 mode. Its standout feature is being wireless. Besides Logic3 the gun was sold by a slew of different companies, such as Big Ben, Gamemate and Dreamgear using names such as Gunstation RF 868, Gun Sniper III and Marxman Pro.

The Freebird's design is very much inspired by the G-con 2. Especially the back portion of the gun looks very similar. What was a fake magazine release button at the Guncon 2, is functional at the Freebird. The ejected portion is a battery pack which is filled with three AAA NiMH rechargeable cells. It also sports the on/off button and a DC barrel socket for charging. This functionality of course consumes the space at which normally the C button would be located. Instead at the Freebird the C button is located at the handle of the gun. The A and B buttons are circles instead of being oval, but they are at the usual space. The D pad was also made circular. Start and Select are made of hard plastic, rather than rubber. At the top of them is the fire mode selector switch, which can be set to normal, auto reload and auto reload plus auto fire. The reload interval is six shots. Another switch selects the used radio frequency channel. The used band is in the 868 MHz range. The signal is received by the cradle, which is connected to the console via USB. The gun can be charged using this cradle. At the top of the gun is a status LED and another LED which warns the player when the battery is low on charge. The gun came shipped with a RGB friendly audio and video breakout feed through.

Compared to the Guncon 2 the Freebird is far less ergonomic as the gun lacks the thumb cut out. The sight picture is sloppy because of the huge tolerances of the used mold. The trigger is very tactile and feels nice but during game play it sometimes wasn't registered properly. The overall built quality of the gun is good and it feels sturdy. The accuracy and the precision of the gun are good, but certainly not better than that.

The Freebird earned much respect in the light gun community and it is loved by many. In my opinion however the gun is a bit overrated. I would recommend the gun to people who value wireless functionality over everything. The Freebird is a good light gun, but people who go for ultimate precision and accuracy will find something better.

A wired version of the gun exists, which has a distinct pump handle front for reloading. Amongst the distributers were Cyberlight, Dragonplus, Gamemate and Futuretronics. This gun supports not just the PlayStation 2, but also the PlayStation 1 in both: Namco and normal gun mode. I am going to review this gun in a dedicated episode.

The box prominently shows the gun with a blurry photo. Logic3 post processed its logo and the Freebird name onto the gun either because they couldn't bear the shame over the image quality or because they used a generic photo from the manufacturer. The fact that Logic3 reused the same single photo of the gun four times on the box suggests the latter. Nevertheless I think the box is pretty.