March 3, 1999 - InterAct, the makers of the acclaimed DexDrive, have recently released an upgraded version of its standard TremorPak that makes switching between controller paks and rumble paks a bit easier.

The unit, which plugs into your controller just like a regular Nintendo Rumble Pak, features an additional Controller Pak slot at the bottom. You can plug a controller pak directly into the TremorPak Plus and keep it there while playing your favorite rumble-compatible games. When it's time to save your game, you simply flip a switch at the back of the unit from "rumble" to "save."

In addition to the save setting, the TremorPak also features the same high/low rumble settings as its predecessor. We found that the high setting (which is more battery intensive) produces much better feedback in weapons-based games like GoldenEye, whereas the low setting is preferable for racers that offer more subtle feedback. The high rumble tends to be a bit loud, but it's nothing you can't fix by turning up your TV.

While it performed very well in our tests, there is one drawback to the TremorPak: its weight. Because of the added slot and the fact that it uses AA batteries, the pak makes the standard Nintendo controller a tad too heavy for our taste.

The pak's biggest advantage over a Nintendo-licensed rumbler is its price. Not only does it cost $14.99, the package also includes a Performance brand Memory Card. The 123 page pak is almost twice as large (physically) as a Nintendo Controller Pak, but it gets the job done well. We have tested the Memory Card with more than 20 different titles, saved and loaded several times and encountered no data corruption. However, we will have to see how the pak performs in our long-term tests.

We suggest you weigh the box to find out whether you can live with the added weight, but for now, the package of the TremorPak Plus and the Memory Card presents an incredible value.