Steelseries are now one of the big guns in the PC gaming peripherals market and I don’t have to tell you how big Call of Duty is in the gaming world. Match up the two and you have drooling PC gamers and avid COD admirers twiddling their thumbs with glee at the prospect of some Call of Duty branded brilliance matched with highly sort-after PC gamer goods.
These eager gamers won’t be doing so in vain as what Steelseries have done in creating their official branded Black Ops 2 mouse and mousemat is something special for the price they are marketing these goodies at.
Let’s start with the prices. The mousemat of which is of the soft variety as opposed to the easily warped harder mats will set you back a mere £15 whereas the mouse with it’s braided wire, eight buttons, on-the-fly sensitivity profile switching and matte finish with appealing light effects will cost you a mere £50 if you find the right retailer.
The mousemat is nothing special to look at, it’s got a standard image on the front and is certainly better than any desktop surface for mouse movement but it’s well, fine. No frilly bits, though it looks alright on the desk especially accompanied with mouse.
Both items are packaged well and give you that sense of excitement when you first set eyes on them. The mouse, has a typical velcro fastening with a window to see the mouse before you open up the box and the mouse pad has an almost entirely see-through window on the front, giving you a large view of what you will be tearing into before you do so.
The both work well together, the mouse is neither quick nor slow moving on the surface of the mat which is excellent for both standard use and gaming use. If you want a faster moving cursor you can always change the sensitivity of the mouse using Steelseries’ universal peripheral software allowing you to map buttons on the mouse, set profiles for specific games and, as mentioned, change the sensitivity of the mouse.
That said Steelseries’ engine software is available to download and is very user friendly. You have the default button macros highlighted on the screen as well as presets for various PC games. Of course, you can set macros to individual buttons manually but it’s good to have a little default set too. As well as macros, the software can be used to alter the lights on the mouse, if they pulse, have a solid colour or turned off completely (if you are boring).
Alright, let’s get to the specs. The Steelseries Black Ops 2 mouse isn’t a big mouse, it’s fairly average sized with two bumper buttons each side of the mouse, the usual left and right mouse buttons, a scroll which can be pressed in and a button just beneath the scroller which is used to change the sensitivity of the mouse on-the-fly between the two settings you can alter and test out yourself beforehand.
As it’s symmetrical, the mouse is ambidextrous. I personally prefer mice that are fitted to specific hands, either left or right, but that’s just me. It’s tricky to press the buttons on the right side of the mouse if you are right handed but nobody wants to use their mouse as a keyboard, binding all the buttons on the mouse to be used at all times – that’s what the keyboard is for!
The mouse feels fantastic both physically and mechanically. The matte finish really lends itself well to the cause and doesn’t let your hand slip and slide around the top of it like a wet fish. The buttons feel sturdy and you are guaranteed quality as they are tested for over 1 million clicks. The scroller does feel a little strange though; the notches are fine to indicate separate positions on the scroller however, it’s silent scrolling down, and squeaky scrolling up. I don’t know if it was intentional or it was a mechanical fault with mine but when casually browsing it’s a little annoying, not when gaming though, you don’t notice it if wearing headphones as there is no tactile feedback.
For the price, you can’t get much better as a pair and if you are a PC Black Ops 2 player you won’t want anything else as an alternative. The pair look great on the desk they feel well in the hand and if you have the mind of a quality gamer, you can be rest assured it won’t be the quality gear holding your talents back.
Specifications
Call of Duty Black Ops 2 GAMING MOUSE
Call of Duty: Black Ops II propels players into a near future, 21st Century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare.
Arm yourself with a weapon designed for advanced combat and technology for hours of clandestine missions – the Call of Duty Black Ops II Gaming Mouse.
SIZE AND WEIGHT
- Weight: 90 grams (0.2 lbs)
- Height: 38.7 mm (1.5 in)
- Width: 68.3 mm (2.7 in)
- Length: 125.5 mm (4.9 in)
COMPATIBILITY
Operating systems:
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
ADVANCED MACROS
Thanks to the support of the SteelSeries Engine software, you can record even extremely long and advanced macros to the Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Gaming Mouse. The macros can not only be layered and can include keystrokes and precise timing, but they can span across your peripherals allowing you to have a mouse button assigned to perform keyboard strokes and mouse clicks in the same macro. How you will decide to use this advanced feature is up to you (choose your configurations wisely and adhere to any rules that you may need to abide by during gameplay); we are only presenting you with the capabilities for endless possibilities.
BEST-IN-CLASS TECHNOLOGY
Featuring a state of the art laser sensor that offers a consistent and reliable performance, the Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Gaming Mouse boasts 10.8 megapixel HD image correlation at up to 12,000 frames per second and the ability to handle tracking movements of up to 150 inches per second.
BUTTONS
1. Left click
2. Scroll wheel & middle click
3. Right click
4. Right side button 1
5. Right side button 2
6. CPI high / low switch
7. Left side button 1
8. Left side button 2
LIGHT ‘EM UP
The orange LED illumination is capable of several modes of operation including: solid, slow, medium, and fast pulse. You can also vary the intensity of the illumination between low, medium, and high. For those of you who don’t like glowing shiny stuff on your desktop, you can completely switch off all illumination.
It also brings a very real benefit to users who utilize multiple profiles: by giving them different levels of brightness, you can quickly switch between profiles and also ways know which profile is active.
GLIDE LIKE THE WIND
Material: High performance UPE material covers 16 % of mouse bottom to ensure maximum glide. We recommend changing glides regularly as they will eventually be worn down.
PLUG, PLAY, WIN
There’s no need to install software of any kind in order to use the Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Gaming Mouse. It is completely capable of operating flawlessly with default settings. SteelSeries Engine enhances the Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Gaming Mouse with advanced customization options like CPI settings, programmable buttons, LED intensity, and lighting modes.
The Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Mouse is supported by SteelSeries Engine technology.
And the numbers
Frames per second: 12000
Inches per second: 150
Mega pixels per second: 10.8
Counts per inch: 90 – 5670
Maximum acceleration: 30 G
Sensor data path: True 16 bit
Lift distance: ~2 mm
Maximum polling: 1000 Hz
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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