Razer Krait

Practical Testing

Simplicity and ease of use are two of the first things users look for when installing a mouse. Thankfully the Krait did not disappoint. The mouse installed quickly, followed by the software and then a quick reboot later and I was up and running.

The options screen allowed me to change the three button assignment, as well as a right handed or left handed configuration. The configuration allowed me to alter everything from the sensitivity, the click speed and the scroll speed. I found the sensitivity to be far, far too high on the default setting– I lowered that before jumping into the games.

Just a quick mention of their "on the fly" technology. Basically, this allows you to configure a button on your keyboard which allows you to adjust your mouse sensitivity in game. When turned on, a simple scroll will either heighten sensitivity or lower it. It sounds quite interesting but in practice, when would you use it? Sensitivity in games is something that you practice with, learn and then stick to. Messing around with the sensitivity "on the fly" just doesn't really seem too useful to me.

I decided to focus on playing Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft and Age of Empires III as the mouse is designed specifically for these types of game. I also used the mouse through some FPS games to see exactly how much different it is from other mice.

Warcraft 3 and Age of Empires both require a lot of clicks, movement, speed and precision, especially in multiplayer games. Fortunately, the Razer advertises itself as capable of using 1200 APM (actions per minute) with 1600 dpi (dots per inch), which it claims is three times more than your generic mouse. I, however, didn't see such a big improvement. The mouse is still good for RTS games, it does feel smooth and you do feel in control – important when you're sending your various armies into horrific battles.

The truth is, though, that this doesn't feel like a big leap from other high-end gaming mice. Yes it's responsive, yes it's precise and yes it feels better to play with than your crappy mouse. However, compared to the Razer Viper, or Copperhead, it feels virtually the same.

Why is it RTS specific? Razer says that it's the number of actions and the lack of side buttons, commonly used in FPS games. In fact, the mouse is limited by only having three buttons; the more easily accessible buttons are on my mouse the better. If I can assign my thumb to build workers then surely that can only be a good thing, however with the Krait three of my fingers lie dormant, rejected and lonely.

It was perfectly functional through my online role playing session and surprisingly was highly responsive in my FPS test. The advertisement for RTS games seems unnecessary; it simply is a gaming mouse with high precision, fast responses and a nice feel. The impression I got is that by targeting RTS gamers the developers hope this mouse will find a niche market.

I did have one problem with the mouse. Whilst working in Windows using a brightly coloured mouse mat it sometimes felt inaccurate; like it was skipping. All rather odd and inexplicable. However, on all other mats it ran fine.