Right off the bat the mouse is presented well with a compact box that really lets you know it is a Call of Duty mouse. It also comes with a part you can open on the front in order you to not only see the mouse but also put your hand over it. This is good as it allows you to be able to see if it’s the best size for your hand which is important if you plan on using a mouse for a prolonged period of time or for intense gaming.
The specs of this mouse are pretty good, weighing only 90 grams (0.2 lbs) it glides across a mouse mat with ease and due to its average size (Height: 38.7 mm (1.5 in)Width: 68.3 mm (2.7 in)Length: 125.5 mm (4.9 in)) even my big hands can use this mouse with no trouble. What is lovely to see is the braided mouse cable which gives the wires much more protection against being scraped or pulled against harsh edges like a desk and with this braided cable being around 2 meters long you won’t have any trouble plugging it into your rig or risk it being damaged. Something else to mention about this mouses design is that is great for ambidextrous or left handed players due it’s symmetrical shape. However, while the mouse is light and easy to grip if it is dropped it would most likely sustain some heavy damage, everything about this mouse feels delicate including how it feels when you use it!
The mouse itself has an initial layer of black which is covered with a circuit board aesthetic which glows a subtle orange, the colour is slightly odd as when you see this type of aesthetic your mind normally thinks of a green or a blue, but the orange tinge is not too striking so it actually ends up looking rather epic at the right angle. Other features on the mouse are the Call of Duty: Black Ops II logo which sits on the left mouse button, this you won’t be seeing 90% of the time as your hand will end up covering it but another feature is the large II symbol on the back end of the mouse. This orange LED illumination has different modes of operation including: solid, slow, medium, and fast pulse which you can change around to suit your needs as well as being able to turn all the glow off if you choose to.
The Call of Duty Black Ops II mouse itself feels amazing, the rubberised top allows you to have the best grip at all times and you really have a great amount of control when using it. When gripping the mouse you fingers almost naturally slide into place and feel comfy while stationary, then because of the sleek design, every button including the side buttons are very accessable to you while it is in use, your thumb and little finger can reach the side buttons with ease and the main buttons can be activated from around halfway across the mouse. The great thing is no matter what size your hand is it fits into your palm beautifully and you should have no problems with comfort while playing the toughest of video games or just using it for day to day PC activities.
There are a total of 8 buttons on the mouse each of which can be macroed to do different functions in and out of games; this can be done in the software that you have to download to use the mouse to its best. This is the SteelSeries Engine; it allows you to change the setting of any and all SteelSeries products in one program which is great as it allows you to only install one program for all your products. You can also change which buttons does what while using the mouse with relative ease as the program is simple to use and gives you a very clear indication of what button is doing what. Since this is a CoD Black Ops II product, the settings for the best layout of buttons to use in your Call Of Duty game is already set up for you, which is helpful if you just want to pick up and play!
Another small feature about the Steel Series engine is that it can record your clicks and key presses, this can tell you how often you use each button and will most likely give you an indication of which button will fail first and can also be used for letting you know how often you used certain buttons in a game, which could be helpful to some gamers. The program also has a tendancey to crash sometimes and for some reason (that I still cannot work out) caused my PC to crash on shutdown, however, a re-download of the engine fixed this problem, make sure you watch out if this happens to you!
Moving on to the mouse mat, it’s on the big side with a width of 12.6 inches and a length of 10.6 inches. So big in fact I had trouble fitting it on my desk at first! It is rather irritatingly big and because of that it looks very striking with the CoD Black Ops II logo and image on it and really makes your rig look badass, more so if you are a COD fan. However, I cannot see its large size being helpful in a gaming situation and found that it had to hang off my tabletop most of the time, if you have a limited desktop space this will get in the way.
What’s worse is that when it came down to it the feel of this mouse mat didn’t impress, it may be using high quality cloth but it felt too different for a mouse a mouse mat and it did not feel as good to use a mouse on when compared to a regular mouse mat. There were also some stuttering issues while playing fast paced games such as FPS games which was a shame, this could be due to the large image on the mat which feels different to the cloth texture of the rest of the mat and can sometimes cause problems with the laser on mice as they can have trouble reading the differing surface. This issue can get annoying after using it for a while and can cause problems while gaming for a prolonged time. The grip on the mat however is really top notch, it can withstand the various tugs and nudges of the mouse while playing even the most hectic of games even when hanging partly off your desk. Another nice aspect is that this Call of Duty Black Ops II mouse mat can be moved about really easily, by rolling it up or folding it can be tucked away with ease so if you travel with you rig a lot this will come in handy.
Final Thoughts?
The mouse is a joy to use, if feels great and can be used all the time. This may sound like an odd compliment but really, this mouse feels great no matter what you are doing, whether it be surfing the web, working or playing the mouse performed perfectly all the time. I used this mouse while playing a wide amount of differing games and at no time did it present me with a problem, become uncomfitable or get in the way which is exactly what a good gaming mouse should do, improve your game without getting in the way and it certainly did that. Having ticked all the right boxes this mouse is fantastic value for just £55.99!
However the same could not be said for the mouse mat. It could just be me but I really didn’t like using it, not only was it really big I found it took up way to much space on my desktop which was really unnecessary and it just did not feel good to use a mouse on, causing a few problems that grated after a using it for while. That being said it does look really cool and grips very well, so, if you are a fan of CoD Black Ops II it may be something you will want to pick up as a little extra for £11.99 but sadly, it just wasn’t for me.
Overall these products are very good quality and perform well enough in a variety of situations, if you are a Call of Duty fan you have to check these out, not only are they very affordable but they are very much worth the price.
