SteelSeries’ gaming accessories are as diverse as they are innovative. Ranging from Eye tracking hardware to common gaming mice, the name has to come to earn a great deal of respect from the computer gaming community. One of their newest achievements is the new Rival gaming mouse, whose sleek design and distinct functionality are the reason this company has earned the name Steel.
Though the design of the mouse doesn’t entirely lean towards the innovative, the engineers at SteelSeries have done so in an effort to give the owner a sense of ownership. The Rival hardware was developed so that gamers can have a mouse that feels comfortable and familiar to them, yet still offer a personal touch. The LED lights can be customized to one of 16.8 Million colors, where as the rear nameplate can be switched with custom ones that represent your clan or favorite game to play.
When factoring in the $60 price tag, a few bell and whistles can sound as misleading as a “Pre-alpha trailer”, but when it comes to seamless gameplay and controls to match your epic graphics card, the price is the last thing a buyer should be worried about. With a 30 Million click life span and a 1 millisecond response time, the mouse will never let its owner down in the middle of an epic boss fight or glitch at the worst possible moment, leaving players to restart at the beginning of a level. The Rival is built for speed and endurance.
The functions of the new Rival, such as the CPI and response time, are all controlled through the SteelSeries Engine 3 software, downloadable from their website. The software acts as a medium to control aspects such as response time and sensitivity with unparalleled accuracy. All aspects of the mouse’s customizable options lean towards the fact that the company has focused on making personal comfort the most important feature with the device.
In terms of physical comfort, the shell of the body is smooth, but allows the user enough grip to keep their palm still enough to execute a perfect headshot or unlocking a chest in the midst of the frantic chaos that ensues at the end of any raid in the World of Warcraft. On the sides are slightly rougher ridges which allow for higher thumb and finger precision when maneuvering characters to certain positions.
The side buttons on the Rival are not the most diverse. While two additional side buttons seem vastly outnumbered by other competitive gaming mice, SteelSeries does give gamers the pleasure of making each button completely interchangeable so as to continue to allow users to shape the hardware to their needs and preference. In classic dungeon crawlers like Diablo, having two new action buttons for your various weapons can free the player so they can strike swiftly and move more freely around the map, often lending an upper hand in a dire situation.
In the GamersPack laboratories, which received their own Rival SteelSeries gaming mouse, we quickly put it to every test imaginable for a current PC gamer. Raids were fought in shallow halls, dungeons were looted to a barren waste, and a third of Blizzards gaming library was played through to the waking hours of the morning. Through it all, this one mouse survived to fight with flying colors.
SteelSeries’ “Rival” gaming mouse is by and large one of the most advanced yet simple gaming mice that gives the user the most comfort and control, no matter its play-style. The body fits perfectly with the contours of the human hand, with buttons that curve smoothly back into the body. The bottom sensor is flawless, giving the user a genuine advantage over their opponents, which, shows that you don’t have to spend $100 plus in order to get Incredible precision.
Some of our posts include links to online retail stores. We get a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Don't worry, it doesn't cost you anything extra.