Testing

First of all, after a few days the ‘new pad smell’ was reduced from offensive to liveable.

To test the mouse mat, I used the Razer Krait, which this pad was obviously designed for.

I used a variety of games, including Call of Duty 2, Chrome (old school gaming) and Command and Conquer: Zero Hour.

After setting the Krait to maximum sensitivity and finding a space big enough to accommodate the Mantis, I was ready to hand some ass.

First up was Call of Duty 2. I decided to play the desert defence levels, where high accuracy was required as the enemy is usually at distance. The pad performed beyond my expectations and the Krait just glided across the surface picking up every wrist movement, translating them into another headshot. I genuinely found that I was a better player which I have never found to such a degree with a new mouse pad.

Chrome, a javascript based game brought out in 2003, which requires a lot of long range shooting with horrendously inaccurate weaponry was the next choice of game. After a few minutes, the extra accuracy was beginning to take its toll on the enemy forces. Its hard to describe the effect of a mouse pad as its personal opinion; some like glass surfaces, others prefer cloth. I would honestly say that this is the finest pads I have had the privilege of testing.

On to Zero Hour, a strategy game brought out in 2003 which is a face-paced RTS requiring the player to play quickly to defeat their opponent. There wasn’t a great improvement in playing ability (unfortunately mouse pads can’t yet make you more skilful) but playing was more enjoyable.

Overall the mousepad is a no-frills does-the-job pad that is designed to be used with the Razer range of mice. It would work great with other high-def mice I’m sure, like Logitech’s solutions. Lower end mice would see less improvement, and it would be pointless to buy a gaming mouse mat without a gaming mouse.

The size of the pad is huge and is welcome in a spacious environment, but you have to wonder why Razer have decided to go for this size, when the pad is meant to be used with high DPI settings. Considering as 6 – 10cm of movement will get you from one side of a 1600 x 1200 screen to the other, the 40cm x 35cm is a little excessive.