If you know anything about me, or you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that Diablo III is easily one of my top 10 “games I’ve been waiting for since forever ago”. A few months ago I was graciously granted access to the Diablo III beta, which is fantastic, despite being far too short. As I eagerly dug my way through the D3 beta, I couldn’t help but wonder how the quality of my mouse would stand up to the inevitable onslaught of clicks that would be unleashed upon it once I finally got my hands on the full version of Diablo III. I knew there was only one thing to do; it was time to hit up SteelSeries for a mouse that could withstand the test of time.
SteelSeries informed me that they not only had something that would handle the bajillion clicks I was ready to throw at it, but it would “click ass” all over the faces of the poor minion hordes that would stand in my way of greatness. A few days later, the Diablo 3 branded SteelSeries mouse arrived, and without delay I dove right into the beta to see what they’ve cooked up.
Now, I’m not going to give away any further details of the Diablo 3 beta test, but do know that I play tested this mouse with the usual onslaught of victims from different genres. This mouse was play tested for performance with the following titles: Diablo 3 Beta, League of Legends, Serious Sam 3: BFE, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
I’ve gotta be honest here, I was impressed with this mouse from the moment I opened the box. If you remember my review of the WoW Legendary mouse, one of my small gripes was the lack of instruction included with the device – as I had to search around to find the driver set to unlock the mouse’s full potential. This time, SteelSeries included an instruction manual that included a link to their download site to obtain the driver – as well as a product catalog for other Diablo 3 items (such as the amazingly great D3 Headset, which you’ll see a review for shortly) and a kick ass little SteelSeries case sticker, so you can display your SteelSeries love with pride.
The mouse itself is basically a SteelSeries Sensei, with Diablo 3 branding. The mouse features a tribal print, as well as a glowing red Diablo 3 logo at the base of the palm rest, so people walking by your machine can see the fearsome glow of your monster slayer. The mouse wheel also shares the same red glow, and there’s a button right behind the mouse wheel which is accented by a little red dot (sits slightly in front of the button). More on that in just a few moments.
The Diablo 3 mouse also features a tight-knit red and black cord, which looks very cool and helps you differentiate the cords just by a quick glance. This isn’t something that’s necessary, but it’s a testament to the “little things” that SteelSeries seems to notice while other manufacturers don’t. Simple conveniences like these are why SteelSeries has quickly made a big name for itself, and we love them for it.
As far as the mouse functionality, it’s a fairly ambidextrous mouse featuring two side buttons on both the left and right insides, so you can easily map functions for quick access to mapped skills or mapped shortcuts – such as back/forward in your browser, making this mouse ideal for both gaming and normal daily use. It feels very comfortable in the hand as well, though I often hit the bottom button on the right side resulting in pressing 5 a lot. It’s a slight bit annoying, but I can always go change the settings if I need to.
Remember that little button I spoke about earlier? This button is probably my favorite thing on the mouse, as one quick click of the button changes your DPI settings for intense control in extreme situations, like map panning in LoL or SC2. It was like giving my mouse turbo thrusters. If you prefer a higher DPI, toggling the button allows for a lower DPI giving you a little more control in tighter situations, like sniping or picking off a mob of enemies swarming you in melee range.
I really like the Diablo III engine for the peripherals as well. I’ll be reviewing the headset soon and installing the mouse driver made the headset automatically detect and show up in the menu for the mouse. They integrate seamlessly, without having to run multiple instances of the same software. This is a big deal and certainly much more intuitive than other software I’ve used with other gaming peripherals. In game though, probably because I’m a D2 purist, I barely used the side buttons as I’m just too used to having everything set to right-click. For others though, this will be a terrific addition, and I did enjoy mapping those buttons to other commands in other games.
Overall, I’m really pleased with the SteelSeries Diablo 3 mouse. The slick look, comfortable design, and 10 million (!!) click life span is ridiculously impressive and I’m really looking forward to putting it to the test. So far though, I’ve played a ton of D3 beta and League of Legends, and it’s still holding up like a champ thus far! Is it as necessary as other mice specifically branded for one game? Not really, it’s just a Diablo themed version of the Sensei.
Does that mean it doesn’t kick a metric ton of ass? Hell no. Like a ninja star in your forehead, the Sensei will let you slice through foes before they ever knew you were coming. The heavens shall tremble, and so will Diablo when you enter his realm equipped with SteelSeries firepower.
The Diablo III Mouse was provided for review by SteelSeries, and is available for purchase from their webstore.
