My editor holds the occasional LAN tournament in his basement a few
times a year. Anyone who has ever participated in these tournaments
will tell you that I am not very good at FPS games. In fact I believe
the phrase “Ben, You suck” has been uttered in my direction during
multiple Unreal Tournament 2004 games over the past couple of years.
This is in part because I am not the twitchiest of gamers, but also
because I haven’t been taking advantage of the advances in gaming
hardware the way some of our heavier FPS gamers do. But thanks to
Saitek’s recently released Pro Gamer Command Unit; those days are soon
to be in the past.(editors note: a good craftsman doesn’t blame his
tools…)
The first thing you’ll notice about the Command Unit is the look. With
the introduction of the Eclipse Keyboard, Saitek gaming products have a
black plastic mold with silver ‘gun metal’ buttons and a patented blue
LED as the signature of their gaming line. The Pro Gamer Command Unit
looks very much like the little brother of the Eclipse Keyboard, down
to the decent weight and oversized non-skid pads on the bottom.
The Command Unit has a decorative blue LED on the hand rest, while the
backlighting of the keypad switches between blue, green, and red based
on which of the 3 preset modes (FPS, RPG, and RTS) the Command Unit is
in. Following the path of the Eclipse Keyboard, the numbers on the 21
programmable keys are laser etched with the LED illuminating the keys.
The LED backlighting and laser etching allows easy use for nighttime or
dark room LAN play, which is always a plus. On a stylish note, a red
LED shines through a piece of clear plastic on the bottom front of the
unit displaying the Saitek name on the surface the unit is placed.
While looks are nice, when it comes to gaming, comfort and function are
everything. If the device isn’t easy or comfortable to use, it’s not
going to improve the game play experience at all. The comfort aspect of
the Command Unit comes from the ergonomic design of the wrist wrest
(set seemingly for those gamers like myself with larger hands) and
adjustable pinky/thumb control (supporting 2 buttons and the 4 way
hat).
The function of the Command Unit is primarily enhanced through the
programmability of the keys. The 21 programmable keys in conjunction
with three modes of the Command Unit allow for 144 unique settings if
used in conjunction with a game allowing use of the shift key. This is
all without the 4 way hat, which offers even more flexibility.
One of the few flaws in the Command Unit is that programming it can be
a little tricky. I decided to start using it with my current favorite
game, Star Wars: Battlefront II. This was the first game I have
programmed the Command Unit to take advantage of the flexibility of the
SST programming software. I will say gamers who wish to make use of the
SST software will definitely want to read the SST manual first. It
doesn’t take too long to get the hang of it, but you can really waste
some time in programming if you don’t take a minute to learn about it
first.
Once I got the programming down and moved into the game, I found I had
no need whatsoever for the keyboard, and was able to keep one hand on
my PC Gaming Mouse and the other on the Command Unit at all
times. Programming one of the pinkie keys to handle switching
between weapons kept my primary fingers available for player movement.
As a sniper, I become much more lethal by programming a button on the
command pad to cycle through the zoom on the sniper rifle. I was able
to get into position, get off a shot, and be back on the move in mere
seconds.
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