MadCatz S.T.R.I.K.E.5 PC Keyboard Review

When it came to testing the Strike5, there are so many factors to involve that I didn’t know which to cover first, so I just decided to tackle them all at once instead. The Strike5 comes with a highly customization LED back light that is capable of presenting 16 million colours, it comes pre-loaded with three pre-sets that you can flick through using controls on the keyboard, but these can all be customized via the downloadable software from the MadCatz website. The same software also allows you to calibrate and apply hot key settings and macros as well as set your custom icons and shortcuts for the OLED display.

It didn’t take more than a few minutes to install the drivers and software, customize all the colours to my liking, set up a few hot keys, dial in bunch of my favourite and most used programs to the OLED display. So now that I have a soft white light behind my keys, all my short-cuts set up and the keyboard adjusted to my liking, it’s time for Battlefield 3.

Gaming performance is exactly how I would would have expected, superb. The keys are quick to respond when gaming and even after a couple of hours of gaming and typing I don’t feel fatigued using it. The extra button and scroll wheel on the keyboard are cool but I just couldn’t get used to them, at least not in Battlefield 3.

MMO/RTS gaming however is a different story, there are so many extra keys on this board that can be used for shortcuts, macros, extra controls and more. Something I know will go down well with the hardcore WoW, DOTA and Starcraft II gamers. I especially like the bit hot keys on the left, they are just within reach of my little finger, but big enough that you can mash them without taking your eyes off screen.

Being able to launch games, control my music, hot keys and lighting from the control panel of the keyboard is a great little feature and its a great tool to have when gaming, I wouldn’t say it improved my gaming abilities or experience, but its certainly a cool thing to have.