The FPS half impressions & Testing

The FPS oriented half of the Timber Wolf is very similar to the Warrior, as it should be. There are forty (40) keys on the FPS part of the Timber Wolf. They have the same value as it’s counterpart on the keyboard half. This means if I press the button designated as “W” on the FPS half and do the same on the keyboard half, the result will be the same. In a word processing program, hitting both keys will give “W”, and in a first perform shooter, both “W” keys will execute the forward command. This shows that the FPS half is made for comfort and ease in game, not as a separate part. The “W” key on the keyboard half is 12mm(L) by 14mm(H). On the FPS side the same key is 16mm(L) by 17mm(H). The size increase is so when gaming your fingers don’t slip over and strike another key. A gamer should have to look down to find his keys, so the keys are enlarged.

One of the features I like was the vertical spacebar (biggest key). When gaming on a regular keyboard, your finger, usually the thumb can only press a small par of the spacebar. The vertical spacebar on the Timber Wolf allows easier access to the spacebar. Another smart aspect of the Timber Wolf is it’s positioning of the Ctrl key. It has been moved up. On a regular keyboard, one must curl his finger back to reach the Ctrl key. The Ctrl key is now easier to reach and larger too. The numbers are curved around the other keys. This provides much easier access to the later numbers, especially numbers6 to 0, which are far from the WASD cluster. There a couple of peculiarities about the Timber Wolf’s FPS half though. The “K” key is in a completely random position, right between the “0” and Ctrl keys. In reality the key is so far from the WASD cluster that it isn’t used. The Shift button could have been put to better use there. There are also “+”, “-”, “,” and “.” keys. On a regular keyboard they are rarely used in FPS games and should have been replaced by other keys.

Testing

There isn’t a definite way to test a keyboard except see it in action. First I tested the regular keyboard part of the Timber Wolf. The test was simply typing up this review. The keyboard was wonderful to use. The keys were quiet except for the loud spacebar. There wasn’t anything especially positive or negative. The keyboard feels like a quality keyboard should. The internet shortcuts worked fine, but I though they were pointless. It was faster to click the button on top of the Internet Explorer / Mozilla Firefox window.

Now it’s on to the more important game test. I fired up Battlefield 2, a current FPS that is hugely popular. I played online, obviously the most intense option in the game. I didn’t improve in terms of my kill/death ratio, but it felt more in control of my game. My fingers never hit the wrong key, and the vertical spacebar helped tremendously.