Nick hit me up the other day about reviewing a new gaming mouse, the Roccat Savu. I asked him if he was sure, because new tech and I don't get along very well. He said he knew I could handle it, so I grudgingly complied. My inner monolog was already scolding me: "Oh no, free stuff. And you have to play with it. What a bummer. Truly you live a horrible life." I got my hands on the mouse and then I got my game on.
Once I unboxed the Roccat Savu, the first thing I noticed was that it was very small and incredibly light. This concerned me at first because I still subscribe to that old fashioned attitude of heavier weight equating to higher quality. After giving it a once over and tugging on the braided cable, I decided it was rugged enough for my violiently strenuous gaming use.
The second thing I noticed right out of the box were the "no-sweat" side grips. They have the texture of fine sand paper. I liked the feel, it made me feel manly, like I was working with wood. They might not be for everyone, but they worked for me.
Once I plugged the Savu in it did its install thing and the rear end lit up light a lightning bug. It pulsed through several hues. According to the literature it can display 16.8 million colors. I recognized maybe seven. Still, it was pretty cool.
I clicked all the buttons, and they each did something. Good start. I browsed the web and did some minor work (tweeted a picture of my lunch, looked at some pictures of cats, you know, important stuff). It was then that I realized I had no idea what I was doing with this mouse and decided to do some research. Mainly, hit up a few buddies who know about these sort of things.
After a fellow Co-Optimus staff member (it was Locke) told me I had to download drivers from the Roccat website I finally got my business in order and busted out some intense gaming sessions. Mainly I played through a little Serious Sam 3: BFE and Diablo 3.
The Roccat Savu has a lot of options in a tiny package. Once I got the drivers in order there were all sorts of bells and whistles to adjust. You can check them all in the product description here.
Yeah, that's a lot of stuff. I'll break it down for you:
The Savu offers five different game profiles and a host of customization options for button assignment, sensitivity options, macros, and scroll speed. There's a Shift [ ] button that doubles the functions of all the buttons. All of these options were easily accessible through the Roccat driver, which you can view in the gallery below.
The Savu driver: For all your customization needs.
For my meager gaming needs it was a bit of overkill. I did enjoy the ability to adjust DPI in the middle of Serious Sam 3. I found 1600 comfortable, while 4000 was way to intense for these old reflexes. When you adjust certain settings, a voice that sounds an awful lot like Christopher Lambert calls out the changes. It's like the Highlander is in your mouse! The easily accessible Shift [ ] button helped make me feel like more of a badass in Diablo 3, which is something I always need.
My biggest complaint concerns the size. It's small, and feels slightly cramped, even with my small hands. (I have stubby fingers, deal with it.) Gamers with average-to-larger-sized hands may be better served by the Roccat Kone[ ]. You can even add weights to that one! I like the design of the Savu, but I felt that my delicate little hand may cramp in a long play session. If you're a gamer with smaller hands you should seriously consider this product.
Overall the Roccat Savu is a nice little mouse. I can honestly say that it enhanced my experience with both Serious Sam 3: BFE and Diablo 3. It retails for about $70 and you can find it on Amazon.