Playing games is one of the most popular things to do anymore, especially FPS type games, but isn’t using a standard keyboard a bit awkward to control everything? I know I find myself hitting keys I don’t want to in the heat of battle. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a dedicated keyboard just for gaming, where the only keys are the ones that you actually use and then have them arranged in a no nonsense way that makes life easier? Well WolfKing may have what we are looking for in their Warrior gaming pad, I’ve had the chance to ‘play’ with the Warrior over the last week and I found it to be something very interesting and cool… Read on to learn more…

WolfKing Warrior FPS Gaming Pad

Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos

Sponsor: WolfKing

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

The WOLFKING WARRIOR is the ultimate weapon for the gamer on the go. Its compact size makes it perfect for LAN Parties. The patented TIMBERWOLF gaming area design has been expanded by including an additional 15 keys for a total of 55 ergonomically placed controls commonly used in FPS games. Speed, control and communication is critical in making the moves and decisions that can make the difference between life & death, victory or defeat. The WARRIOR gives you the advantage over your counterparts who use obsolete technology. Its "one palm size fits all keys" concept will make your movement more precise and deadly to your opponents. Be the Leader Of the Pack with the Weapon Of Champions. The WARRIOR.

Patented innovative design of the Warrior Gaming pad.

-Ergonomic design principles have been applied to the special placement of 55 keys and controls commonly used in FPS games. This design enables quicker, more efficient and comfortable control of the game.

-Innovative compact design enables convenient transportation.

-Multimedia pressing keys are added which enable the players to tune the volume at random in gaming manipulation.

-Novel upright space key gives the player a better sense of grabbing during game play.

-Unique double CTRL key enables intuitive movement and silent operation.

Price: $34.99 from NewEgg at time of review.

A Better Look at Things

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First things first, if you’ve been reading my reviews of the last year or so you know I like to check out the packaging thoroughly, as I believe packaging can sometimes make or break a product. Think about it, would you be more apt to buy a product that had ugly packaging or some product with a cool looking box? It’s a shame but sometime great products get looked over just because not enough time was spent on the marketing/packaging. Anyway, the box for the WolfKing Warrior is fairly cool, a nice picture of a ‘soldier’ with a wolfs’ head photoshopped onto it, with the Warrior next to him on the front of the box.

The back of the package isn’t so exciting, it just lists the main features of the Warrior.

Opening the box we find the Warrior wrapped up in plastic for its protection, all nestled in a form fitting plastic shell to protect it further during transportation.

Getting everything out of the box, we only find two things; the Warrior itself and a brief instruction manual. The manual is brief but does a nice job explaining things about the Warrior and how to use it.

Getting a close up shot of the Warrior we can see there is a funky keyboard arrangement, my wife saw this and said ‘Where’s the rest of the keys?’ I just had to laugh as I walked away not even trying to explain it to her…. The keyboard arrangement is purposefully done this way to make things easier for FPS players to get a ‘grip’ on the controls better. All the main keys you would use for movement are there along with the others for communications etc. All are grouped is an easy to find round pattern to make life much easier. Along the far left side we also find some silver buttons that are the ‘Escape’ and ‘Volume Up/Down’ keys.

Flipping the Warrior over, we find non-slip feet and adjustable stands to bring the Warrior up and an angle similar to that of a keyboard.

My first impression of the WolfKing Warrior was that I thought it felt very well made in construction and design. The Warrior is heavier than I expected it to be, considering it is basically half of a keyboard, I have full keyboard that are lighter than the Warrior, this isn’t a bad thing though, being heavy usually mean it is solidly built. I found the Warrior to be manufactured well, the housing is not some thin plastic, but a nice thick casing that will endure many hours of intense fragging and the occasional obligatory ‘bang on the keyboard’ when you loose as well. It also appears to be able to withstand many trips to many lanparties as well, being tossed around with the rest of you gear.

Installation, Testing and Comparison

Installation couldn’t be any easier,just plug it into any free USB port and it is automatically recognized and installed by Windows XP, others may need drivers. When powered on the only indication is a small red LED in the top left corner.

After I installed the WolfKing Warrior I loaded up BattleField2 to see what the Warrior can do. The first thing I noticed is that it takes a bit to get used to and I found myself looking down to find the keys I needed to press to do what I wanted to do. I’ll admit it was a bit awkward at first but after a few hours, over the course of a few days I got used to the Warrior and game play did seem much easier while using the Warrior. Even today, before I started writing this review I was using it so it would be fresh in my mind while I was writing, I’d say I put in at least 20 hours using the Warrior total so far and I’m still not quite used to it yet.

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While I do love to play games, I just don’t have the time to anymore, I have too many other obligations, like work and family that need my time, I believe that someone who has the time to spend with the Warrior would have no problem with the break in period.

I personally remap all of my keys, if I can, in any FPS game, I bind them around the cursor keys, using all the keys around them for the various actions, so in essence this is what WolfKing did as well, they took that tight grouping of keys and put them on a separate board that is easier to use.

The break-in period is expected, as is the same with any new keyboard. The Warrior is well worth it if you are into a lot of gaming, and not only FPS games, it does work well with others, as long as you can remap the keys to the ones on the Warrior. The Warrior would make a great gift for that gamer in your life that you just don’t know what to get them.

Summary:

Honestly I could not find anything really wrong with the Warrior, it is well constructed and well designed. It seems that it will withstand a lot of abuse and using the keys is just like using any other keyboard. The WolfKing Warrior has the possibility of adding a new dimension to your games, and giving you that needed edge over your competition.

DragonSteelMods gives the WolfKing Warrior a 5 out of 5 score.

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Pros:

-Plug and play

-Fairly easy to use

-Well designed and constructed

-Looks cool

Cons:

-Break-in period

I would like to thank WolfKing for the chance to review their products.

Also shortly I will announcing a contest to give away the WolfKing Warrior, so make sure to check back often for your chance to win it!