We're having a look today at the Wolf Claw Devour USB Gaming Pad, a well made, good looking device for you hardcore
gamers out there.
In recent years there have been many products brought into the market all aimed at helping a gamer control his or her movements and actions with the least amount of fuss. A standard keyboard is often not ideal for modern games, which can have anywhere up to 50 different functions that need to be controlled from the keyboard, sometimes even more when you start binding keys to in-game macros. With this being the case, a standard rectangular keyboard can make things a bit awkward when you only have one hand to operate it with, (your other being on the mouse of course). The best solution seemed to be to redesign the keyboard to fit around a single hand, thus the influx of such devices.
The one we’re looking at today is from a company called Wolf Claw, named ‘Devour’ or in some circles, the Wolf Claw III, the first two Wolf Claw products were standard keyboards with a gaming control pad added onto the side. The Devour is a 55-key USB keypad that is completely plug-and-play with Windows XP and Vista. All the keys on the devour are standard alpha-numeric and function (F1-F12) keys, so windows and all your games will see it as a standard keyboard, no setup is required at all.
The key arrangement on the Devour is a little strange in places, but the most common control keys, W,A,S,D and a few others are all arranged as per normal, with the function and number keys cascading over the top of the pad. Makes everything easy to find, as the last thing you want in the heat of online battle is to be staring at your keypad trying to find a key, only to be owned by some 7 year old n00b.
As I’m not one who normally uses one of these pads in games, I’m a standard keyboard man myself, and when playing some Battlefield 2 and Doom 3, it takes a bit of getting used to, you really have to train yourself in the new key arrangement, but once you get used to it, it becomes very functional, and ghosting (problems when pressing multiple keys at once) seem to be non-existent. Response is as good as any keyboard, and once you figure out which keys are best for you and modify the games controls as such, this truly does give you an advantage over a normal keyboard.
The Devour is not ergonomically designed, and whether that’s a good or bad thing I think is down to personal preference, personally I find the ergonomic designs of products such as the Belkin Nostromo gaming keypads to be a bit awkward, and prefer the flat design of the Devour.
Conclusion:
A well made, well priced game pad. These devices aren’t for everyone, but if you think it’s something that will help get you those extra couple of frags this is the one to buy. The Wolf Claw Devour is available in online stores for around AU$55.00.
Rating - 8/10
This product can be purchased online at www.techbuy.com.au
