Review: Ragnok ErgoStrike7 Gun Mouse
Since as early as the early 2000s, gun mice have been a thing that has occasionally popped up in the computer peripheral market, and while these are generally marketed for use in FPS games, one can’t help but wonder how they would fare as a light gun solution, so I did some research to find what is considered the most popular one on the market right now in an attempt to answer this question.
The Ragnok ErgoStrike7 is the newest model from Ragnok, a company who’s been producing these kinds of mice since the late 2010s, and they’ve gone through several different shapes, sizes, and features over different iterations, but this newest model seemed to nail some key features that might make it more viable as a light gun solution.
The setup of the mouse is pretty straight forward, and it’s nice that it gives you several different options, since it can be used via Bluetooth, a wireless dongle, or wired. After plugging in, it’s suggested to install the app to get the full control and functionality of the device, and there are a ton of great options here. Some of the most important ones are the DPI and Polling Rate options, which makes this an extremely responsive and precise mouse in general.
There’a also a battery indicator for the built-in rechargeable battery, some options for adding macros, remapping buttons, and changing the light patterns or intensity of the LED lights on the side, but your main settings like sensitivity/speed and some other options will still be controlled by your Windows mouse settings, which the Ragnok app has a link for in the gear tab.
The button layout is pretty nice, with 3 buttons and a scroll wheel on the left side, where your thumb can reach, and one button just under the trigger, where your middle finger can easily hit since your index finger will be using the main trigger. Since these can all be remapped, there’s a good amount of versatility for a mouse in general, and more buttons than you’ll ever need in the majority of light gun games.
One of the other big features here is a recoil function, which has two settings, one for single-shot recoil and one for continuous rapid recoil when the trigger is held down, and it’s a pretty cool feature to have when using with light gun games. While the recoil isn’t as powerful as a solenoid-powered recoil from a dedicated light gun, it’s still adequate and a bit more powerful than just a rumble motor, since it actually does have a physical thump and click that goes with it, even though there’s no external moving “slide” parts on this newest iteration (some previous models did have a tiny clicker slide piece on the top.)
While the recoil is relatively weak compared to the recoil of a solenoid-powered light gun, it’s still enough to send a small jolt through your arm and body and has just enough audible noise to add to the overall immersion.
When trying to use it as a normal ergonomic mouse for everyday PC functions, you’ll definitely want to have the recoil turned off, since it makes the cursor jump around a tiny bit, which you won’t notice much in games, but it interferes with trying to be accurate enough to hit small UI buttons on a screen. The recoil should definitely be left for when playing games, as it does definitely add some immersion when playing shooting games.
Here’s a video showing the use and recoil effect:
When it came to using the mouse with games, it was a bit of a mixed bag, since it’s always hard to find the exact right sensitivity you need for each game to be able to move the cursor fast enough but still hit smaller targets accurately, and also adjusting your brain to having to slide around a mouse on a flat surface in order to control a game that requires very fast and precise reflexes like light gun games do. If you’re already used to playing light gun games with a mouse, this might be a bit more natural to you, but if you’re used to light guns, this is a major adjustment since it’s much less intuitive than the point-and-shoot simplicity of a light gun.
Some games that were more forgiving on the speed and intensity side played pretty nicely and felt fun and immersive, but there’s obviously still going to be a disconnect versus playing with an actual light gun. Having to move the mouse on a flat horizontal plane feels extremely different than pointing a light gun, especially when you’re holding it in a vertical fashion and using a trigger for the shots.
I tested this with some classic arcade and console games (Time Crisis, Operation Night Strikers, Duck Hunt, Lupin III The Shooting) and some newer games (House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn, Operation Wolf Returns, House of the Dead Remake) and it generally operated quite well, though it definitely never felt quite as immersive as playing with a light gun, obviously. The games that had rapid fire guns definitely felt a little better than the single-shot accuracy-based games, since they’re usually a little more forgiving on the accuracy side, and the rapid recoil added to the immersion quite a bit for those games.
For feeling of comfort and accuracy, I found that holding the mouse with both hands helped to steady aim and move a little more smoothly than with just one hand, and especially did a good job of stabilizing the aim when the rapid recoil was on, stopping it from moving around ever so slightly.
As for final impressions and details, while the ErgoStrike7 is a pretty novel and fun piece of hardware in itself, one of the main drawbacks to it being a light gun solution besides the obviously different movement/pointing style is the price. This newest iteration comes in at around $120 USD, which is actually much cheaper than some of the earlier iterations ($180,) but when you can also get something like a Sinden Light Gun or GunCon 3 for the same price or less, it’s hard to truly recommend this to anyone specifically wanting to use it with light gun games.
If you’re just an extremely curious person or if you actually do play a lot of stationary turret shooters or FPS games, this might be for you, but in the world of light guns, this one doesn’t even remotely justify its price.