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First-person shooter (FPS) gamers require a mouse with a very specific set of features, which don't necessarily correspond with those of all-purpose or massively multiplayer online (MMO) mice. FPS titles call for a minimalist aesthetic and on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment, for example. Passable FPS mice are a dime a dozen, but peripherals that excel in the genre are few and far between. Enter Logitech's G402 Hyperion Fury ($60), which brings to FPS gaming the same kind of care and attention to detail that the Proteus Core brought to other genres. Aside from some minor quibbles, the Hyperion Fury is a top-notch FPS mouse at an extremely tempting price.
Design
The Hyperion Fury doesn't look very much like any other mouse I've ever reviewed, and at first, I was worried that its unique design was innovation for innovation's sake alone. After about 15 seconds of using the product, however, I saw that there was a very good reason for the mouse to take the form it does: because it's really, really comfortable.
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The peripheral is long and low to the ground, letting a player's hand rest easily across the whole device. Not only is this ideal for players who use a palm grip, but it also provides plenty of resting space for claw grip players. I even experimented and found that it's completely feasible to use the Hyperion Fury with a fingertip grip: a true rarity in a gaming mouse.
In terms of buttons, the Hyperion Fury sports a relatively conservative eight of them: left and right buttons, a clickable scroll wheel, a pair of dots-per-inch (DPI) sensitivity buttons next to the left mouse button, two thumb buttons and a "sniper" button on the thumb rest. While you can program any and all of these as you see fit, I found the best course of action was to play around with the two thumb buttons' functions and leave the rest alone.
Add in a mildly coarse texture for the thumb and outermost fingers, a small thumb rest and an unobtrusive glowing "G" right beneath the palm, and the Hyperion Fury is one of the more unconventional mice I've used. But it's easily one of the more pleasing to the touch
Features
The Hyperion Fury runs on the Logitech Gaming Software, like all other modern Logitech gaming mice. One annoyance I found right away is that the software does not have an in-program update option, so your first stop will be to the Logitech website to manually reinstall something you may already have installed.
That slight annoyance aside, the Logitech Gaming Software suite is one of the best on the market. It automatically scans your system for games and creates profiles for any game you already own. With that done, you can assign properly named in-game functions to each mouse button. For example, the software will list the "Hack" ability in Watch Dogs and let you map it to the mouse rather than just the Q button.
The software's other features are nothing too special. You can adjust lighting for the G logo (both brightness and whether the light pulses); choose up to five DPI settings, between 240 and 4,000; and program a "shift" DPI for when you hold down the sniper button (more precise mouse movement can be useful in small intervals when aiming precise weapons).
If the DPI settings seem to have a low ceiling compared to Logitech's other mice, that's because the Hyperion Fury is an optical rather than a laser mouse. Gamers can (and do) argue back and forth on forums ad infinitum as to whether optical versus laser really matters and at what levels of play, but optical mice generally require less software trickery to achieve precise DPI settings.
If this is a big deal to you, the Hyperion Fury delivers a wide DPI range for an optical mouse as well as an optional Fusion Engine setting which enhances mouse speed. This feature didn't make much of a difference to me, although I was also not competing at the highest levels of FPS play, so your mileage may vary.
One fairly important feature the Hyperion Fury lacks is the ability to set individual DPI levels for the X- and Y-axes. This can be a handy feature, especially for FPS gamers, but it's not possible on an optical mouse, so take your pick.
Performance
The Hyperion Fury sets out to be one of the premier FPS mice on the market, and in this, it succeeds with flying colors. We tested it with Titanfall (FPS) as well as StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (real-time strategy), Watch Dogs (action/adventure) and Star Wars: The Old Republic (MMO).Although the Fury performed well in every category, its quick response time and streamlined design were most helpful in Titanfall.
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While the Hyperion Fury didn't improve my middling Titanfall skills, it did help me eke out a few more kills than usual thanks to rapid DPI adjustment, a well-placed sniper button and a design that kept my hand centered even when I was jerking around every which way to avoid getting stomped flat by murderous mechas.
The mouse also worked well in conjunction with the other three games, although more buttons would have been helpful in skill-heavy games like Watch Dogs and The Old Republic. For Heart of the Swarm, most of the heavy lifting happens on a keyboard, anyway, so the Hyperion Fury is actually an excellent choice for RTS gamers.
The Hyperion Fury has no appreciable liftoff range, but the Z-axis tracking is less than ideal. Picking up the mouse and replacing it causes the cursor to judder a bit, but this won't be a problem unless you play at a tournament level and hold your mouse aloft midmatch on a regular basis.
Bottom line
Logitech wanted to put out one of the best FPS mice on the market, and it succeeded. While the Hyperion Fury doesn't quite surpass the lofty heights of the Corsair Vengeance M65, it's an ideal choice for anyone who swears by optical mice or wants user-friendly software. Between the Proteus Core and the Hyperion Fury, Logitech is clearly on a roll when it comes to quality mice; it will be interesting to see what genre the company tackles next.
Specs
Laser Depth: 4 mm
DPI: 240 - 4,000
Size: 136 x 72 x 41 mm
Weight: 144 g
Connection: Wired
Grip Type: Palm/Claw/Fingertip
Marshall Honorof is a Staff Writer for Tom's Guide. Contact him at mhonorof@tomsguide.com. Follow him @marshallhonorof and on Google+. Follow us @tomsguide, on Facebook and on Google+.
