Razer's new Basilisk V4 Pro and V4 HyperSpeed gaming mice are here, and with them comes a controversial new software feature: Perfect 180, an option that allows you to assign a quick 180 degree turn to a mouse button. Which, as Razer puts it, 'gives competitive FPS players the edge to react to threats from any direction.'
The feature is said to be designed for low-sensitivity players, who would otherwise struggle to turn around to face a threat behind them at speed. By the looks of the Synapse screenshots, Perfect 180 can be configured for specific games—and allows the player to spin in either direction, with the option to tweak the count configuration.
I'll be honest—if I saw a player spin round near-instantly to blast me in a multiplayer shooter, I'd likely be calling "hax" at the earliest opportunity. I come from the old school of gaming, where movement responses like this were a sure sign someone was running a third-party aim assist.
Which, back in my day, was considered cheating. And still is. This is an official Synapse feature, though, not some shady program downloaded from a dodgy website. Razer seems quite pleased with it, but the whole thing has echoes of the SOCD/Snap Tap debacle not so long ago.
I suppose, if I was being charitable, I could point out that you'd often have to aim even after you've flipped around 180 degrees, so it's not an aim assist per se. More of a turn assist. A Snap Twist, if you will. Still, it's a gaming movement-enhancing feature outside the bounds of the actual game, at the very least.
Anyway, you've now seen Razer's clip of Perfect 180 in action yourself—what do you think? Is it cheating, or are we at a point where these sorts of hardware-led gaming assists are becoming acceptable? Do let me know. Although if I look into my crystal ball, I think I can see where this one might be going...
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