Really the whole point of the Nostromo, and the likes from other manufacturers, is to
make the keyboard more suited and comfortable for gaming. This means a beefy wrist rest
and unevenly spaced, tilted keys. Unfortunately the Nostromo has just two settings for
the wrist rest, and for me atleast the shape just doesn't feel right. No matter how I
placed my hand on the thing, there was always some buttons out of reach or the position
just wouldn't feel comfortable enough for longer use. The thumb button, which would
normally be the space bar, was particularly hard to use in fast-paced FPS-games.
The touch of the keys themselves is nice, so as long as your hand fits the Nostromo,
it's nice to use.
Conclusion
PROS
8-direction pad
Versatile software
Quality touch of controls
CONS
Limited adjustments
Some keys hard to reach
Silver Award!
The Nostromo aims to making keyboard gaming more comfortable and ends up on the same
problem as gaming mice: it's impossible to make a shape that fits everyones hand. On a
normal keyboard one can also rest his hand in surprisingly many ways, but the wrist rest
on the Nostromo forces a certain type of grip, and if this doesn't work for you, then
there's just not much you can do. This isn't to say the shape is bad, it's just the same
thing as with mice, you should try the controller before buying it.
If the shape works for you, the rest of the Nostromo is all good. The touch of the
buttons and the thumb controller are nice. Also the software side of things is well
sorted, Razer has a lot of experience making drivers and it really shows, everything is
where it should and settings are easy to get just right.