Microsoft Reclusa Wired Gaming Keyboard

There’s one caveat (isn’t there always) on installing the Reclusa that you won’t find in either of the printed guides. Once you’ve plugged the keyboard into a USB port and install the driver and software, if at some point you disconnect the keyboard and plug it into a different USB port, the Reclusa will not be recognized by the Razer driver or software—you’ll have to uninstall and reinstall the driver and software again. To avoid this little “gotcha,” Razer recommends that you make a note of which USB port you’ve plugged the Reclusa into and reserve that port exclusively for the keyboard.


*...it's not that difficult. Bring up the Profile Selection Menu.*	Next, double-click under the Profile Name heading to open up its text entry box. Type in a name for the profile, then double-click under the .Exe heating...	...which will bring up a Windows Explorer Open dialog box where you can navigate to the location of the game you want to create macros for. Select the executable that launches the game and click Open.	Click OK to continue.	Select a key to map the macro to.


*Bring up the Macro Key Functions* dialog box.**	While we're here, let's take a little detour for a second. As you can see, if you click the field under Basic Commands...	*...and Additional Commands, you can assign common Windows functions to this key.*	If you have another Profile configured, you can use this key to call it.	*You can even launch another program. This will bring up an Open* dialog box identical to the one shown earlier.**

Once installed, a Razer icon (the Razer logo with “KB” for keyboard) will appear in your Windows System Tray. Double-clicking it brings up the Reclusa Driver Control. If you don’t want yet another “cute” icon in your System Tray, you can right-click on the Reclusa Driver Control icon and either close or disable it (of course, disabling it disables Driver Control’s functionality). One odd omission is that the Reclusa Driver Control lacks the Hide Icon option found in other gaming keyboard utilities which removes the utility icon from the System Tray, while leaving it resident in memory so the keyboard’s programmable and other special features can be used. You’ll also find a Razer Reclusa icon under the Windows Control Panel that launches the application.

Razer has always taken the “cool but minimalist” approach in designing control panel interfaces for their gaming hardware, and the Reclusa is no exception with its dark grey, red and green 2D motif. Clicking a programmable button field also highlights the button on the picture of the Reclusa that dominates Driver Control, before bringing up the configuration dialog box. The Jog-Dials, six Gaming Hot keys and bumper keys are fully programmable.


Alright, back to the business at hand. Double-click inside the box under New Macro Assignment. Type in the keystroke commands. Note that you can insert delays between 50 to 200 MS, if needed. Click Apply...	...then click OK to close this dialog box.	*Hover the mouse over the field next to the key and this Macro Key Status* box pops out to show you which keys and delays were recorded.**	I've gone ahead and added the other macros for F.E.A.R. These will allow me to perform a series of melee attacks with the tap of a single key, rather than the multiple keys they normally require.


*Bring up the Profile Selection Menu again and click Save Profile.*	*Select a name for your macro configuration file, which will be saved to C:\Program Files\Razer\Reclusa\Conf* by default.**	*When a game or application with a Reclusa* profile automatically or manually launches, the profile name will briefly appear on the screen.**

In addition to keystrokes, a number of common Windows functions can also be programmed to the keys and Jog-Dials. You can also assign another program or profile to the keys. Assigning keystroke macros and delays of up to 200ms is fairly straightforward; and practically any combination of keys can be used. The only rub, is that eight is the maximum number of keystrokes and delays that can be recorded and saved.

Once you’ve configured the Reclusa’s keys to your liking for a particular game or application, you can save them to one of Driver Control’s five user-configurable profiles. By default, the key mappings you set up will automatically load when the game or application they are associated with, launches. This feature can be disabled on a profile-by-profile basis or all at once, if you choose. Microsoft says that the software can also automatically assign different profiles for supported games, though no specific titles are mentioned.

When a game or application launches and loads one of your profiles, its associated profile is briefly displayed on the screen. This can be turned off as well. Should you need detailed instructions on programming the keys and Jog-Dials, you’ll find them in the Driver Control’s Online Help by clicking the little “?” in the upper right-hand corner.

I installed the Reclusa on an Intel Core2 Duo E6600 system with a GeForce 8800 GTS video card, 2GB of RAM, and Window XP SP-2 with the most recent critical updates, and used latest version of the keyboard drivers and software downloaded from RazerZone. The game I tested was F.E.A.R. Although most first-person shooters rarely use combination keystrokes, F.E.A.R. is the exception, as it requires pressing up to three different keys simultaneously to perform a series of melee attacks against your enemies—namely, a Forward Jump Kick, a Side Kick and Roundhouse Kick.


*F.E.A.R. in action with the Microsoft Reclusa Wired Gaming Keyboard.*

It didn’t take long for me to set up the necessary macros on the <L1>, <L2>, and <L3> keys for F.E.A.R. and they worked as expected, making it much easier for me to send a Replica Trooper flying through the air like a rag doll and crashing through a window with a devastating kick before he could unload his clip in me. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get the Side Kick—which is performed by pressing the <Forward><Crouch> and <Melee> keys—to work consistently with Razer’s software. In its default configuration, the Reclusa’s default key settings worked smoothly and without incident with both Windows Media Player 11 and iTunes 7.3.2.6.

Final Impressions and Conclusion

More so than any key on the keyboard, the Windows Key has been the source of frustration and embarrassment for gamers. When accidentally struck in the middle of a game, the result can be anything from the game pausing and minimizing to the Task Bar—to crashing. Logitech realized this and put a toggle switch on their G15 Gaming Keyboard that allows you to disable the Windows key while in a game, and turn it back once you’ve returned to the Windows desktop. There’s certainly enough room on the Reclusa for a similar button or switch. Or Razor could have programmed it into their Driver Control software.

If you have more than five games that you want to create macro profiles for, and you typically program macros with more than eight recorded keystrokes to perform complex moves, spell casting or other tasks—a scenario not unheard of in some Role-playing and Massively Multiplayer Online games—you’ll have no choice but to pass the Reclusa by. Game publishers are just starting to push the boundaries of what players can do in PC games, in terms of using weapons, performing moves and interacting with the game world’s environment. Gamers are also playing more games and holding on to them longer. It’s hard to understand why Microsoft would market a “gaming” keyboard with such a limited capacity for storing keystrokes and profiles—especially since the competition has more.

The reason I couldn’t get F.E.A.R.’s side kick melee attack to work consistently with the Reclusa, is another gripe I have about Razer’s software—the fixed length delays. I used a 150ms pause between the three keystroke commands, as 50 and 100ms wasn’t long enough and 250ms was too long. The macro for the side kick worked 65% of the time. The other 35% I ended up dropping into a crouch and taking a swipe at an enemy’s knee caps with the butt of my rifle—which usually ended with my own head getting kicked in. Looking back on the F.E.A.R. macros I created for the same function on a Logitech G15, I used a 126ms delay between the keys which worked flawlessly, every time. Unfortunately, Razer’s software doesn’t have the same level of flexibility as Logitech’s when it comes to selecting the delay time of your choice. If your game will work with the set 50, 100,150 and 250ms pauses, fine. If not, be advised that a “compromise” setting may not give you completely reliable results.

Another annoyance with Razer’s handling of macros on the Reclusa, is the inability to go back and edit them. You have to clear the original macro out and re-record it from scratch! Also you can’t record macros “on the fly” while you’re in a game or application—a feature that is really helpful in quickly getting your macros up and running without having to memorize and manually type in keystrokes.

Minuses aside, I found the Reclusa a very comfortable keyboard to type on, with better tactile feedback than the Logitech G15, whose keys always seemed to be slightly too small for my fingertips. Responsiveness in games was excellent—practically identically to the Logitech G15, noticeably better than the Saitek PC Gaming and Eclipse keyboards; and definitely head and shoulders above the Modware Radiance Illuminated Pro Gaming Keyboard.

Some gaming keyboard manufacturers go overboard with the brightness of the illumination used with their keys and LED lock indicators. I didn’t find the backlighting on the Reclusa distracting during daytime hours, and just right during late night gaming in a darkened room. For those users who prefer it though, it would have been nice to have a control to also brighten the illumination or turn it off. Razer has programmed such a feature in their DeathAdder mouse, which allows you to turn off the click wheel and Razor logo illumination, directly through the mouse’s software control panel.

The Reclusa has a nice, solid, quality feel to it, which should be no surprise—given its business and general purpose computing pedigree with Microsoft’s Digital Media Pro and Optical Desktop Elite for Bluetooth keyboards. I can’t shake the feeling that the Reclusa’s resemblance to these keyboards is more than a coincidence. But perhaps that best summarizes both the strengths and weaknesses of the Reclusa, which is basically a stripped-down Microsoft multimedia keyboard with just enough “Razer Inside” and a conservative but effective blue illumination job to give it more “street cred” as a “gaming” keyboard, that other products that are nothing more than cheap, standard keyboards with backlit keys. Still, I can’t help but wonder how much more kick-ass the Reclusa would have been, had Microsoft adopted some of the envelope-pushing, risk-taking spirit of their partners in Carlsbad just this once. But it is what it is…

Hardcore gamers looking for more features, flexibility and bling will undoubtedly be better served with offerings from other companies. But if you’re in the market for a good, solid keyboard for work and play with a more modest level of user-programmable keys minus the usual in-your-face flash and glitz associated with similar products, you could do a lot worse than the Microsoft Reclusa Wired Gaming Keyboard.