LEXIP x Naruto PC hardware bundle review - Looks the part but doesn't set the world alight
When I initially heard that Lexip was doing a crossover bundle of hardware with Naruto I was intrigued. As a huge fan of the Naruto manga and anime, I hoped that the collaboration would result in a stylish and colourful combo across a selection of PC hardware. What we got was a mixed bag of quality and style that doesn’t seem to know what its audience is.
Lexip was kind enough to send over the full bundle of hardware which included a headset, mouse, mousepad, and controller, and after several weeks of use, there are some things I love and some that miss the mark for me.
The headset, for instance, has crisp and deep sound quality and the earcups are soft and comfortable. Using it to play online shooters I could hear the sounds I needed to hear and it wasn’t a washed-out landscape of noise, I could pick up each individual part of the audio and play for hours without my ears getting swampy or without the headset feeling uncomfortable.
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However, its headband is rather large even on the smallest setting and felt too big even on my massive egghead. Passing it over to my kids they struggled to find a comfy position where the headset felt supported and covered their ears simultaneously. So, it’s hard to know exactly who this headset is marketed at.
I can’t fault it beyond that; the detachable microphone was clear when people heard me talk and the design - my package was based on the character of Madara - was slick, with a dragon’s head positioned so the microphone arm emerged from its mouth.
In fact, the style across all products is great. It’s a mixture of black, purple, and blue, with accents standing out via transparent blue plastics that look far from cheap - they look almost crystalline. The build quality on all the items is great and you can definitely see the value in the cost, which is far from cheap.
It appears that everything has been thought of; there are enough cables for everything, although there’s the option to use everything bar the mouse in wireless mode, and there’s even a lovely certificate of authenticity in each box, which highlights the limited edition nature of the collaboration.
So, let’s move on to the mousepad, perhaps the most underwhelming item in the bundle, not because it’s bad quality but, well, it’s a mousepad. A rigid one. It does have RGB lighting though and a lovely design of Madara across the surface, but as I’m a fan of soft mouse mats, this wasn’t the gem of the bundle. It’s fine, it does the job, but when it costs £44.99 you have to wonder why. Yes, it has a micro-textured surface but I’ll stick with my free mouse mat I got at a convention.
What about the mouse though? Well, the design is nice. The Madara logo and the blue accented plastic look great, but the mouse itself was a little disappointing. Now, let’s break it down. The buttons? Nice and clicky - good good. The little thumbstick on the side is a handy feature that allows for extra button assigning beyond the two little buttons above it. Suddenly, you have a mouse that allows for lots of button mapping, perfect for in-depth shooters or MMORPGs.
However, the ceramic feet on the mouse make it feel a bit sluggish when moving across a fabric mouse mat. Of course, on the Madara mouse pad mentioned above, it glides a little better. Upping the DPI of the mouse wasn’t a great help either, but removing some of the weight makes movement feel a bit more natural. Overall though, it doesn’t set my world alight and for the price, there are far better gaming mice on the market, though of course, they don’t feature Naruto artwork.
Lastly, we come to the controller. Now, it’s worth noting that this controller can be used with Nintendo Switch, as well as PC, but it’s not compatible with PlayStation or Xbox, which is a shame because it’s essentially a DualSense in shape and feel - it even has a touchpad in the middle.
Now, on the face of things, it looks like a bog-standard controller, and to some degree, you’d be right. It has face buttons, symmetrical analogue sticks, and shoulder buttons. But turn it around and you’ll find four programmable paddles situated nicely under your ring fingers. Of course, it’s a tidy little controller that does the job and can be used wirelessly via a dongle, but really, that’s it. It works well, does the job and everything feels responsive, but beyond that the only differing quantity here is the design.
More blue plastic creates dragon and fire imagery across the controller which looks great and will be wonderful for a Naruto fan. And, indeed, I do find most of the design to be quite nice, though it isn’t overly subtle. The problem for me is the price. The controller on its own is £89.99 which is a lot for a controller that is limited in what platforms it's compatible with and feels like a DualSense with a few colour accents.
Of course, if you’re a fan and you want this hardware to show off your passion for Naruto, it all does the job and the bundle of everything is £224.99 for the limited edition set, plus you can choose from three characters; Madara, Naruto, and Sasuke. Will the hardware replace what I was already using? Probably not, though the stand-out has to be the headset just for comfort and clarity and it now sits on my desk ready for the next game. Did I appreciate the set as a fan of Naruto? Most definitely.