Z Fang Gamepad Review

[Mateo]

By Chuck “Magnum” Ankenbauer

I’ve always liked the zBoard concepts, but never got one because I’m a left handed gamer. That means I use my mouse with my left hand, and reprogram all my games to use my num lock keys for movements and action.

Well I happen to be browsing GoGamer (www.gogamer.com) one day for those occasional rare PC imports and hardware specials they like to announce, when I saw on the front page a USB PC game pad titled Z Fang.


Magnum's New Weapon of Choice

I then went to the official web site to get more information.

From the web site:

• Used and developed by the US Marines.
• 41 tactically placed keys, and 11 weapon keys.
• Simultaneous key strokes. (Up to 7 per, considered a cheat by some.)
• Powered by Z Engine, with over 100 PC game programmed layouts.
• And the big seller for me, Ambidextrous.

So I ordered one, ($34.90 from GoGamer), with that price I questioned how strong and rugged it would be, but also decided I could chance it with a 40 dollar price tag.

I received my new toy a couple of days later. Comes in a nice, typical hardware package. Wrapped in protective plastic, inside a nicely designed box. Inside, no assembly was required, and a typical disk that you can throw away immediately since an updated program is already on the official web site, and the 4 page instructions even tell you to downloaded the latest Z engine program.

Lucky for me, I read the directions first because usually with USB products you install the software first then connect the device. Not with the Fang. Simply connect it to a USB port and Windows will find new hardware and automatically install it. No problems on the hardware install were encountered on my machine.

Then I inserted the disk and installed the Z engine software program. It installed but once I went to launch it I got an error message.

So as a good gamer would, I un-installed it and tried again. Same error message occurred, so then I went to the official web site and downloaded there latest version, did a new install after cleaning my system of the old, and sure enough, same error message. I then took a virtual trip to the official web site, signed up and filled out a help ticket. I got a response within 24 hours with a fix. I had to enter my registry, which is something I don’t like doing much, and change a simple value from 1 to 0. The program then immediately worked. So with a day long delay, I was up and running with my new device.

The Device

Well the device is made of plastic, but with just a few days of use it seems rugged enough, even when I get mad because the enemy was clearly using an aimbot or another cheat on that last kill and I slammed my hand down on the Fang in a semi-bit of rage.

The keys are laid out nicely, but still feel a little cramped to me, not enough to cause a problem, but just like when I finally got my IR Tracker years ago, it takes some getting use to. I hated the tracker the first 2 weeks I had it, almost returning it, but now I couldn’t live without it whenever I take a break from the land battles and move up into the clouds.

With the Fang, it’s not such a big leap from a keyboard, so it shouldn’t take as long to get use to the device.


The Fang In Action


The Fang has tons of keys. You have the movement keys of course, then number keys from 1 to 11 just above mostly for weapon/equipment choices. You got your run/walk toggle, crouch and prone keys below and left and right. And you have the score, reload, and use keys immediately to the left and right of the movement keys.

The devices keys are laid out very well and are on both sides due to being ambidextrous. You got a power light showing you when the device is on and used in default mode like a regular keyboard, and you have a light that shows when you have a profile loaded for a specific game.

The Profiler (Z Engine)

Once I finally got the Z engine program working on my system it is a thing of beauty except with some screw up programming decisions.

It puts a nice icon in your tray, green meaning its working, red not. You can right click and open the Z engine software, or select a “default” profile. Oddly, it doesn’t let you select any of the profiles listed, or even the ones you used recently. To select a profile you have to open Z engine and then select it from over 100 game profiles.


So many choices.

Every game I could image has a profile but another oddity; you can’t program your own or adjust one to fit your needs. It’s either all or nothing from Z Engine. (This is said to be fixed and added in a near future update, but I’ll believe it when I see it.)

You can select a profile and the profile overlay will come up in graphic form, this is nice because then you can print out a chart for each game you play. The print out feature is very nice and appreciated because most games will use the same movement keys but weapons, equipment, and other commands change from game to game.

Conclusion

The device is fantastic. It will take some getting use to unless you’ve used a similar device in the past, but once your fingers feel comfortable moving around the nicely laid out device it just may be your new baby PC toy.
It’s plastic but sturdy, and hasn’t slipped much in use unlike my X52 HOTAS, with the suction cup bottoms, that thing slides all over the place usually once I’m in virtual trouble. The Fang device has small rubber feet that hold it well. Maybe not as well as super glue but well enough to control the control.

The Z engine software that is needed to get the most out of the Fang is a nice and simple program. Printing out your profiles is a nice feature and needed when playing multiple games. But the trouble I had installing it took a day of gaming away from me, and the fact that you can’t edit or make your own profiles, (yet), is absurd with a nice device like this.

But the complete package being less then most PC games make this a winner if you’re into this type of device. If you’re happy with your keyboard, save your money and buy a new game. But if you like these neat little toys, especially if you’re a fellow left handed gamer like me, then try it out. I think you may be impressed with your new toy.

System Specs

• Dell XPS Gen 4
• P4-3.75 MHz
• 2 gigs of DDR2 RAM
• Raedon 850XT w/ 256 video ram
• Audity Sound Card
• Windows XP Media Edition

[loppa]

Hmm... Looks good. And I understand that you need since youre lefthanded.
Personally I got the ordinary Zboard, even with keys for BF2, EQ2 and WOW. But I never use them.
Found out that its is a total waist of time!
The keys are located in areas that I normally dont have any keys. So getting used to moving my fingers there, usually ends up killing me... Because instead of pressing the prone button, I hit smoke or jump instead.
So for ordinary users, I would not recommend it. The keys arent even that good. Kind of hard, and the buttons have to much "traveltime" to reach the buttom.

Well.. Thats my tought! Use this one if youre lefthanded, else use an ordinary one. Go buy youreself a better mouse for aiming instead!

[Dick Blonov]

I want one !

[Magnum50]

I found a game not supported today... OFP... hopefully that add it in the next update.

[Evo<^|SiNz|^>]

Sounds like a nice product, but I already have enough peripherals taking up space on my office desk. Not a lot of room for an extra keypad.

[caldsteven]

In regards to the Lefty Righty thing, couldn't you just move the Pad? b/c ur mouse is already on the right hand side, and ur keyboard is usually to the left of that? At least mine is. IfI played more FPS (which i plan to) I would probably get this.

[P8riot]

Originally Posted by Bonehead

Magnum, how is the "button feel" on it, is it more of a "soft" or "click" type button push to activate.
Looks like actions are quicker to access and friendlier than the keyboard is, might have to look into this sometime soon.
TIA for the feedback!

Mine just arrived 2 minutes ago - I like trying stuff out. So far I like it, but haven't played using it yet - I am at the office still. It is under $35 at Newegg.

Is it possible for it to be both? It is very much both. If you have a newer Logitech keyboard (MX3100 era), it is very similar in feel, but quieter and.. more solid, perhaps? I used a Nostromo in the past and still have it.. I thought the key pressure was too stiff though.. this one is nice.

I'll have to see how well it adapts to D&DO as well as BF2