The Republic of Gamers added a new gaming mouse to their line-up of peripherals. It's called ASUS Sica and it draws its inspiration from old Dacian legends. This mouse was designed for gamers on a budget who love the ROG brand and want to use their peripherals but can't afford the more expensive models. We've tested the ASUS Sica mouse for a week, with several games and we're ready to share our conclusions in this review. Read on to learn whether or not ASUS Sica is the right mouse for you.

Unboxing The ASUS Sica Gaming Mouse

The sica was a short dagger that was used by the ancient Thracians and Dacians. It used to have a curved blade, about 18 inches long, and it is said that the Dacian king Decebalus took his own life with a sica.

Photo credit: Total War Forums.

In the process of building an affordable gaming mouse, ASUS took their inspiration from the dusty corners of ancient history and named this gaming mouse after the aforementioned weapon. ASUS Sica comes in a typical ROG branded box, very similar to the ASUS Gladius. An image of the mouse itself greets you on the front side of the box.

The back side of the box shows some of the technical specifications of this device.

Inside the box, the mouse resides in a transparent plastic cover, together with the warranty, two Republic of Gamers stickers and a quick start guide.

The packaging is rather basic, with no extra accessories, since we're talking about one of the most affordable gaming mice from ASUS.

Hardware Specifications

The ASUS ROG Sica has a 5000 DPI optical sensor with a 130 inches per second tracking speed and a 30g tracking acceleration. It has a maximum polling rate of 1000 Hz and the device is compatible with Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7.

The mouse weighs 117 grams, including the cable. That's 4.12 ounces. It's quite a small mouse, having a 115 x 62 x 39 mm size. That's 4.52 x 2.44 x 1.53 inches.

You can find the full list of specifications here: ASUS ROG Sica - Specifications.

Using The ASUS Sica

ASUS says they designed the Sica for MOBA games, such as League of Legends and DotA. The mouse is also aimed at gamers who like the finger grip style, due to its small size.

Since it was built as an affordable mouse, the Sica doesn't offer anything more than the standard mouse buttons. It has the left and right buttons, a middle button/scroll wheel, just like any other standard mouse on the market. There are no side buttons, no sensitivity switches and no extra weights.

We were disappointed by the lack of side buttons since it's a feature that most of the mice today have, including affordable ones. Plus, these buttons are useful both in games and when doing office work or when browsing the Web.

ASUS Sica features the same black/grey color as the Gladius, with the ASUS ROG logo on it, with the same breathing light effect. Also, two red stripes along the left and right buttons bring some color into the scene.

We've used the Sica in a different types of games, ranging from RPGs to MOBAs and shooters. The mouse worked well, we've encountered no latencies or slow response times, and the user experience was smooth. We were pleased by the responsiveness of this device.

However, you do need to keep in mind that the form factor makes this mouse a good choice for people who use a finger grip. If you're used to a palm grip, for instance, you'll find the ASUS Sica uncomfortable to use. Given its size and form, we consider the Sica to be a good choice as a laptop mouse, or one that you would use when you're on the move. We don't see the Sica as a main mouse for all of your daily activities, in front of a powerful desktop gaming computer.

What ASUS also uses as a differentiator here is the same feature found on the Gladius - the socket design used for the switches, that allows you to change the switches if need be.

To change the switches, you simply need to turn the mouse upside down, pull out the two round rubber feet and remove the screws underneath.

Next, pull out the cover and remove the switches from the sockets. Place the new switches firmly into the socket, put the cover back on and tighten the screws.

Drivers & Software

Even though the ASUS Sica was detected by Windows 8.1 right out of the box, if you want to make the best of it you'll need the ROG Armoury driver and software provided by ASUS.

The latest version of the driver correctly detected the mouse and we got access to a few settings that can improve the user experience for this mouse.

By using the Buttons tab, you can reassign different functions of the avaialble mouse buttons.

The Performance tab allows you to modify the sensor's sensitivity level between 50 and 5000 DPI, adjust the acceleration and the polling rate of the mouse.

The Lighting tab allows you to enable or disable the ROG logo lighting, switch between a steady and breathing effect and adjust its brightness level.

Every time you save your changes, the software saves them to the profile selected on the left side. To apply a profile, drag it from the Profile on PC section to Profile on Mouse.

The flash memory of the mouse can store only one profile. Any other profile that you create is stored on your computer. You can load these profiles easily from the ROG Armoury interface when you need them.

Creating macros is a pretty straightforward process, similar to what you would find on the ASUS Gladius. The macro section works the same way as the profile section, allowing you to create, save, delete and load macros.

Verdict

The ASUS ROG Sica is an affordable gaming mouse, with good performance and basic customization options that work well. It's overall performance is good for all gaming situations but it doesn't offer any extras you might expect from a mouse that's branded by Republic of Gamers. As a downside, we missed the side buttons that are generally offered by many gaming and non-gaming mice alike. We find them useful in many situations, including in games like League of Legends. We recommend the ASUS Sica to people who are on a limited budget, who want the precision and the response time of a gaming mouse and are OK with not having any side buttons.