What is the Nostromo? Also known as the starship in the movie "Alien," it is the moniker of a particularly unique line of game controllers made by Belkin. While the Nostromo of the movie "Alien" is meant for mining in deep space and transporting people in "cryo-sleep," Belkin's Speedpad is meant for the twitch gamers who want to dominate the newest high-speed, high-intensity games. For anyone who isn't familiar with the series, Belkin's Nostromo represents a collection of keys, a mouse wheel and a directional pad cleverly baked into one unit by the techno-chefs at the Compton, California based company. The n52 reviewed here is the follow up to the very successful Nostromo Speedpad n50 controller, which was heralded by many as one of the best gaming peripherals released ever.

What do you get when you cross a Directional Pad with a keyboard and a mouse? - The Nostromo

Like the n50, the n52 is aimed at fans of First Person Shooters. The blurb on the box promises that it will "Frag intuitively, for lightning quick-strikes." The controller maker's goal was to largely eliminate the need to search over the keyboard to find crucial keys in time-critical situations. All the required keys, wheels and pads fit right into the palm of your hand.

One of the major barriers for many gamers is the keyboard. Especially for new titles, the keyboard can seem like a chokepoint that hinder both enjoyment and control during game play. While the WSAD keys are nearly iconic in the gaming community, there are still those who find the keys inadequate for the control of their games. Different keyboards such as the "natural" style further complicate things by forcing you to have to make subtle changes in hand placement and can even negatively affect game play. Many other players use the arrow keys, but these don't allow an easy reach for changing weapons, controlling squadmates or peaking around corners. The number pad is the control point of choice for other gamers, but without a large desk allowing you to push your keyboard far to the left, you may find your style difficult to accommodate at LAN events or friends' houses.

Whichever one of these key preferences is your personal favorite, all are becoming affected by a new trend in games - incredible complexity. The number of actions and options to control is growing dramatically. While the best games are inventing impressive interfaces and control schemes, new moves suck as shoot-dodging, kneeling, leaning, rolling in all directions and sneaking require many different keys. With the addition of fire selectors, inventory lists and options such as attack stances (as seen in Jedi Outcast), the number of keys needed starts to get out of control.

The Nostromo conquers this emerging issue handily with its use of shift states. A press of a shift change key can change a controller that appears to have around 20 keys to one with over a hundred. This would seem confusing, but an easy to see LED indicator tells you which state you are in. A quick glance lets you know instantly which command possibilities are active.