The humble rodent has come a long way. It's also such a mass-produced device that it's perfectly possible to pick one up for a few quid, meaning that those who want to charge more have to work for their money.

Sharkoon, therefore, is moving into territory previously occupied by the likes of Razor with its Raptor range, by offering up an optical, wired device with gamers firmly in mind. Unlike the Razor, though, the asking price here is surprisingly modest - you'll get change from £15 with some smart shopping around.

But why should you be interested? Well, while it's not a radically different or innovative piece of hardware, it does throw a few worthwhile punches. Firstly, the ergonomics feel right. Granted, this is as personal an evaluation as you can get, and there's never really a substitute for popping along to a computer store and manhandling a future mouse purchase, but for this big-handed, computer-reliant reviewer, the Rush Mouse has a good feel to it.

On the slight downside, we wouldn't have minded the mouse being a little longer physically, but again, that's our subjective viewpoint. Less subjective is the welcome assortment of buttons and the decent - if hardly top-notch - scroll wheel. These are the staple diets of mousedom, and Sharkoon ticks the boxes quite competently.

The concession to the gaming market in particular, though, is in the ability to alter the resolution of the device. Mounted onto the side of the Rush Mouse is a control that lets you move between DPIs up to 2,000. The difference, as you move the resolution upwards, is the mouse gets much more sensitive to movements, and in games where precision matters that's going to be a good thing. For our money, it's also possible to set devices such as these to a setting that's simply too sensitive, yet there's enough choice with Sharkoon's product to negate that problem.

In truth, our preference is still for the likes of a Razor device, where we found the ergonomics to be slightly more suited to a heavy FPS session. But after a few prolonged sessions with Far Cry and Call Of Duty 2, we couldn't really argue with the effectiveness of the Rush Mouse.

It's good value for money and will satiate the good proportion of gamers. If the budget will stretch, it's still worth spending a little more, but for the money, you're not going to go too far wrong with the Sharkoon model.

A fine, budget, gaming mouse that delivers good value if not exceptional quality.